I get the same reaction when conversation turns to my Japanese fluency. It’s Japanese not Sindarin people, not Noldarin, nor Klingon, nor even Chinese. It also took me 7 years, 2 visits, and 1 serious relationship to get this way. So cram your stilted, embarrassing compliments into your falsely humble piehole.
I used to avoid admitting I was in medicine for exactly the same reason. I’ve learned to get the conversation back on the other person’s turf quickly, and show an interest and/or lack of knowledge about something they do.
Um, someone needs to learn to take a compliment a little better…
“Oh, it was nothing. Just seven years, two visits, and one serious relationship…no, seriously. It’s nothing, really.”
Them: So, what’s your major?
Me: Mechanical engineering.
Them: Ohh, you’re a mechanic!
Me: :smack:
It’s interesting to see that other professions seem to have similar reactions.
In my case it always gets followed up with, “I hated chemistry in high school.” What are they trying to tell me? So you don’t want to talk to me because you hated chemistry in high school?
I couldn’t begin to describe the theory behind what I do to a non-chemist, but essentially I’m a cook. I just cook at -78˚C under an inert atmosphere.
I guess I’m lucky. Everyone assumes I’m an idiot.
That’s ok, no one even knows what my major is.
Them: You’re a psychology major, right?
Me: No, its sociology actually.
T: Isn’t that what I said?/What is that?/What are you going to do with that?!
And if you say you’re majoring in English they say oh I’ll have to watch my grammar!
Dang, you smart people need to loosen the #%&*@ up! 
Geeky science folk, let me explain: people are just trying to start a conversation with you. They do not know you. There is no cue cards that tell them what to clever or appropriate thing to say. They don’t come prepared with notes on what is involved with all of the major professions. They have to make it up on the spot, right then and there. All they know is the name of your profession or area of study. Many people think that giving a compliment is a good way to start a conversation. 97% of the people on the planet consider “You must be smart” as a compliment. There are lots and lots and lots of people who consider the procedures and computations necessary to be a chemist (or other science professions) to be very difficult. A significant percentage of the world could not do them accurately, even with training. Take the compliment and instead of feeling like you are being treated like an alien or that no one will talk to you because you are so smart- try continuing the conversation without the getting offended or feeling alienated part. Example:
You: I am a chemist.
Bartender: Oh my god, you must be so smart!
You: (with a gentle grin) Nah, not really. It is really not as difficult as you may think. But you know, I can never make my Margaritas right- I don’t know if it is the ingredients or the way that I am putting them together. What do you think?
Bartender: Blah
You: Blah Blah etc.
See how easy it is not to get offended! Wouldn’t be just hilarious if the bartender freaked out just because you asked him a drink question (“just because I am a bartender, all people do is ask me about drinks, #%&* bastards- all of them!”?
Mesquite-oh
Therapist who frequently has people try to get free therapy at parties or ask if what their kid is doing means that they are going to turn out gay
Mesquite-oh, you just made a great post. I bet you’re awfully smart 
Heh. I’m a lawyer; all people ask me at parties is how much pot you can have before the cops get interested.
Christopher, you just intimidate people. I was a history major. I intimidated no one. In fact, people kept expecting me to know stuff about history. Do you know how big history is? No matter how much you know, there’s a ton of other stuff out there you just can’t cram into your head. I finally had to go to law school just so I would intimidate people with my degree. Sadly, it doesn’t work as well as I thought it would…
When someone tells me they are in engineering I ALWAYS ask them if they get to wear those striped hats like they do in the movies. I find it terribly amusing (if slightly insulting) when they explain to me what engineering really is.
Regarding the OP, I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal that people assume you’re smart because you have have a particular major. There are definitely worse things people can pigeonhole you as. I understand that generalizations aren’t a good thing, but there are worse things people can think of you.
Yep yep. And even with people to whom you’re closer, there’s this divide between “stuff that everybody is supposed to find interesting/understand/whatever” and “science”.
When I was in college for one of the five hardest major/college combos in Spain, I got it all the time from people who were in other majors. People who’d already graduated, not so much but still some times; people who’d never even considered college actually were the only ones who weren’t a pain about it: for these, college was college was college, they might ask “what kind of work would that lead to”, which is a continuation of the conversation.
Currently, I find that people from other professions, when asked “how was your day”, will be glad to explain to you the poop state of each of their twelve students (kindergarten teacher), or that they’ve got a civil trial coming and got the hard judge (lawyer), or that the new law on inheritance taxes is leading to a reorganization on the ownership of shares at their company (accountant). But if someone asks an astronomer “how did your day go?” and he says “pretty neat, we got some real cool pics from one of the X-ray telescopes,” the answer they get is, at best “uh? no, no, please don’t explain” and at worst a glazed look and a description of child poo…
One of the biggest sources of scientific brains for the US has been imports, for the last 100 years at the very least. This is extremely evident in chemistry, for example, where it is not uncommon to see universities where every single graduate student is a foreigner (in spite of having a preferential quota for americans). When you combine “not growing it in-house” with “really complicating immigration”, you’ve got a problem.
drm, the problem is not that people think you’re smart. The problem is the absolute lack of interest in anything scientific and the way that being a scientist can kill conversation.
… that never involved someone at a party trying to cage free help of one type or another was gravedigger. It was fantastic. Nobody ever asked me at a party or social function to help them dig a grave.
Wish the same was true now… sigh… now that I work in Computers.
Tell someone you’re a music student - “so how many instruments do you play?” Errr, just the one.
For some reason, start teaching, and they’ve lost interest in that one, but become convinced that you’re interested in hearing about how they played the violin for about four months in primary school.
(In the interim, tell them you’re doing a Masters in musicology, and they don’t have much of a response)
What drives me bonkers is when the conversation goes like this…
Stucco: I’m a biology major
Other person: Oh, you want to be a doctor?
Stucco: No, actually I’m more interested in ecology-type stuff than medicine.
Other person: Oh… why would you waste a good biology degree like that?
Conversation dies.
When asking a new acquaintence their occupation or field of study and I get a general answer such as “chemist”, I then ask a followup question about their specific field within chemistry (i.e. organic or inorganic). This works quite well to trigger an interesting conversation. The one time it didn’t work was when I asked a young man what his field of study was and he said “meteorology”. I asked what aspect was his speciality (i.e. hurricanes, cumulonimbus clouds, the jet stream, etc.). He said “all of it.” :dubious:
Yes, I forgot about that. I’ve now got pupils who are planning to go on to study music themselves, and are facing the same conversations: “So you want to be a musician?” No. “A music teacher?” No. “So why not study something else?” :rolleyes: (One of them basically got that line of questioning from a careers advisor :double-rolleyes: )
I’m a first year Science student at ANU. I haven’t chosen a major yet so I’m doing Chem, Biol, Psyc and Stat.
All of my family friends have asked what I’m doing and I’m happy to talk about it and answer questions about it. What I don’t appreciate is this:
Friend: So what uni are you at?
F_PUB: ANU.
Friend: 
Wow, you must have done really well!
F_PUB, who actually didn’t and is kind of embarrassed about how easy it was to get into this uni: No, not really.
Friend: Oh. So what course?
F_PUB: B. Science. Haven’t chosen a major yet, doing Chem, Biol, Psyc and Stat.
Friend: Oh Psychology major eh?/Oh Stat was soooo boring/I hated Chemistry in high school/inane statement where ‘oh okay.’ would suffice.
Did I say I was majoring in Psych at any point? I enjoy Stat okay? That may make me a freak but I don’t care! Also don’t care if you hated Chem in high school. So did I incidentally but look at me now!