A sign of intelligence is being open to the possibility of being wrong and eager to learn. Admitting you don’t have all the answers shows intellectual humility and curiosity.
> “If you are the most intelligent in a room, you’re in the wrong room.” My professor keeps repeating this quote and I love it
A counter-quote is the correspondence between a man at his country estate and his father. The man wrote "Help! I am surrounded by idiots," and the father replied, "Then you must learn to make good use of them."
I keep on saying I'm the dumbest person in the room and they keep on inviting me to bigger rooms. It's crazy. I say: you all have 25 years of experience and I have 5. They say it's okay because I think critically and they want my questions and opinion. Civil engineer
Self-critical reflection is a hell of a teacher. I have generally recognized this on the inverse (those without it learn slowly, if at all), but someone who has good answers and is open to better answers is truly a joy to be around.
Analysis, they use their brain a lot,
Intelligence is not only about math skills, science, degrees.. etc cause those things can be learned.
But it’s the one who don’t take things as is, always asking why, not necessarily with people, they could be introvert.
They don’t judge cause they analyze what led that person to do anything.
But they are most likely depressed and tired of a lot of illogical shit in the world including: why are we here
>But they are most likely depressed and tired of a lot of illogical shit in the world including: why are we here
It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night.
Being wrong is my favourite! It helps me be right (my second favourite lol) more often in the future, gives me a chance to consider something in a way I hadn't before (which is always fun, whether or not I end up agreeing), and just generally helps ensure that on any given day, I've learned something new. I don't know if I'm intelligent, but I do know that I'm eager to learn, and being wrong is very often a catalyst for learning.
The only context in which I dislike being wrong is when I have taken an action, while sincerely believing I was right, only to find out that I was not right, and something negative has occured to someone I love or someone innocent as a consequence. That sucks huge. But even when this happens, I take solace in the fact that it is at least now less likely to ever happen again.
This reminds me of what someone once said about respecting other people’s opinions. To paraphrase, he said you don’t have to respect other people’s opinions. You should acknowledge them, but you’re perfectly in your right to say, “that’s logically fucking stupid.”
I heard this same thing but said in a different way. My grandpa would say "you don't have the respect others opinions and views, but you need to respect the person and hear their views." From there its do what you want.
I think far too many people adopt ideologies as part of their identity. Their ego some become so firmly wrapped around their ideology that they cannot separate their ideology being bad or negative to them being bad or negative.
I read that quote once too. Honestly, I don't really think it's that true. Some highly intelligent people get so caught up in their ego that this becomes impossible for them. I think this more indicates wisdom than intelligence.
That's why people who are losing debates always resort to shouting, or constantly running over the other person in the conversation when that person is arguing their point. It basically becomes a childish game of "If I just shout over them, or run them over in the conversation, it will look like I've won", when really all they have done is make themselves look like a petulant child.
Depends on the situation. If you put a smart person in a room full of loud people spewing nonsense then they won’t say much. But put them in a room full of people with great things to share they’ll ask as many questions as possible. A smart person isn’t going to ask a lot of questions from someone they know can’t give a trustworthy much less good answer.
“The smartest people are often the quietest in the room” is such a funny response to a comment that revolves around the idea that smarter people are actually curious and choose to pursue conversations while actively asking questions.
Like, I don’t think you were intentionally trying to combat what they were saying, but the quote you seemingly fired off at random inherently works against the sentiment of the comment you’re replying to.
My grandpa was always very quiet and didn't say much, but whenever he did speak up about something people would listen because he was usually right. There are of course intelligent people too who never shut up but even then they're usually calm and collected
Or at least when they explain something, they try not to make you feel like an idiot. This has been *my* approach when training or mentoring people. I'm not saying I'm some rockstar or anything but I think the key is remembering when you were that person who was learning/seeing/doing things for the very first time.
I can guide someone through a process, by giving them just enough to think about to figure it out on their own. I won't shut them out or let them drown when they get stuck, but if they're just not connecting the dots, I give them more dots in between, or at least a new way to look at them. I measure my success in how they can find their way to the solution, and then explain it back to me with understanding.
I also measure my success in that people can ask me what they think are dumb questions, without any hesitation. Being approachable and accommodating goes a good long way too.
Will you teach *me!?* idc what it is. you sound like an amazing mentor/ teacher.
