# Mensa: WTF! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 28, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231 "2000-04-28T16:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/1 "2000-04-28T16:05:00Z")
Why would anyone pay money to be in a society full of intellectual snobbery? Wouldn’t the really smart people just save their money and get some the good ol’ fashioned way? (Yes, I mean the internet) \ ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/2 "2000-04-28T16:17:00Z")
I respect my father for many things. One of them is that he took the MENSA test, passed it, and declined to join. “It’s enough for me, why do I need to pay money to show what I already know,” he said. Admittedly, his ego allowed him to also say he knew it BEFORE he took the test, but still… 🙂 * * * Yer pal, Satan [http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif](http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif) _I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR: Two weeks, five days, 14 hours, 16 minutes and 56 seconds. 783 cigarettes not smoked, saving $97.97. Life saved: 2 days, 17 hours, 15 minutes._ ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/3 "2000-04-28T16:27:00Z")
I took the test, passed it and did join. It’s a lot of fun. The total cost was $35 ten years ago, and my card still works. (They’re kind of laid back here. Berkeley.) Check the site for meeting places near you. There’s no need to take the test, they all love visitors. It’s a social club, not an international chess tournament. We meet every week at Blake’s on Telegraph, in the heart of the action. Except for me and the guy who loves to go on about light opera performers of yesteryear, everyone else is normal. ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/4 "2000-04-28T16:53:00Z")
\ I could get in right now based on my SAT scores… But my view of Mensa is that it’s an organization of people who are good at puzzles. I’d rather earn my way into a society like the SDMB, where intelligence, wit and charm count for more than puzzle-solving ability, and the membership seems more actively interested in the bigger issues of fighting ignorance and advancing the cause of knowlege. * * * Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/5 "2000-04-28T16:58:00Z")
Speaking of fighting ignorance, SingleDad, what’s the sig line mean? Best off the cuff translation I can come up with is “Throw me the house. I don’t like to live here, and my saxophone is in my mouth.” (Not bad for not knowing a word of the language, huh?) * * * JMCJ “Y’know, I would invite y’all to go feltch a dead goat, but that would be abuse of a perfectly good dead goat and an insult to all those who engage in that practice for fun.” -weirddave, set to maximum flame ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/6 "2000-04-29T05:00:00Z")
That’s very true SingleDad, and we at least get to kick Marilyn Vos Savant once in a while, too. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/7 "2000-04-29T05:07:00Z")
John, I was going to ask for some clarification too. What I’ve puzzled out so far is: I have a catapult. If you don’t give me all your money . . . Help out, SingleDad, it’s driving me bonkers. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/8 "2000-04-29T05:15:00Z")
When I was a kids I always wanted to be in Mensa. about 6 years ago I got in and went to my first meeting. IT was nto what you would expect. there was a palm reader, a mechanic, and I forget what oher mundane professions. WHe all sat around without a damn thing in common. Then it hit me: What the hell were we supposed to do, talk about how smart we are? How tough it is to find other smart people to talk to? We had nothing at all to talk about. I never joined, and never went to another meeting. My money would be better spent joining a group that shared a common love for an activity. Sure it is great to be able to get into Mensa, but it is really a social club without a central focus. Not for me. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/9 "2000-04-29T05:24:00Z")
John Corrado, phouka, SingleDad’s sing is from a list of comical latin sayings that makes the round over the internet. It means “_I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head._” See more [at this link](http://www.cyberdrive.net/~ckawalek/LatSayings.html). ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/10 "2000-04-29T05:28:00Z")
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. Uh… I have a catapult. If you don’t give me all your money, I will send a monstrous rock to your head. Is that right, Daddy-o? ---
**Author:** ![Beakeroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@Beakeroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beakeroni)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/11 "2000-04-29T05:29:00Z")
I have always thought of intelligence tests as measures of potential. A good analogy, IMO, would be that of the size of gas tanks. A really big gas tank still needs to be filled with gas. I would have to say, having read many, many postings to this board, that most of you are filled with a lot of gas… This should be considered a compliment. 😃 * * * When the wheels come off, it’s time to retire. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/12 "2000-04-29T05:30:00Z")
Damn you, Arnold Winkelried! ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/13 "2000-04-29T05:37:00Z")
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules. ---
**Author:** ![Fillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/14 "2000-04-29T05:44:00Z")
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt. ---
**Author:** ![Morgan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Morgan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/15 "2000-04-29T05:51:00Z")
IQ tests are extraordinarily silly. There are so many facets to intelligence. Who is to say that fashion sense is any more or less valuable than the ability to unscramble a word? Unfortunately, I have the sense of humor of a lump of coal. Can’t come up with something funny to save my life. Got 29 out of 30 questions right on the “Mensa Workout,” though. I guess that lets me think I’m superior to some of my friends who maybe wouldn’t score as well, but are so funny that my sides hurt after spending any length of time with them. It’s ridiculous. It is like starting a club where the only people who could join are those that need less sleep than 98% of the population. A Sleep-Less club would be fine, but what bothers me is when they start touting themselves, not as a club of insomniacs, but as a club of people whose stamina is in the top 2%. If the Sleep-Less club really wanted to have a club of people with high staminas, they would do more than look at people’s sleep records. BTW, this is from the mensa website: > [@](#): > > Mensa has three stated purposes: to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence, and to promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/16 "2000-04-29T05:51:00Z")
Finally a use for my six years of Latin classes… Ubi ignis est? * * * Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! ---
**Author:** ![Hepzibah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hepzibah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hepzibah)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/17 "2000-04-28T18:13:00Z")
This quote is from a book, actually a two-volume set, by well-known humor writer Henry Beard (Henricus Barbicus), called Latin for All Occasions and Latin for Even More Occasions. Large sections of it have been cribbed and sent round the Internet for a long time. Futue tu et caballum tuum… * * * Ooh, I love your magazine. My favorite section is `How to increase your word power’. That thing is really, really… really… good. – Homer, ``Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington’’ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/18 "2000-04-28T18:24:00Z")
“Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.” = “Come, earthworm—write me a small prescription for Tums, or I will throw you in the habebunt!” “Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.” = “That cave full of caterpillars and ants is moving!” ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/19 "2000-04-28T18:27:00Z")
Sheesh, I figured out SingleDad’s sig line like a week ago. It’s in the “Way to Go” thread over in ATMB. Five years of Latin has to be good for something. * * * “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” - Adam Smith ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231/20 "2000-04-28T18:27:00Z")
Mensa in triclinio est. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mensa-wtf/6231.md?page=2)