Twitter Users Share 30 Everyday Signs That Show A Person Is Very Smart But Others May Confuse Them With Stupidity
You may know a person that is really intelligent: they have college degrees, they have written papers, they understand concepts that most people believe are out of their reach, yet they still do some things that make them look kind of stupid.
They may be more quiet or ask a lot of questions with seemingly obvious answers. However, according to people on Twitter, these qualities actually mean a person is intelligent.
Image credits: Mike Mozart
Image credits: MorningBrew
Media company Morning Brew asked Twitter users to name signs that a person is intelligent but that people often confuse with stupidity. Take a look at them and upvote the ones you agree with the most. If you have anything to add, leave it in the comments!
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Bored Panda has written a fun article in which intelligent people with several degrees confessed what stupid things they have done that caused them embarrassment. If you would like to read it, you can click here after you’re done reading through this thread.
This time, people on Twitter were discussing the things that mean a person is actually intelligent but that others would think is a sign of stupidity. A lot of them were repeating that a silent person, a person that asks a lot of questions and a person who isn’t afraid to admit that they don’t know something may indicate that they are thoughtful, thinking things through carefully and not pretending to know it all.
There are more qualities that an intelligent person possesses. Among the above mentioned traits, various psychology research papers say that people who have higher IQ read a lot, are open-minded and are not afraid to change their point of view. They also enjoy their own company and they usually have a great sense of humor.
Higher intelligence was also tied with being taller, having a smaller waist and having learnt a musical instrument. Psychologists say that older siblings tend to be smarter than the younger ones. And various experiments reveal that left-handed people have a more creative way of thinking.
Epitome and hyperbole are two I still occasionally pronounce wrong simply out of habit.
The name Sioban - never understood how you get ‘She-Vaun’ from that
Load More Replies...I'm British but have lived most of my life in Germany. So a lot of my English Chinese from reading. My word is "awry". In my head it's pronounced awe-rie.
Yes yes yes, I read so much and so I often find myself pronouncing words wrong because I only read them, and never say them.
Until I was about 24, I pronounced misled as MY-zled. And I was an English major. 😳
And then you see the movie adaptation of the book and you're saying "Oh, oh yeah."
Reminds me of Bill and Ted: it’s Socrates! Look him up, he’s under Soh-kray-tz
I always pronounced the word taciturn as “tacky-turn” in my heard. It was only a year or two ago that I actually heard the word spoken aloud and it’s pronounced “tasuh-turn” and that just seems so wrong.
Thank you-- I learned something today! I've never heard it spoken at all.
Load More Replies...My first therapist slipped and laughed at me when I said the word omnipotent erong because I've never heard it spoken before. She made fun of me for not knowing how to say the word snd wouldn't move on until I said it correctly.
Hmmm... doesn't sound like a particularly good therapist. I mean, correcting an error is fine, but making fun of you? Rather pathetic of them.
Load More Replies...When I was little, I had only read the word idiot, and for some reason I'd read it as "I dote" and that's how I pronounced it for a long time.
In 5th grade my teacher had me do HER reading aloud to the class and NEVER corrected me when I pronounced "colonel" exactly as it's spelled, though I read it many times aloud! I was an ADULT before I learned the correct pronunciation!
I have a friend who, even now she's 30, still pronounces colonel as colonial. I think she knows it's wrong but can't stop it now.
Load More Replies...I used the word "Paradigm" in front of some fellow pilots once, but pronounced it "para-dijum" because I'd never heard it spoken before. Still feel like a fool 20 years later.
Macabre. My husband & I always say "macawbree". We know it's incorrect, but it's more fun.
god, this. if i know i'm going to be explaining or telling something that contains a word i'm not familiar with, i look up how it's pronounced before doing so.
Some people mispronounce words because they’re stupid, though. Let’s not pretend that people say “specific ocean” because they’ve only ever read Pacific.
Huh, I've never heard it mis-spoken that way, but I have heard 'I pacifically want this'
Load More Replies...When I was a kid I pronounced row, like the fight, as row, like a boat and my mother still teases me at times. I was 13 and hadn't heard it before.
But . . . We have the internet now and a nice lady tells you how to properly say any word you look up with "pronunciation of [any-word]"
I have the same problem - I call it brain-mouth dyslexia. My brain knows exactly what it wants to explain or say but my mouth just can't make it happen.
It’s nice to read such articles and find that you can relate to the things that are said, because it is hard to value your own intelligence. There is a theory called the Dunning–Kruger effect, which suggests that smart people tend to underestimate their capabilities and people who are less smart tend to think that they are more clever than they are. So if you have some pointers, you can have a clearer understanding of what you may need to work on.
I always feel the need to start my question with ‘this may be a stupid question’ or ‘just to clarify’
I have always had conversations with myself, aloud and in my head. Usually when I am trying to decide between two courses of action.
Of course, a person can be intelligent and not have these qualities, either mentioned in this list or in other research papers as they only show some tendencies that come up in test groups. Nonetheless, these kinds of generalizations are always good fun if you don't take them too seriously.
So what do you think of them? Do you find that some of these are not true at all? We are always interested to hear your opinions!