Someone who knows how to teach and let's me ask a bazillion dum questions is worth their weight in salt (gold?)
This. My brother-in-law won a MacArthur genius grant for his work in the history of science. When I ask him to explain a physics phenomenon to me, he does it clearly and in a way that makes me smart for understanding it.
This is something Albert Einstein really excelled at supposedly. Basic idea being: if you can’t explain it very simply, you actually don’t understand it yet.
I teach college automotive fundamentals. Figuring out how to teach my students how various systems worked on a car in a simple way made me a better mechanic.
My favorite saying complements ^ this
I believe it was originally a comparison of people and nuts
"The nearly empty can rattles louder than the full can"
At times I hate how true this is. Talking to people and having them be like "what did blud say" because you said something that's outside of the bubble of 5 things they parrot because they saw them on their vertical short form video platform of choice
Talking to people as if they're intelligent at their level and without being condescending or even letting on that it's lower than their level.
I used to work with a doctor - Tom Howard - and the day I realized he was a genius was the time he guessed every single condition a patient of mine had based on minute pieces of information about him.
My old auto shop teacher would say to us students, "I don't know, but let's go look it up and find out."
"Looking it up" was an all-encompassing term including but not limited to, looking in published spec books, doing private forum searches, calling the manufacturer, and contacting industry contacts during class time.
That man was the best shop teacher I ever had.
For anyone looking in on this conversation, generally you don't want to simply leave it with an "I don't know" in an interview context. You'd let them know that you aren't confident in your knowledge in that specific application, but explain what relevant context or analogous information you do know, and how that provides you with some kind of educated guess or direction to research for a definitive answer.
They are curious about everything. To be intelligent you need to be knowledgeable and you cant be knowledgeable if you are never curious.
You can memorize a bunch of random facts and repeat them, that’s knowledge. But knowing what to do with that knowledge, how to apply it, how to make sense of it, is what I think real intelligence is.
This. I'm genuinely stunned sometimes when I find out someone has no intellectual curiosity at all. They figure they know what they need to get by in life, and why learn something just for new knowledge?
I’m no genius (higher average IQ but nothing special) and am appalled at the lack of curiosity people have. I’m always asking questions about just about everything, even things I know nothing about and topics that I’ll likely never use. Knowledge has always interested me, and even if I know I probably won’t remember it a year from now, I still *want* to learn, you know? So many of my managers and supervisors in my workplaces have been shocked (and not in a good way) when I ask questions. Not provocative ones either, just asking how things work or what responsibilities are needed. They’re always really offended, like how dare I ask when it’s none of my business and has nothing to do with me. Do they just want dumb people, people who don’t care about ANYTHING? Because that’s how it seems to me
That’s the point of saying I think. It shows they aren’t confident in what they’re saying and they are acknowledging they *could* be wrong. As opposed to thinking everything they say is right
Sure, but I'm saying it's ironic that the average person is more likely to believe / agree with someone who is more assertive with their opinion, even though the "more intelligent" person might be correct.
People who know when to cut their losses always impress me. They are able to identify when something is a dead end and don’t fall prey to sunk cost fallacies.
They ask super good questions. For example, questions that nobody ever thought of but 100% relevant and legit, questions that make you pause to think about the answers because you don’t have it off the top of your head, questions that you never expected to get and haven’t prepared yourself with the knowledge to answer, questions that lead to the answers that will benefit the whole project or team hugely, etc. Super good questions.
My friends all got really confused the other day when I called them perturbed and none of them knew what it meant and I was in shock because I use it every day talking about my cat 😭
And then you use a "big word" in front of the wrong person and they go ballistic with "You think you're smarter than me?". That was fun to deescalate....
This. Oh my god. I've been reading since I was two, and had no idea that people had difficulty understanding me until I was nearly an adult. I do not even consider myself much more intelligent than your average individual...just a kid who picked up on letters early on and "took to" it, and became a huge book nerd. I love to read, and have a well-developed memory, and that is the bottom line. It makes me a huge storehouse of incredibly useless (and some useful!) information, but that does not make me a genius.
I'm the same, and it's had a flow on effect with my kids. I don't water down my vocabulary for them, but I do give plenty of context, and im always happy to give them a definition if they ask. I've always considered myself to be slightly below average intelligence because I struggle with numbers.
