Timeline for How do I respond when an acquaintance asks if I'm smart?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 25, 2017 at 9:08 | comment | added | xLeitix | @Nat I don't know, it's a bit hard to explain and prob. depends on delivery, but presumably the original question is intended as a genuine compliment ("wow, your job requires you to be really smart") and this does sounds quite snippy and not like you accept the compliment. The higher-voted answers seem to be more polite ways to react, but YMMW. | |
| Sep 24, 2017 at 14:44 | comment | added | Nat | @xLeitix Could you elaborate on that? Mostly just curious because I wouldn't have guessed that such a comment could put someone off. | |
| Sep 23, 2017 at 9:49 | comment | added | mathreadler | In many cases a PhD consists of many parts patience and very varying degree of smarts. | |
| Sep 23, 2017 at 8:49 | comment | added | Eric Duminil | @user2390246: The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.. Having a PhD really doesn't say much at all about how smart you are. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 9:53 | comment | added | user2390246 | "just because someone doesn’t have X, they could still be smart enough to have it" - yes, exactly, but by saying "not smart enough to have Y", even about yourself, you are implying the exact opposite. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 9:50 | comment | added | Tim | @user2390246 I do see what you mean - but just because someone doesn’t have X, they could still be smart enough to have it. The reverse is (unlikely) to be true. In addition, this is people who are asking him if he is smart, directly. If they get offended by him effectively saying “Yes, fairly smart” then that’s their problem! | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 9:50 | comment | added | xLeitix | That seems to be a bit of a "smart-ass" (sorry :) ) answer to a perfectly valid question - I would be a bit ticked off by this response. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 9:46 | comment | added | user2390246 | I struggle to think of a variation of this phrase that would actually convey "smartness" rather than dedication or motivation, as in your example. I have a PhD, but there are plenty of people smarter than me who don't. Even if that comment is mean to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I think it could risk coming across as insulting in some situations (e.g. if the listener does NOT have X). | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 7:06 | history | answered | Tim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |