Have you ever been in a meeting where a certain topic or term is brought up that everyone understands but you? The urge to try and play along might build up, pretending you know what everyone else does. You may even make it through the meeting unscathed, having avoided being asked anything regarding the subject. A near miss, you think; that was a close one.

What's the fear here though? Of being found out? That the discovery of you becoming the intellectual minority on this one topic will in some way diminish your status? Why so? There is a quote I love from Bruce Lee that says, "A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer." Having the courage to say, "I don't know," is an invaluable asset that will propel you to heights those too full of ego only hope to reach.

Your personal growth is your own, unattached from the thoughts and opinions of others. If someone thinks you are some kind of fool for asking a "silly question" then that's on them. In one of Plato's Dialogues there is a story of one of Socrates friends visiting the Oracle at Delphi. He asks the priestess if there is anyone wiser than Socrates in which she responds that there is no one. Socrates is troubled by this because he "was fully aware that [he] knew nothing." Soon it is concluded that Socrates is the wisest of all because he is the only one who knows that he knows nothing.

The perception of knowledge is not the same as actual knowledge, and we are only cheating ourselves by pretending. Regardless of the setting: on the job site, at the building and safety office, in an internal meeting, or talking to an engineer, speak up if you do not understand something. Surprisingly, it is a display of intellect to do so.

With all of that in mind, there are some things to remember:

1. Try to figure it out first. Asking questions is not code for being lazy. If you're in a meeting and someone starts to talk about shoring, for example, take some time to listen to the context of the term. At the first sign of this word do not just blurt out your inquiry. After some discussion you may discover that you understand this to be a method for temporarily supporting walls during construction and a number of other uses.
2. Is it an appropriate place for a question? If you're in a client meeting and your project manager begins to talk about something you don't understand, it may not be the right time to say so. Wait until after the meeting to inquire on it. In the same way, there may be some internal meetings where your question can distract from an important agenda or timeline. A lot of times we can look up minor things we do not understand after a meeting.
3. Don't repeatedly ask the same questions. If you are comfortable asking questions, that's great, but asking the same thing over and over again is a waste of everyone's time. If someone has explained to you where the accessible stall section in the building code is and how to navigate it five times, they aren't going to want to do it for a sixth. When receiving instruction from someone about a question, be sure to do your best to internalize it (and take note for further reference if that's your style).
4. Clarifying questions are almost always a good thing. If you're on a construction site, for example, and you work out a new framing detail with a sub-contractor, it's totally acceptable to stay until you have a sure sense of what has been discussed. If that means you have to do 3 sketches and ask 10 follow-up questions then that's what it will take. 

In the end, pretending to know something is a sure way to eventually paint yourself as a fool. It's okay for us to say we don't know and we will be better for having the courage to do so.