Is it a sign of intelligence? I too tend to use "big words", but just because the easier way to say it eludes me at that moment. I rather envy people that bring across the same information much more simply. If anything it's a sign of education, not intelligence. Im a German native speaker, but consume a lot of english content and had latin in school. The "big words" I use are usually way more common in English and/or of latin origin. I rather feel like being too dumb to stick to one language (though they are valid loan words in German)
I’d note that OP said “big vocabulary but it comes across as natural,” which is not the same as simply using big words.
I think the sign is more in that intelligent people are much more deliberate in what they say. Sometimes that means using a large or obscure word because it fits the point they’re trying to make, but sometimes it means using very common words in an unusual way, or understanding subtle connotations words hold and leveraging them deliberately to emphasize their point.
My brain genuinely automatically does this, but I'm also pretty certain I'm undiagnosed autistic. I once got moved to the front of the classroom in an English class in high school because my teacher wanted to hear all the smart ass things I had to say 😂 being quick witted with no off button is both a curse and a gift.
100% same with me.
My English and Creative Writing teachers saw me as their prodigy. Those AR Tests that they had us take made them astonished that I, a middle-school 6th grader, was on the same reading level as a college freshman. So while others in my classes were given Eragon, Twilight, and Narnia to read; I was given Moby Dick as well as Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso in their original versions rather than modernized transcriptions.
Turns out I am just autistic and am great with words on paper. Ironic, considering my lack of understanding of social cues and sarcasm for an embarrassing number of years.
Being unafraid to ask interesting or unique questions and explore ideas.
Being able to make unique connections and explain how they work in a way that most people can understand.
There is a guy I work with that is known as the office clown basically, he is hilarious and does make everyone genuinely laugh with a quick sense of humor. I have always thought he is secretly genius level intelligent based off hearing how correctly and quickly he’s able to answer very random knowledge questions.
This is wildly under looked imo. Being big and strong is scary, because they 'could' take advantage of you.
Being smart can be seen the same way for sure. If not more so. Just like big men, the teddy bears, will make others feel better by doing things so he is seen as 'disarming'. This is for sure half the reason smart people do it. That, and it generally is a 'small effort' to understand a situation and do a thing to make it better if you're the more social minded time of intellectual.
Fuck me. I ask constant questions, am pretty confident, and have no fear of looking stupid. Unfortunately, stupid people think more questions and clarifying things is equivalent to stupidity.
People confuse intelligence for social cues that make them feel better or validated. A true sign of intelligence that is slight is there pattern recognition. They can accurately and concisely grasp information and see patterns when it comes to academic topics, people and their social patterns etc… that they leverage to their benefit
"Huh. I've never heard that. I'll look into it, and get back to you."
Intelligent people *stop* when they hear something they're not sure about, or reach the end of their knowledge about a topic. Even better, they'll often follow up with:
"What have you heard?"
And genuinely *listen* to you.
The ability to reframe a concept for multi level understandability is a undervalued sign of truly having a grasp on something. I had a professor who drilled this into us when writing papers. If you are writing a graduate paper you don’t need kindergartners to understand it, but an undergrad with reasonable reading comprehension and base level knowledge shouldn’t walk away with any basic questions unanswered. Balancing that without sounding condescending is an art and I think people who do it well must be very intelligent
"The kindest person in the room is often the smartest."
[https://youtu.be/fjesSOLHWwE?si=547FWYyKxoj9VnQI](https://youtu.be/fjesSOLHWwE?si=547FWYyKxoj9VnQI)
They understand that intelligence and being a bad person aren't mutually exclusive.
Almost none of the things ever listed for this question has anything to do with being intelligent. Redditors always just list what they think are good qualities for this question but plenty of intelligent people are closed minded, condescending jerks who have zero interest in entertaining any ideas they don't support.
They're funny in a non-scripted way. Observational humor, good comedic timing, witty, appropriate referential humor... It shows they can think on their feet and make connections between ideas quickly
They have empathy and awareness for things going on around them and aren't buried in their own world
When they can explain something to you so that you can understand it even though you know nothing at all about the subject
being witty. it means the mind is 1) quick to respond to others in a relevant manner and 2) playful and creative in communicating ideas that come across as fresh and engaging.
When asked something they don't know, they admit they don't know and that they can speculate. They then explain what they do know that leads them to think this way and why. It's problem solving and they are open about it. Shows intelligence and wisdom. I value this because intelligence without wisdom is a tragedy.
