# Are you intelligent? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498 "2012-04-21T14:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/21 "2012-04-21T23:03:17Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I voted; ‘Yes, but I am considered intellectually disabled, compared to most people my age.’ > > It’s true. I have some learning problems. No, it’s not true. Intellectually disabled means having an IQ of 70 or less. You don’t. ID is the current polite term for mentally retarded. As for me, I’m at one end of the bell curve where the word “moderately” is a common adjective. Most people seem to be able to tell which end, and I’ve had someone guess my IQ within 3 points, but I suppose people who have radically different politics might suppose it’s the other end 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/22 "2012-04-21T23:05:31Z")
I’m fairly bright but not as sharp as I was when I was younger. I had a ragged and spotty education and therefore have a great deal of trouble organizing my thoughts into a coherent whole. However, I am that guy in the office whom everyone asks if they can’t remember something. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/23 "2012-04-21T23:24:11Z")
im a fucking genius yo ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/24 "2012-04-21T23:24:53Z")
I’m so intelligent, I proposed a theory of everything on a dinner napkin. Unfortunately, I’m so absent-minded I left it at the restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/25 "2012-04-21T23:32:16Z")
I’m smarter than the average bear! now to find some pic-a-nic baskets. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/26 "2012-04-21T23:32:40Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I’m fairly bright but not as sharp as I was when I was younger. … Well hell. At sixteen I knew _everything_! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/27 "2012-04-21T23:34:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m so intelligent, I proposed a theory of everything on a dinner napkin. Unfortunately, I’m so absent-minded I left it at the restaurant. Not in your [coat pocket](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649007)? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/28 "2012-04-21T23:40:20Z")
Florida. Alas, no coats. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/29 "2012-04-21T23:48:41Z")
I don’t think I am especially intelligent. But am often told, I’m pretty sharp, or a smart cookie, or people are overly impressed with something that seems overtly self evident to me. I am unfailingly taken aback, by such remarks. I find there are all kinds of smarts. People have different gifts, each in different measure. We all just seem to be some odd, messy mix of things. Probably as it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/30 "2012-04-21T23:50:11Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > I’m smarter than the average bear! I, too, a smarter than the average bear. People, unfortunately, are a whole different story. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/31 "2012-04-21T23:50:36Z")
SDMB, the Lake Wobegon of message boards. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/32 "2012-04-22T08:43:53Z")
I’m so intelligent, my dog thinks I’m God. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/33 "2012-04-22T11:27:47Z")
I’m way less intelligent than I used to be . . . a common complaint at my age. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/34 "2012-04-22T12:10:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m way less intelligent than I used to be . . . a common complaint at my age. When I was 20 I knew _every-damn-thing_. Now I’m 50 and am too aware of knowing \*somewhat \*less than everything… But I think I like the 50 year old me better than the 20 year old me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/35 "2012-04-22T12:29:10Z")
Yes, I am more intelligent than the average person. The older I get, the less this seems to matter. People know how to do all sorts of things that I don’t know how to do. I am constantly impressed by others, regardless of their intelligence. I grew up in a family of intelligent people, but they were not intellectuals, they have a more concrete, working class sensibility. So I know the difference between smart and educated, and I also know that while my high school drop out grandfather couldn’t critically think his way out of paper bag, he could weld like a mofo, and that takes something I don’t have. Pretty much everyone has something about them that is awesome, and intelligence is just one awesome thing in a sea of potential gifts. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/36 "2012-04-22T12:33:58Z")
I am the dumbest smart person I know. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/37 "2012-04-22T13:24:59Z")
I agree with **DSeid** about the poll. Most of the questions are hard to answer: people sometimes mistake my education or my vocabulary for intelligence, but in general people I know don’t go around assessing people’s intelligence or treating people differently because of our thoughts on how smart they are. What would be the point? Since I teach at the university level, though, I do end up assessing other people’s intelligence as a byproduct of my teaching, so I can answer one: [QUOTE=SDMBKL] How do you measure other people’s intelligence? [/QUOTE] I generally gauge someone’s intelligence by the combination of how much curiosity and imagination they have, and how quick they are to take in new ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/38 "2012-04-22T13:45:07Z")
No, I’m not intelligent. Not compared to the people I meet at work every day. They, the Inventors at (I can’t tell you) companies, make me feel stupid with their shining, punishing, brilliance. It can be disheartening, and I find I have to remind myself that they are the very cream of the crop and at least they come to me for answers to some things. But even then, they sometimes already know something so out on the fringe of our subject that I don’t, because they are so driven. This is not a stealth brag, quite the opposite. I used to think I was smart, but as the years roll on, I increasingly realize just how not smart I am. I’m much more open to asking questions than I once was. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/39 "2012-04-22T13:57:05Z")
“Because I am blessed by my good brain, I tend to get the answer rather quicker and more often than most people. That will sound frightfully arrogant.” Sir Bob Horton Chairman of BP Shortly before his sacking after their share price tanked in the face of his continued investment following the 1st Gulf crisis. A hand penned sign was placed in the Control Room notice board on the BP Platform I was working on at the time. Lost: One supercilious smug grin. Last seen gracing the face of our chief exec’s face shortly before the BP 3rd quarter results. If find please close its dropped wide open jaw and send back to penthouse suite Britannic House! ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498/40 "2012-04-22T13:59:35Z")
I have a reputation for being a smart guy but I think thats more a result of the simple fact that I read a lot rather than being particularly intelligent. As a result I can usually hold my own in a conversation on a given topic but I recognise that there are a few things that I simply cannot grasp. Economics for example, though the more I learn and read about that subject the more I’m convinced its simply one huge confidence scam and _nobody_ really understands it… 😉 I always liked the quote from Mark Twain, “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, I said I didn’t know.” Its amazing how many people are afraid to say they don’t actually know something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-intelligent/619498.md?page=3)