# How many Dopers are Mensans?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-dopers-are-mensans/185545>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 1, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-dopers-are-mensans/185545 "2003-07-01T10:46:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-dopers-are-mensans/185545/62 "2003-07-04T12:42:03Z")

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Another lapsed Mensan here. I hadn’t done much with them lately, so I didn’t bother to renew. Here are a few random observations.

I too have found that few Mensans brag about it to non-Ms. I met both charming people and tedious people in the organization, some very interesting, some rather dull. I did not perceive an elitist atmosphere. You’re guaranteed to learn something new and hear a few clever puns at any of the gatherings. Games nights are fun. Picnics are fun. I never went to any of the major regional gatherings, so I don’t know about those, but I imagine they’d be a lot of fun.

I joined 7-8 years ago because at the time I was working in an office where stupidity defined the corporate culture, and I wanted to be in some social settings where there were some smart people, and you weren’t pressured to act dumb.

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**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-dopers-are-mensans/185545/63 "2003-07-04T12:57:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mariemarie \*  
> \*\*I joined 7-8 years ago because at the time I was working in an office where stupidity defined the corporate culture, and I wanted to be in some social settings where there were some smart people, and you weren’t pressured to act dumb. \*\*

Without naming Corporate names I bet I now work for that company.

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**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-dopers-are-mensans/185545/64 "2003-07-04T15:58:14Z")

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**Tarantula** , no, I doubt you work for them-- it was a government environmental regulation agency, and it was devouring my soul. It was the Dilbert Principle Illustrated: the least competent people got promoted to management, (1)because they needed to keep competent people in positions where actual work was done, and (2) to avoid exposing the idiocy of those already at the management level.

I’m guessing it’s pretty common. ☹

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