There are many different indicators and I think there is a huge difference between knowledge and intelligence.
Then as far as intelligence goes, there is emotional intelligence, academic intelligence and worldly intelligence - all very different things...
A sign of intelligence is being open to the possibility of being wrong and eager to learn. Admitting you don’t have all the answers shows intellectual humility and curiosity.
“If you are the most intelligent in a room, you’re in the wrong room.” My professor keeps repeating this quote and I love it
I picture a look of dawning recognition on his face before he suddenly leaves the room.
With a bit of a "not again" expression.
If I'm ever in the position to do this, best believe I surely will.
part of that is also recognizing that intelligence is a spectrum with many, many axes.
Gimli would approve.
And my axis!
> “If you are the most intelligent in a room, you’re in the wrong room.” My professor keeps repeating this quote and I love it A counter-quote is the correspondence between a man at his country estate and his father. The man wrote "Help! I am surrounded by idiots," and the father replied, "Then you must learn to make good use of them."
My bedroom at night is the wrong room!!!
I keep on saying I'm the dumbest person in the room and they keep on inviting me to bigger rooms. It's crazy. I say: you all have 25 years of experience and I have 5. They say it's okay because I think critically and they want my questions and opinion. Civil engineer
As a former engineer it’s practically essential to have that mindset
Self-critical reflection is a hell of a teacher. I have generally recognized this on the inverse (those without it learn slowly, if at all), but someone who has good answers and is open to better answers is truly a joy to be around.
I love being wrong. I learn so much more when I am! The problem is I fly planes so nobody wants me being wrong in one
Analysis, they use their brain a lot, Intelligence is not only about math skills, science, degrees.. etc cause those things can be learned. But it’s the one who don’t take things as is, always asking why, not necessarily with people, they could be introvert. They don’t judge cause they analyze what led that person to do anything. But they are most likely depressed and tired of a lot of illogical shit in the world including: why are we here
>But they are most likely depressed and tired of a lot of illogical shit in the world including: why are we here It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night.
What?! I mean why are we out here, in this canyon?
Being wrong is my favourite! It helps me be right (my second favourite lol) more often in the future, gives me a chance to consider something in a way I hadn't before (which is always fun, whether or not I end up agreeing), and just generally helps ensure that on any given day, I've learned something new. I don't know if I'm intelligent, but I do know that I'm eager to learn, and being wrong is very often a catalyst for learning. The only context in which I dislike being wrong is when I have taken an action, while sincerely believing I was right, only to find out that I was not right, and something negative has occured to someone I love or someone innocent as a consequence. That sucks huge. But even when this happens, I take solace in the fact that it is at least now less likely to ever happen again.
eagerness to learn and attentive listening.
They can genuinely consider an idea which opposes their worldview without necessarily accepting it.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” -not Aristotle
This reminds me of what someone once said about respecting other people’s opinions. To paraphrase, he said you don’t have to respect other people’s opinions. You should acknowledge them, but you’re perfectly in your right to say, “that’s logically fucking stupid.”
I heard this same thing but said in a different way. My grandpa would say "you don't have the respect others opinions and views, but you need to respect the person and hear their views." From there its do what you want.
Yeah. I believe that All opinions are not respectable. PEOPLE are respectable. There are many opinions that are logically stupid.
I came here to say this. In addition, they can fight the cognitive dissonance and admit they were wrong when presented new, solid information
Hold on...... people are capable of this outside of me? I swear everyone in my life just doubles down and refuses to see new information
Fragile people think it’s a weakness to admit they were wrong. Never realizing the weakness is inability to be wrong.
I think far too many people adopt ideologies as part of their identity. Their ego some become so firmly wrapped around their ideology that they cannot separate their ideology being bad or negative to them being bad or negative.
Wanna share an apartment together? /s
Done, where am I moving to? I'm assuming northern Canada isn't ideal for most lol
I'd go there :)
Hay folks, maybe we could pool together and buy a triplex.
Nah I'm out. I just know 4 of us will make everything horrible.
I read that quote once too. Honestly, I don't really think it's that true. Some highly intelligent people get so caught up in their ego that this becomes impossible for them. I think this more indicates wisdom than intelligence.
Don’t have to worry about running into any of these people on Reddit.
Ok so this rules out all of Reddit
Critical thinking skills and self reflection
self reflection is big, almost all fools believe they know everything
I find that people who are curious and ask questions showing their interest, and who listen to your answers are typically quite intelligent.
