Stop name dropping in an effort to sound clever.

"I was about to say we've got better things for the men to do, but that doesn't sound very clever."

"That sounds very clever," the officer said; extreme cleverness was also suspect.

The line had to be cut: It was too close to sounding clever.

It sounds too clever by half to work.

I would like to meet your Empress; she sounds clever.

You probably hoped to sound clever with your comment but unfortunately you've achieved the exact opposite.

It's a device that must have sounded clever and profound in preproduction discussions.

This sounds pretty clever, have you got anything else I could learn to impress the other 6th formers?

Everything you say is going to sound powerful clever to them.