My daughter and I do this all the time. I'll have an idea, and she'll improve on it, whereupon I'll accept that her idea is better. However, we both consider these situations to be collaborative efforts. Neither of us is necessarily wrong; instead, we came to the conclusion together.
Some people would rather stay in ignorance than admit they don't already know everything.
As a compliance officer this right here is everyday. People expect me to know everything about all regulations in my industry. You know how many different regulatory agencies a single company has to abide by, how many volumes of regulations each one has, and how often they change or get updated? Google, Google is 80% of my job.
I don't have a strong opinion on anything and it can come across as if I'm hiding my true opinion or that I'm naive or clueless. The truth is, there's soooo much we don't know so it's pointless trying to forge solid conclusions. I'm also skeptical of all forms of news and rely on personal observations more than news reports and second hand stories, because the amount of propaganda out there is frightfully high.
To the person who downvoted: do you really want a particle physicist swapping out your breaker box?
most issues do not have a black and white, right or wrong "side" some however do for instance, killing someone can have some grey area, sexual assault no.
Again, not necessarily a sign of intelligence. That may indicate that you're dealing with a bright person who changes their opinions when they receive game-changing information, or you may be dealing with one of those idiots that always believes what the last person told them.
"In your own words. Do you have your own words? Personally, I'm using the ones that everyone else has been using. Next time they tell you to say something in your own words, say, "Nigflot blorny quando floon." George Carlin
Some of these MIGHT indicate intelligence. Sometimes silence is not an indicator of being thoughtful and profound, sometimes we are just too dumb to speak.
Standing for yourself even when a stupid crowd tries to look like a majority and to silence you.
The ability to listen to others rather than subbornly stick to your opinion despite the evidence.
Load More Replies...I would reiterate on the poor language and leave out the false information of being multi lingual. What I agree with is difficulty finding the word you want or having to use less intelligent sounding words. I know first hand from experience with a form of aphasia created by seizures and the difficulty communicating exactly what I want to say with part of my epilepsy being located in the speech section of my brain. I often find myself using the "long way around" to explain something and to people who don't know me, it makes me sound very simple, even uneducated. I use the dictionary and thesaurus a lot to find if words are correct or to find the correct word.
Patience and prudence, specially in America are mistaken for stupidity
Being generally weird. Every genius who ever lived has been a complete weirdo.
There are things that others just cannot understand.
Load More Replies...Knowing your audience and adapting your methods of communication to ensure they are included and that you keep their interest. This works on all levels, it doesn’t matter if you are playing with children or talking to a conference full of the brightest professors, use the wrong language or adopt the wrong body language and you’ll lose them in a moment.
I was hoping someone would have said my biggest problem. Being profoundly hearing impaired. When you have to ask people to repeat themselves over and over, they tend to think you're a moron. It's one of the main reasons I rarely socialize. Invisible disabilities can be some of the hardest ones to deal with (in social interactions, that is). When people can't see it, it's harder for them to understand.
But that is not a sign of intelligence, unless you want to say that the more intelligent someone is, the more likely they are to be hearing impaired? Your example is an invisible disability being confused with being stupid. :)
Load More Replies...Being able to recognize when you're wrong (not just in terms of facts, but in terms of how you act, too)
This post makes me so happy :) I do a LOT of these naturally and its nice to see acknowledgment of their value. Having wisdom is something very important to me.
Some of these MIGHT indicate intelligence. Sometimes silence is not an indicator of being thoughtful and profound, sometimes we are just too dumb to speak.
Standing for yourself even when a stupid crowd tries to look like a majority and to silence you.
The ability to listen to others rather than subbornly stick to your opinion despite the evidence.
Load More Replies...I would reiterate on the poor language and leave out the false information of being multi lingual. What I agree with is difficulty finding the word you want or having to use less intelligent sounding words. I know first hand from experience with a form of aphasia created by seizures and the difficulty communicating exactly what I want to say with part of my epilepsy being located in the speech section of my brain. I often find myself using the "long way around" to explain something and to people who don't know me, it makes me sound very simple, even uneducated. I use the dictionary and thesaurus a lot to find if words are correct or to find the correct word.
Patience and prudence, specially in America are mistaken for stupidity
Being generally weird. Every genius who ever lived has been a complete weirdo.
There are things that others just cannot understand.
Load More Replies...Knowing your audience and adapting your methods of communication to ensure they are included and that you keep their interest. This works on all levels, it doesn’t matter if you are playing with children or talking to a conference full of the brightest professors, use the wrong language or adopt the wrong body language and you’ll lose them in a moment.
I was hoping someone would have said my biggest problem. Being profoundly hearing impaired. When you have to ask people to repeat themselves over and over, they tend to think you're a moron. It's one of the main reasons I rarely socialize. Invisible disabilities can be some of the hardest ones to deal with (in social interactions, that is). When people can't see it, it's harder for them to understand.
But that is not a sign of intelligence, unless you want to say that the more intelligent someone is, the more likely they are to be hearing impaired? Your example is an invisible disability being confused with being stupid. :)
Load More Replies...Being able to recognize when you're wrong (not just in terms of facts, but in terms of how you act, too)
This post makes me so happy :) I do a LOT of these naturally and its nice to see acknowledgment of their value. Having wisdom is something very important to me.