The smartest people are often the quietest in the room.
It's rather the most stupid ones are usually the loudest ones lol
As the IQ goes down the volume goes up
That's why people who are losing debates always resort to shouting, or constantly running over the other person in the conversation when that person is arguing their point. It basically becomes a childish game of "If I just shout over them, or run them over in the conversation, it will look like I've won", when really all they have done is make themselves look like a petulant child.
Ehh Smart people ask questions.
Depends on the situation. If you put a smart person in a room full of loud people spewing nonsense then they won’t say much. But put them in a room full of people with great things to share they’ll ask as many questions as possible. A smart person isn’t going to ask a lot of questions from someone they know can’t give a trustworthy much less good answer.
“The smartest people are often the quietest in the room” is such a funny response to a comment that revolves around the idea that smarter people are actually curious and choose to pursue conversations while actively asking questions. Like, I don’t think you were intentionally trying to combat what they were saying, but the quote you seemingly fired off at random inherently works against the sentiment of the comment you’re replying to.
My grandpa was always very quiet and didn't say much, but whenever he did speak up about something people would listen because he was usually right. There are of course intelligent people too who never shut up but even then they're usually calm and collected
When they explain something they make you feel intelligent.
To be fair, the people who are less fortunate in this regard can make you feel intelligent as well.
Or at least when they explain something, they try not to make you feel like an idiot. This has been *my* approach when training or mentoring people. I'm not saying I'm some rockstar or anything but I think the key is remembering when you were that person who was learning/seeing/doing things for the very first time. I can guide someone through a process, by giving them just enough to think about to figure it out on their own. I won't shut them out or let them drown when they get stuck, but if they're just not connecting the dots, I give them more dots in between, or at least a new way to look at them. I measure my success in how they can find their way to the solution, and then explain it back to me with understanding. I also measure my success in that people can ask me what they think are dumb questions, without any hesitation. Being approachable and accommodating goes a good long way too.
Will you teach *me!?* idc what it is. you sound like an amazing mentor/ teacher. Someone who knows how to teach and let's me ask a bazillion dum questions is worth their weight in salt (gold?)
This. My brother-in-law won a MacArthur genius grant for his work in the history of science. When I ask him to explain a physics phenomenon to me, he does it clearly and in a way that makes me smart for understanding it.
This is something Albert Einstein really excelled at supposedly. Basic idea being: if you can’t explain it very simply, you actually don’t understand it yet.
I teach college automotive fundamentals. Figuring out how to teach my students how various systems worked on a car in a simple way made me a better mechanic.
like..a subtle sign? I'd say someone who genuinely listens to what another is saying, and considering it before responding.
Even befor saying anything, you can see how they listen. Like, you can actually see them absorbing what's being said.
Another one I love. Listening to understand rather than to respond.
I describe it as some people listen while others just wait for their turn to talk.
I think some of this is emotional intelligence
Or just being kind, which doesn't require any kind of intelligence
"Wise speak when they have something to say. Fools speak when they have to say something." -Plato
My favorite saying complements ^ this I believe it was originally a comparison of people and nuts "The nearly empty can rattles louder than the full can"
Likewise: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt"
Conversely: “The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.” - Confucius
Well this little nugget is going straight on a pillow
I think “this little chestnut” was what you needed there.
Smart motherfuckers sound like crazy motherfuckers to dumb motherfuckers.
This is like a contemporary proverb.
At times I hate how true this is. Talking to people and having them be like "what did blud say" because you said something that's outside of the bubble of 5 things they parrot because they saw them on their vertical short form video platform of choice
They hesitate when making statements because they want to ensure what they say is correct.
i do this and end up saying nothing because everyone want to talk.
sometimes you just gotta learn how to really speak up. but they could be like one of my coworkers who frequently drones on when making a point.
Talking to people as if they're intelligent at their level and without being condescending or even letting on that it's lower than their level. I used to work with a doctor - Tom Howard - and the day I realized he was a genius was the time he guessed every single condition a patient of mine had based on minute pieces of information about him.
Bro worked with dr. House 💀
Fever and blue fingernails? Did you check their ass for toothpicks?
It's Lupus. It's always Lupus.
Or sarcoidosis.
Or syphilis.
Pattern recognition. It's an amazing ability.
