# smarter or better looking **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456 "2000-08-23T16:12:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/41 "2000-08-25T07:21:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michi \* > **I would much rather be smarter!** This answer does not suprise me at all. You wishing to be prettier is like Bill Gates wishing to have more money. Me? I think I would rather be smarter… for the same reason of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/42 "2000-08-25T07:22:22Z")
BTW: My husband is the man of my dreams. (see [http://www.sammivision.com/pictures.htm](http://www.sammivision.com/pictures.htm) ) He is 6’2", 250lbs., balding and not a genius (according to him, I disagree). “Despite” this, he was made the youngest partner in the history of the “international professional services firm” he works for. He also makes me laugh daily, is a true gentleman, creative, a great father, suprisingly tender, supportive, understanding, and the best lay I’ve ever had. He calls me every day he travels to ask how my day was. He reads to our daughter every night when he’s home. Even though he hates it, he goes to weird “cultural” things with me because he knows I love it. He grins like a lunatic when I, a former stripper who still hasn’t finished college, tell him that I’m proud of him. He kisses me goodbye every morning without fail. I am extraordinarily lucky to have found him and I feel blessed. He truly is the love of my life. AND, he was poor when I met him. 😉 The point here: Just an ode to my Hubby, who is away on business, and will never see this anyway as he’s not a Doper. (That’s the one point where I think he’s lacking!) ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/43 "2000-08-25T12:56:45Z")
I’d have course have to go with the brains… I mean, I already love to brag about how smart I am (my actual intelligence is rather irrelevant in the discussion; that’s not the point) so I’d like to actually be as smart as I say I am 🙂 I think I’m tall enough already (6’4) and I hope anyone I’m interested in would be deep enough to look past any physical shortcomings… so bring on the brains! ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/44 "2000-08-25T13:55:33Z")
like Sue says, to earn enough money to change my looks (or at least get laser surgery on my eyes). And I sure would like a little mechanical ability poured into my brain. About marrying an extremely intelligent man who weighed 450 pounds: I usually am attracted to a person by their brains and sense of humor, and that eventually causes me to fall in love, and then I think that person is the handsomest man in the world. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/45 "2000-08-25T21:12:09Z")
I’d definitely go for smarter. I very rarely give a rat’s ass what I look like, and a few more IQ points would probably make me even care less. I mean, c’mon, I could ask for beauty, but, after 15 years or so, the sun damage and gravity will kick in anyways. The smarts last far longer–and pay more in the long run. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/46 "2000-08-26T00:43:18Z")
For those who are female on here and want to look better, you’re out of your respective gourds. You need brains so you can see how beautiful you all are. As for me . . . definitely smarter. Then I could make gobs of money with which to have plastic surgery to get better-looking! And I got that idea before looking at Spider OR Sue’s posts, so nyah! thinksnow: yes, but are you happy or paranoid? Poysyn . . . Poysyn, Poysyn, Poysyn. What ARE we going to do with/to you? (All this IIMO)Truly sad when someone thinks she needs larger breasts to be beautiful. The recent threads to that effect must have passed themselves over in your mind.☹ ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/47 "2000-08-26T01:07:01Z")
horowitz wrote: > [@](#): > > At my height I think I am destined to be the worker bee engineer with a dumpy wife and a minivan. You could avoid this fate by moving to the Silicon Valley. There are so many more men in the Valley than there are women, you probably won’t end up with _any_ wife at all. Not that I’m bitter, grumble grumble. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/48 "2000-08-26T11:46:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DRY \* > \*\*1. Either would be pathetically easy to upgrade for me. > > 1. Let’s just say I’m good looking enough to be in Mensa, and smart enough to be a movie star. > > \*\* 1. Dammit, DRY, stop putting yourself down. Us chicks in your harem will be exhausted from arguing with you about it. 2. God, that’s funny. You’re smart enough to crack _me_ up, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/49 "2000-08-26T11:50:17Z")
Clicked on submit too soon. To answer the OP, I’d probably like another helping of either one. Doesn’t matter to me. I’m pretty happy with myself physically, except I’d like to lose a few pounds. My brains work as well as I ask them to, most of the time. No complaints, generally. (Isn’t that amazing. An decent IQ, Salutatorian of my class, etc. and I still fall for the feminine need to fit the ideal…\*I’d like to loose a few pounds…\*Doesn’t it make you laugh…) ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/50 "2000-08-27T04:57:55Z")
**Spider Woman** said: > [@](#): > > About marrying an extremely intelligent man who weighed 450 pounds: I usually am attracted to a person by their brains and sense of humor, and that eventually causes me to fall in love, and then I think that person is the handsomest man in the world. That’s a good attitude–the attitude I think everybody should have. But it is definitely not the _prevalent_attitude–if it was, the question in the OP wouldn’t even be asked. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/51 "2000-08-27T09:34:52Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by TroubleAgain \* \*\* > [@](#): > > 1. Dammit, DRY, stop putting yourself down. Us chicks in your harem will be exhausted from arguing with you about it. > \*\* Well, I don’t have a harem, but [flirting] the respect and affection of even one such poster as charming as you, is enough! [/flirting] \*\* > [@](#): > > 1. God, that’s funny. You’re smart enough to crack _me_ up, anyway. > \*\* I hope you think I have a sense of humor. I don’t do magic tricks. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/52 "2000-08-28T19:34:40Z")
JoeyHemlock: I’m girlfriend-less right now and I’m looking for a job. 'Course I am dating quite a bit and I’m looking because my inherent market value is quite a bit above what I currently earn, I’m bored and I hate North Carolina. mouthbreather: I’m the modestist person I know. In fact, I’d be willing to say I’m the most modest person that ever was modest. IMH(and modest)O. APB9999: that was just damn funny. Oh, what a hearty laugh I had. thanks. iampunha: I think I’m happy, but wait, is that just something I tell myself? Hold on, maybe it’s just…whoa, um, 🙂 I think I’m happy. Did I say that? Who said that? What? Okay. If it makes ya’all feel better, I didn’t type that entry: my cats were on the keyboard again (didn’t someone once say that if a thousand cats walked on a thousand keyboards for a thousand years none of them would care?). ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/53 "2000-08-29T00:21:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*It would depend on whether I planned to live in Los Angeles or New York. \*\* So what if you’re both beautiful _and_ intelligent. Does this mean that Eve should live in, say, Leadville? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/54 "2000-08-29T00:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tymp \* > \*\*That’s funny, **APB9999**. Even having met you, I never would have guessed that your middle name was Eratosthenes. 😉 \*\* That’s because appearances can be de-sieve-ing. That _was_ funny, APB. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456/55 "2000-08-29T02:50:58Z")
Looks like I’m a bit late, but: Smarter. I’m a little dull in comparison to some of the other crayons in the box. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smarter-or-better-looking/30456.md?page=2)