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Ok, so a lot of the time people tell me that I’m “smart”.  I don’t necessarily really think that I am.  I mean, I don’t think of myself as some super-intelligent person, I just think of myself as well.. not stupid.  And I’m not so sure that they are correct about my being smart.


So I was just kind of thinking…. what makes people perceive you as being smart?  Like I can find someone… totally disagree with them on EVERYTHING and still think that they are incredibly smart.  So it isn’t them saying things that I agree with, and I’m like, “hey, yeah, they’re right!” that makes them seem intelligent to me.


Anyway, next step… dictionary.com, find me some definitions 馃槈


smart   Pronunciation Key  (sm盲rt)
adj. smart路er, smart路est





    1. Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright. See Synonyms at intelligent.
    2. Amusingly clever; witty: a smart quip; a lively, smart conversation.
    3. Impertinent; insolent: That’s enough of your smart talk.

Ok, so then I looked up intelligent… but it gave me something like “someone who has intelligence”… well duh… thank you for the enlightenment, dictionary.  I didn’t know that.  So I looked up intelligence.


in路tel路li路gence   Pronunciation Key  (n-tl-jns)
n.





    1. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
    2. The faculty of thought and reason.
    3. Superior powers of mind. See Synonyms at mind.

Ok, the important things here are sharp, quick thought; amusingly clever, witty; and the faculty of thought and reason.


Wit.  The natural ability to percieve and understand.  I think this is the key factor in being thought intelligent.  Looking around, seeing your surroundings, and understanding things based on them.  I think it is a capacity that everyone has, but some people just plain don’t use it.  I think that I tend to use it a lot.  I constantly observe things.  Like a lot of people think that I’m shy, and I do have a tendancy to be quiet… but it is mostly due to the fact that I am listening, I am observing, I am thinking.  Which can be a good thing, but, in too large of quantities it can be a bad thing.  I tend to overanalyze things.


Secondly, thought and reasoning.  A well thought out and reasoned argument displays intelligence, even if there is no real brilliance behind it, if you know what you believe, why you believe it, and it makes sense, then you come off as knowing what you are talking about, and you come off as intelligent.


Another factor is definately in grammar and spelling and things such as that.  If you read something and everything is misspelled or some parts of it don’t make any sense grammatically, you have a tendancy to dismiss what the person said entirely.


Keep this stuff in mind for your life.  Really, I promise you it will help.  You don’t have to be brilliant to be smart.  It’s within you to be.  Don’t just say things, don’t just accept whatever someone tells you as truth.  Believe it or not, people are in fact fallible.  They can be wrong, and sometimes they lie.  Think for yourself.


Godspeed.


-Jason

9 thoughts on “”

  1. Great post and I couldnt agree more. Something that has annoyed me for the longest of time is when someone is seem as ‘smart’ merely because of ‘book smarts’. Most of the so-called ‘smart’ people I know can’t carry an interesting conversation and most of the time live a reserved and sheltered life. Which, these things, I am not opposed to. I think people typically suck and I don’t really like humans as a species. I know I am a human, but…yeah….they still suck.

    I am not trying to brag on myself her…but I will….I think of myself as smart. I am very into philosophy, questioning things, politics, and finding god, but I present myself as stupid, and maybe I am stupid for doing that. I am the one who cracks the joke in class and who will be crazy to make someone happy [and those things are completely natural and I feel very comfortable being that way], but I still understand what the most important things to me are, and I think that makes me smart, or, intelligent.

    But really, others opinions on you don’t really matter, as long as you are true to yourself and realize yourself, and do things you want and need to do. Read, write, and question.

    And using the dictionary, a nice touch. The dictionary is something that you can sit down to look up one work and an hour later end up with a pageful of definitions [well I can anyhow]. You seem pretty smart, well that is based on a couple paragrpahs, but the topics you touched prove it.

    Nice site, by the way. You should check mine out, it is kind of hectic right now, I am not really posting my typical posts because of college, and complaining,etc. Anyways, that ended up being a really long comment. Heh, have a nice day[night- whatever it is for you when you read this].

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  2. hey that was really neat!

    people tell me im smart too..but i dont think thats me..its kind of funny though, i have a 100 average in my history class. aah. im such a geek.

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  5. I’m curious whether you’re a psych major…because you’re either very analytic, very spacey during a boring class…or dare I say it?…smart =} I think I’ll have to agree with Lindsay. Have a lovely day!

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