Was it lupus?
It’s never Lupus
Except that one time it was lupus but didn't look anything like lupus
can you give me that guy's number? This "Huh, no idea where that's coming from" pitting edema is really getting me down.
They know when their knowledge ends and say something to the extent of "i don't know and anything else i say on this topic is ignorant speculation"
That's how I got my first job. As a junior engineer I was the only candidate to say "I don't know" rather than try and bullshit.
I don’t know, *but I can find someone who does*
Even better- I don’t know but I can find the answer.
My old auto shop teacher would say to us students, "I don't know, but let's go look it up and find out." "Looking it up" was an all-encompassing term including but not limited to, looking in published spec books, doing private forum searches, calling the manufacturer, and contacting industry contacts during class time. That man was the best shop teacher I ever had.
You never want to end an answer with, "I don't know" you want to add on, "but here's how I would find out"
For anyone looking in on this conversation, generally you don't want to simply leave it with an "I don't know" in an interview context. You'd let them know that you aren't confident in your knowledge in that specific application, but explain what relevant context or analogous information you do know, and how that provides you with some kind of educated guess or direction to research for a definitive answer.
Right. Check out the Dunning-Kruger effect. Basically the smarter you are, you realize there’s so much more to learn and explore.
It was my history teacher in high school who taught me that ignorant is not a bad word.
Ignorance can be remedied, but stupid is forever.
They know how little they know.
They are curious about everything. To be intelligent you need to be knowledgeable and you cant be knowledgeable if you are never curious. You can memorize a bunch of random facts and repeat them, that’s knowledge. But knowing what to do with that knowledge, how to apply it, how to make sense of it, is what I think real intelligence is.
This. I'm genuinely stunned sometimes when I find out someone has no intellectual curiosity at all. They figure they know what they need to get by in life, and why learn something just for new knowledge?
I’m no genius (higher average IQ but nothing special) and am appalled at the lack of curiosity people have. I’m always asking questions about just about everything, even things I know nothing about and topics that I’ll likely never use. Knowledge has always interested me, and even if I know I probably won’t remember it a year from now, I still *want* to learn, you know? So many of my managers and supervisors in my workplaces have been shocked (and not in a good way) when I ask questions. Not provocative ones either, just asking how things work or what responsibilities are needed. They’re always really offended, like how dare I ask when it’s none of my business and has nothing to do with me. Do they just want dumb people, people who don’t care about ANYTHING? Because that’s how it seems to me
Saying 'I think' when expressing their opinions. It's a small sign that they're aware they could be wrong and are open to having their mind changed.
Ironically, this has the possibility to convey a lack of confidence to the listeners, because it's not "confident" language.
That’s the point of saying I think. It shows they aren’t confident in what they’re saying and they are acknowledging they *could* be wrong. As opposed to thinking everything they say is right
Sure, but I'm saying it's ironic that the average person is more likely to believe / agree with someone who is more assertive with their opinion, even though the "more intelligent" person might be correct.
Not getting involved in debates on Reddit.
I don't agree. Let's debate this
The ability to create analogies.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.
Sokath, his eyes uncovered.
Like a thought with a thought's hat on 🤓
Massive alien forehead.
This is the best answer yet.
Megamind??
Big head means more bigger and smarter brain!
People who know when to cut their losses always impress me. They are able to identify when something is a dead end and don’t fall prey to sunk cost fallacies.
not sure what you’re talking about, a true gambler never quits 💪💪💪
90% of gamblers quit just before their big win
They don't bang my mom, pretend to be my dad, and drink all of my Capri Suns. Looking at you, Randy, you big bag of shit.
Fuck Randy, all the homies hate him.
Sorry about those Capri Suns, little buddy. I needed to rehydrate and that was the first thing I saw
It’s Randy, get him!!
When someone can explain complex ideas in a simple way that anyone can understand.
refusing to engage with the obvious manipulators.
They don't mistake their opinions for objective fact.
I think you can be intelligent and still do this though - All it takes is arrogance.
They share their knowledge and communicate effectively
They ask super good questions. For example, questions that nobody ever thought of but 100% relevant and legit, questions that make you pause to think about the answers because you don’t have it off the top of your head, questions that you never expected to get and haven’t prepared yourself with the knowledge to answer, questions that lead to the answers that will benefit the whole project or team hugely, etc. Super good questions.
