What I love is that she once ran a letter asking her what her greatest talent was. Her answer? “The ability to know my limits.”
How smart can you be if you’re writing for Parade?
I have to wipe my nose in public, because of my allergies. I try to be delicate about it, but I just can’t help it, it’s almost always runny. (It’s clear thin mucus, but still, not pretty to see.) 
I have to carry napkins, or paper towels with me too, because kleenex just doesn’t do the job. I throw them away after use. If I actually need to blow, I’ll at least go apart from others to do so. I do have to dab my nose delicately at the table though, or it would not be pretty. I’m as decrous as possible, and I doubt most people even notice when I do it.
That said, sometimes high IQ, and an affinity for etiquette/people skills go together. When I was tested, (don’t know what particular test was used) I came up high in both “logic” (applied sciences, “book learning”) and also “etiquette” (social niceties, the fine arts, manners) in fact almost balanced.
This is what the evaluator told me. He said I was very rare, because I’m female, and not only tested high in etiquette (to be expected), but also almost equally high in logic. He said, that it was more “expected” that a male would be the one to score high, and nearly balanced in both. This was quite a while ago though, the ways such things are evaluated today may have changed.
Has anyone found a link to this yet? I want to read this person’s writhings myself, to see if she’s really as pretensious as people are painting.
Several hyperintelligent people I know are in fact the last people I’d come to on questions of manners and etiquette. Including the former boy genius who invited himself to a party at my house, turned up an hour early when we were still getting ready, sat there saying nothing, then said “I’ve double-booked myself this evening” and left an hour later.
I just pick my nose.
Problem solved.
Yeah, it seems that guy had no clue, but he did want to be with you, and at the other place too. I’d have just shrugged, said at least he came by to see me, and moved on. I’d maybe have spoken gently to him about it later, and asked him why he didn’t let me know he’d be dropping by early for a bit to hang out, then leaving early so I could at least make my party preparation plans accordingly, and get to be with him.
The point I was making was that, just because you know the person to be a “genius” don’t discount their comprehension of social niceties because of this fact. Look at the SDMB, for example. There are several people here, who are VERY intelligent, but have demonstrated through their posts, (and maybe in person at Dopefests) that the are “socially acceptable.”
Each individual has strengths and weaknesses. The prescence of one strentgh does not block the potential for the prescence of another. The reverse is also true. Get to know the person, and try to keep an open mind. Sometimes you expect that the person will be a certain way, and look for “proofs” and of course, you find them. It’s not “fair” to lock a person into a pose before you’ve even taken the time to find out what they are like. You could be losing a friend, and affecting them by your reactions to the preconceptions you hold.
Ok, I’m done lecturing for now. I hope I get the chance to read a column or two this person wrote so I can see for myself.
Point is, I didn’t invite him. He called out of the blue and invited himself - don’t think he cared about being with us, he just wanted to be at the party. I don’t know him well enough to have a word; nor indeed do I care enough to do so, as long as it doesn’t inconvenience me.
Ah, I see. I missed the “invited himself” part. Geez, what a :wally!
I thought this would be about Marilyn Manson.
http://www.marilynvossavant.com/
That’s the main site; not sure if the column in question is there. But he writing doesn’t change a lot from column to column, of course, so you’ll still see plenty of unwarranted arrogance.
I just don’t understand this disdain for people who want to share their bodily evacuation noises with the public.
The people that honk when nose-blowing, sneeze with loud explosive sounds, or hawk up their mucus-laden agglomerations with a panache that can be heard blocks away are actually doing us a favor, reminding us that they are germ-laden potential SARS-spreaders, and permitting us to take quick evasive action. It’s the subtle, surreptitious snifflers that are the real threat.
I mean, don’t you appreciate the loud, machine-gun-style farters in your midst, as opposed to the silent-but-deadlies? We’re talking fair warning here, people.
And what, exactly, are high-IQ people qualified for? Some of the dumbest morons I’ve ever met in my life have incredibly high IQs. And some of the smartest, most brilliant people I’ve known (in many fields) have pretty unremarkable IQs. I’m not sure the standard IQ test (if there is such a thing – I have no idea) measures anything other than the ability to take standardized tests and the degree of experience one has taking them.
I’d like to punch her in the nose and see what sort of sounds she makes when blowing the blood-laden snot out of it in the next few weeks.
Pushing aside for the moment the very valid point that IQ level does not actually mean much of anything at all, let’s move on to etiquette. There’s a difference between etiquette and common decency. Common decency is something we all basically agree on: you should not shake hands with a snot-covered palm. Etiquette, on the other hand, is just someone’s opinion. It mostly deals with proper wedding gifts and silverware. Saying “it is bad etiquette to honk your nose in public” just means that the writer does not like people who honk their noses in public. We all seem to go through life forming our own etiquette rules. Apparently Marilyn does not like honkers, and this is her right. Where she crosses the line is 1) implying etiquette is anything other than personal opinion, and 2) encouraging others to laugh at people.
Common decency says we do not laugh at people. Those who violate etiquette may meet rolled eyes and snide comments; those who violate common decency must be shunned. Therefore I suggest we all shun Marilyn. She’s a big pompous moron anyway. And really, if she’s the smartest person in the world, what the hell is she doing writing an etiquette column? If this is the best gig a supposed genius can get, the job market is looking pretty bleak for the rest of us.
The job of being Cecil Adams was already taken. 
Oh, for fuck’s sake. She doesn’t write an “etiquette column,” she writes a general knowledge/brainteaser column. Someone wrote in to her with a niggling little peeve, and she shared a peeve of her own: people who, while she’s enjoying a meal in a restaurant, honk while blowing their noses. She then said that she just laughs. Translation for those with the reading comprehension of tree moles: She doesn’t get her panties in a twist when people do things she doesn’t like; nor does she stand, point her finger and loudly mock the offending sickie. She just laughs. Again, IIRC, her answer took all of a column inch. OK, maybe two – Parade keeps the print pretty loose.
Get over it, Ryan.
Well, does she laugh, or laugh at them with the intention of shaming into not doing it? Since I haven’t read the column, I don’t know how she phrased it.
You guys might want to look at this site to see some instances in which vos Savant is thought to have been incorrect (factually, not in such mundanities as manners).
Haven’t seen the actual column, but if it’s true that she is just griping about people ostentatiously clearing their sinuses in an eatery, I’ve got to agree that such behaviour is totally beyond the pale, and anything that can be done to discourage it, should be done. A certain amount of self-consciousness is a good thing.
Hell, sometimes it’s necessary to clean your nose after (or even during) a meal. Especially if you’re enjoying a wicked-hot vindaloo. If it needs to be done at the table, and can be done discreetly, then fine. If you need to honk, for god’s sake, go to the restroom. Hell, there have been times when I’ve found it necessary to excuse myself several times for this purpose.
Anybody who would loudly blow their nose in a restaurant ought to be ostracized. Some things simply aren’t done in civil society. I might not laugh at someone in this situation, but I am liable to glare or sneer. There’s a faint hope that the Yahoo in question might actually be compelled to consider what it might be about their behaviour that elicits such negative attention.
Nametag
On what do you you base this?
[quote]
Someone wrote in to her with a niggling little peeve, and she shared a peeve of her own: people who, while she’s enjoying a meal in a restaurant, honk while blowing their noses. [q/uote]
And I wrote about my own peeve: people who make fun of other people’s misfortune. Seems to me that my peeve is more justified than hers. And yet you’ve spent twice as many posts complaining about mine than I have of hers.