# Are people on this board too smart for their own darn good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 6, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058 "2009-01-06T06:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/81 "2009-01-13T01:27:30Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > There are lots of smart people around here, all of whom will be willing to tell you at the drop of a hat just how smart they are. Digonies the Cynic, RTFirefly, E1vislives, Redfury, gonzomax, Der Trihs…the list goes on and they’ll tell you how smart they are until the cows come home. Me? I’m an idiot. An educated idiot, but an idiot all the same. The difference is that I realize that and have some common sense, while recognizing that while my knowledge is vast, my ignorance is legion. The posters I’ve mentioned above believe the exact opposite, which is why they are so consistently able to post opinions without basis in fact. So each and every liberal is operating with no basis in fact. Strange logic you have there. You on the other hand are just bathed in the glow of logic and light up like a beacon of fairness. Why can’t the liberals just think like you? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/82 "2009-01-13T09:02:13Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Common sense is the lowest form of sense. It never has to be understood or analyzed, only memorized. That doesn’t sound like the common definition of common sense to me. Common sense is that category of logic that covers things like ‘don’t cuddle the tigers’. It’s not something that people _memorise_, it’s stuff that _anyone should be able to work out, on the fly_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/83 "2009-01-14T14:25:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That doesn’t sound like the common definition of common sense to me. > > Common sense is that category of logic that covers things like ‘don’t cuddle the tigers’. It’s not something that people _memorise_, it’s stuff that _anyone should be able to work out, on the fly_. Alternately known as wisdom, which is most certainly not the “lowest form of sense”. Unrelated to the above, [this is being too smart for your own good](http://www.xkcd.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/84 "2009-01-14T16:51:35Z")
Wisdom is not common sense anymore than wisdom is not intelligence. Common sense is the rationale used when you cannot come up with a rational reason to believe in something. Your example of “don’t cuddle the tigers” must also be lumped into “don’t eat tomatoes” or “don’t sleep in a room with a fan on”. All devoid of analysis just handed down as facts to know. All the usual given examples of common sense are usually nothing more than instinct. I do find it interesting along which political lines this debate seems to be falling. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/85 "2009-01-14T17:33:13Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Wisdom is not common sense anymore than wisdom is not intelligence. > > Common sense is the rationale used when you cannot come up with a rational reason to believe in something. > > Your example of “don’t cuddle the tigers” must also be lumped into “don’t eat tomatoes” or “don’t sleep in a room with a fan on”. All devoid of analysis just handed down as facts to know. You appear to be operating on a definition of common sense that I haven’t seen before, equating it to superstition and old wives’ tales. “Throw salt over your shoulder to get rid of bad luck” seems to be the sort of thing you’re talking about, while “Don’t throw salt over your shoulder, because your brother is behind you and you’ll hit him in the face” is common sense. The [only definition](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/common%20sense) M-W gives for common sense is “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.” Sure sounds like wisdom to me. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/86 "2009-01-14T21:38:57Z")
You’d think ‘Don’t hug the pandas’ would be common sense. Sadly, it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/87 "2009-01-14T22:43:47Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Wisdom is not common sense anymore than wisdom is not intelligence. > > Common sense is the rationale used when you cannot come up with a rational reason to believe in something. Not in my experience of using and hearing other people use the term. Common sense relates to outcomes that should be obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. > [@](#): > > Your example of “don’t cuddle the tigers” must also be lumped into “don’t eat tomatoes” or “don’t sleep in a room with a fan on”. All devoid of analysis just handed down as facts to know. Nope. Don’t cuddle the tigers because _they will fucking eat you_. It’s analysis of the (should be) obvious outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/88 "2009-01-14T22:57:15Z")
I believe you’re referring to ‘common knowledge’, which is a different thing from common sense, and is frequently incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/89 "2009-01-16T21:26:44Z")
Christopher Hitchens wrote of Socrates: “All he really ‘knew’, he said, was the extent of his own ignorance. (This to me is still the definition of an educated person.)” I think that pretty well defines your average Doper, even if we sometimes fail to recall this fact in the heat of battle. But there are a few “total dipsticks” on this board, as we’ve known since, I think, 1973! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/90 "2009-01-16T21:41:17Z")
It might be time for an Ambrose Bierce definition: > [@](#): > > Education, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Jesse\_Leigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@Jesse\_Leigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesse_Leigh)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058/91 "2009-01-17T08:26:07Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > There are lots of smart people around here, all of whom will be willing to tell you at the drop of a hat just how smart they are. Digonies the Cynic, RTFirefly, E1vislives, Redfury, gonzomax, Der Trihs…the list goes on and they’ll tell you how smart they are until the cows come home. Me? I’m an idiot. An educated idiot, but an idiot all the same. The difference is that I realize that and have some common sense, while recognizing that while my knowledge is vast, my ignorance is legion. The posters I’ve mentioned above believe the exact opposite, which is why they are so consistently able to post opinions without basis in fact. LOL! I don’t know you yet, but I know I’m going to like you! 😉 I’d rather spend time with a kind person than a so-called ‘smart’ person anyday. - Jesse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-on-this-board-too-smart-for-their-own-darn-good/480058.md?page=4)