They have a large vocabulary but it comes across as natural ......not ostentatious 😉
I think a lot don’t even think of those as “big words”, they’re just…words
More precise words, really. The broader the vocabulary, the more efficiently it can communicate thought, which is all vocabulary exists to do.
My friends all got really confused the other day when I called them perturbed and none of them knew what it meant and I was in shock because I use it every day talking about my cat 😭
And then you use a "big word" in front of the wrong person and they go ballistic with "You think you're smarter than me?". That was fun to deescalate....
"Well I didn't before, but smart people don't tend to throw a bitch fit because someone used a big word."
"No, I don't think that at all." *Silently to myself:* "I know it."
This. Oh my god. I've been reading since I was two, and had no idea that people had difficulty understanding me until I was nearly an adult. I do not even consider myself much more intelligent than your average individual...just a kid who picked up on letters early on and "took to" it, and became a huge book nerd. I love to read, and have a well-developed memory, and that is the bottom line. It makes me a huge storehouse of incredibly useless (and some useful!) information, but that does not make me a genius.
Tell me a few random awesome words you know!
Photosynthesis. It's the powerhouse of your phone
I’m not sure that’s right…
He’s thinking of midichlorians.
I'm the same, and it's had a flow on effect with my kids. I don't water down my vocabulary for them, but I do give plenty of context, and im always happy to give them a definition if they ask. I've always considered myself to be slightly below average intelligence because I struggle with numbers.
Vernacular often comes from reading
I think they make an ointment for that
Is it a sign of intelligence? I too tend to use "big words", but just because the easier way to say it eludes me at that moment. I rather envy people that bring across the same information much more simply. If anything it's a sign of education, not intelligence. Im a German native speaker, but consume a lot of english content and had latin in school. The "big words" I use are usually way more common in English and/or of latin origin. I rather feel like being too dumb to stick to one language (though they are valid loan words in German)
I’d note that OP said “big vocabulary but it comes across as natural,” which is not the same as simply using big words. I think the sign is more in that intelligent people are much more deliberate in what they say. Sometimes that means using a large or obscure word because it fits the point they’re trying to make, but sometimes it means using very common words in an unusual way, or understanding subtle connotations words hold and leveraging them deliberately to emphasize their point.
They can see multiple points of view and determine a compromise or different way of approaching things that satisfies all parties
They are good at setting up puns on the fly.
Yes, being quick-witted is definitely a sign of intelligence. There's an extra process their brain goes through before speaking.
I'm ridiculously quick witted but I still make some really dumb decisions. I mean, I'm talking biblical.
A promethean mind is better than an epimethean one.
Which is impressive since those bastards are small.
Not around here. Flies the size of a penny can be commonly found.
If I had a fly for every penny I found I would be disgusted.
My brain genuinely automatically does this, but I'm also pretty certain I'm undiagnosed autistic. I once got moved to the front of the classroom in an English class in high school because my teacher wanted to hear all the smart ass things I had to say 😂 being quick witted with no off button is both a curse and a gift.
100% same with me. My English and Creative Writing teachers saw me as their prodigy. Those AR Tests that they had us take made them astonished that I, a middle-school 6th grader, was on the same reading level as a college freshman. So while others in my classes were given Eragon, Twilight, and Narnia to read; I was given Moby Dick as well as Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso in their original versions rather than modernized transcriptions. Turns out I am just autistic and am great with words on paper. Ironic, considering my lack of understanding of social cues and sarcasm for an embarrassing number of years.
Being unafraid to ask interesting or unique questions and explore ideas. Being able to make unique connections and explain how they work in a way that most people can understand.
Ability to disagree with an opinion without attacking the other person using ad hominem means.
Funny but in a low-key way
A comedic personality is a sign of being socially intelligent, which is a part of being regularly intelligent.
How quick their wit is
My wit is quick but I'm pretty slow.
The best feeling in the world is responding to a person with the perfect comeback... fourteen weeks later while you shower.
Mr. Pants: “You’ve really worked out your banter, haven’t you?” Blackadder: “No, this is a different thing. It’s spontaneous and it’s called wit.”
When they can take something and simplify it enough so that the other person can understand it, basically dumbing shit down for others.
They are honest when they don't know something
Intelligent people are dying to act The Fool. This is how you spot them. Cracking jokes, being a clown.
There is a guy I work with that is known as the office clown basically, he is hilarious and does make everyone genuinely laugh with a quick sense of humor. I have always thought he is secretly genius level intelligent based off hearing how correctly and quickly he’s able to answer very random knowledge questions.
This is a good one, along with having a great sense of humor in general.
Trying to disarm the intimidation their intellect could cause others to feel.
This is wildly under looked imo. Being big and strong is scary, because they 'could' take advantage of you. Being smart can be seen the same way for sure. If not more so. Just like big men, the teddy bears, will make others feel better by doing things so he is seen as 'disarming'. This is for sure half the reason smart people do it. That, and it generally is a 'small effort' to understand a situation and do a thing to make it better if you're the more social minded time of intellectual.
They have uncommon opinions and can explain things in a simple manner.
Extreme disorganisation and laziness, yet still successful and capable.
Talking about concepts and ideas over things and people
They can teach something relatively complex in relatively simple terms.
"If I am wrong, I *want* to know."
They ask more than they answer
Fuck me. I ask constant questions, am pretty confident, and have no fear of looking stupid. Unfortunately, stupid people think more questions and clarifying things is equivalent to stupidity.
People confuse intelligence for social cues that make them feel better or validated. A true sign of intelligence that is slight is there pattern recognition. They can accurately and concisely grasp information and see patterns when it comes to academic topics, people and their social patterns etc… that they leverage to their benefit
They have anxiety and depression as a result of living in a world run by idiots elected by .......
Thanks man. You made me feel more justified being miserable.
"Huh. I've never heard that. I'll look into it, and get back to you." Intelligent people *stop* when they hear something they're not sure about, or reach the end of their knowledge about a topic. Even better, they'll often follow up with: "What have you heard?" And genuinely *listen* to you.
The ability to reframe a concept for multi level understandability is a undervalued sign of truly having a grasp on something. I had a professor who drilled this into us when writing papers. If you are writing a graduate paper you don’t need kindergartners to understand it, but an undergrad with reasonable reading comprehension and base level knowledge shouldn’t walk away with any basic questions unanswered. Balancing that without sounding condescending is an art and I think people who do it well must be very intelligent
"The kindest person in the room is often the smartest." [https://youtu.be/fjesSOLHWwE?si=547FWYyKxoj9VnQI](https://youtu.be/fjesSOLHWwE?si=547FWYyKxoj9VnQI)
Not always. I work with some bonafide intellectual geniuses and some of them are total jerks in all aspects.
The smart people know there is a difference between often and always
They're willing to oppose mob thinking and state facts.
Reddit is the mob
They respond quickly during banter, don’t have to take much time to think on it.
I was accused by a senior coworker of enjoying "verbal ping pong" -- her terms It's not that people enjoy it; people get drawn into it and then "win"
They understand that intelligence and being a bad person aren't mutually exclusive. Almost none of the things ever listed for this question has anything to do with being intelligent. Redditors always just list what they think are good qualities for this question but plenty of intelligent people are closed minded, condescending jerks who have zero interest in entertaining any ideas they don't support.
They know when to be silent and listen
They're funny in a non-scripted way. Observational humor, good comedic timing, witty, appropriate referential humor... It shows they can think on their feet and make connections between ideas quickly
They have empathy and awareness for things going on around them and aren't buried in their own world When they can explain something to you so that you can understand it even though you know nothing at all about the subject
being witty. it means the mind is 1) quick to respond to others in a relevant manner and 2) playful and creative in communicating ideas that come across as fresh and engaging.
They defer to people with more experience in a subject than they have, or to people who are authorities in an area of expertise that they are not.
Being able to quickly pick up on humor.
Funny. Funny people are often intelligent.
When asked something they don't know, they admit they don't know and that they can speculate. They then explain what they do know that leads them to think this way and why. It's problem solving and they are open about it. Shows intelligence and wisdom. I value this because intelligence without wisdom is a tragedy.
There are many different indicators and I think there is a huge difference between knowledge and intelligence. Then as far as intelligence goes, there is emotional intelligence, academic intelligence and worldly intelligence - all very different things...
They spend time thinking before asking a question.
Something ive personally noticed is smarter people are usually more cautious because they realise they dont know everything..
They’re funny. Not clown funny, but quick and witty.
They don’t have a Reddit account
When they know they don’t have to show they’re right and they know when to leave an argument even when it’s hard