Majority of humans don't understand that many people who sound smart, are not actually smart. amirite?

It also works the other way around. If you know something or have a specific insight you want to share, but you can't make your point confidently, you will not be taken seriously even if you're right. Speaking from experience as someone with social anxiety.

by Key-Result 1 week ago

They probably weren't all that interested in programming anyway

by VegetableAmoeba 1 week ago

lol they were probably just put off by the fact that you were trying to ‘erm, acktually' this random dude at a hangout. Pro tip to not do that, even if you're right.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It depends on how much they are faking it, like, if it's just a couple tiny things you're gonna seem like an asshole. But if they are actually just making everything up and no one notices but you, you will be a legend 😂😂😂

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Reminds me of that scene in mean girls when the cute guy was tutoring her but he didn't know math

by Automatic_Plant 1 week ago

It's actually one thing to have something on your mind and a completely different thing to put it to words. I think we've had plenty of examples with tremendous talent and when asked something, they just doesn't seem to know. Studied a lot of this on psychology and it's truly remarkable

by Jaydonortiz 1 week ago

Have you heard of the term "Confidence bias"? Basically, people prefer to believe a confident lie over a hesitant truth. It's how confidence tricksters work. Most people who do public speaking try to sound as confident as possible for this reason. People believe them. Paired with "Convenience bias" (People prefer a convenient lie to an inconvenient truth) it's particularly effective in allowing confidence tricksters to sway people.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Slavoj Zizek is my go-to example of that. Interesting to read but absolutely unbearable to listen to. Some people really do have negative charisma

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I was just talking to my mentor at work about this yesterday. "You can be an expert at something, but if you lack confidence you'll look like an absolute buffoon 100% of the time" I know a lady that had the "gift of gab" but no particular skills, talents or education and it has gotten her FAR. It is an incredibly powerful gift to have. Always work on your confidence, folks. lol

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Or, a smart person with knowledge in one area believes they have knowledge in all areas.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You mean being a brain surgeon doesn't make me an ancient historian?

by Jakubowskisandr 1 week ago

It can if you like the history of brain surgery. It goes back thousands of years!

by Horror-Cup-5395 1 week ago

I guess I'm old now. Ben Carson was a very successful brain surgeon but he argued that the pyramids were grain silos and argued when people told him he was wrong.

by Jakubowskisandr 1 week ago

Now, we've got that guy who thinks that Atlantis taught everyone how to build star temples or whatever.

by Horror-Cup-5395 1 week ago

And Obama would speak slowly arrogantly and condescendingly . People would tell you how intelligent this fraud was.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Ya..everyone knows they store the Egyptian beer supply...Grain silo my ass

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Ancient Aliens Theorists Say Yes

by qcrooks 1 week ago

I wish people understood the inverse. I hate telling people I work in IT because the next line out of their mouth is ALWAYS: "….OH so you can come fix my computer!"

by Living-Historian-110 1 week ago

Smart people dont do that. Knowledge is not intelligence either.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Exactly. It's memory. I score highly at IQ tests apparently, but really have always had a lousy memory for stuff that had no direct interest to me. Go figure.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

The Noam Chomsky's of the world…

by Anibal86 1 week ago

Will Hunting

by ShowAnxious4950 1 week ago

I can't find it, but I swear this is also a family guy joke

by ComplexAd 1 week ago

That's arguably a bad teaching method because the worst teachers are the ones who only try to show off how smart they are.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

"those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym."

by Stock-Egg 1 week ago

Gym...and US History. It's basically a law.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Terrible approach/belief. that's how you end up with bad teachers who can't teach. society wouldn't get good educators if it presumes you do not need brains to be an educator. Also, good educators do not need to "show they are smart", they need to know how to transfer knowledge and evaluate knowledge. Just "showing they are smart" is not it

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Relax buddy, it's a joke quoted from "school of Rock"

by Stock-Egg 1 week ago

okie, but also that is what a lot of people genuinely believe 🤷‍♀️

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Stereotypes are more often earned than given. It is accurate for many things in life but obviously not everything.

by Stock-Egg 1 week ago

But unfortunatelly not far from the truth.

by Junior_Business 1 week ago

Those who can make more money usually don't teach; therefore, those who teach are either emotionally invested in it, or shouldn't be trusted with the kids.

by Horror-Cup-5395 1 week ago

I'm focusing on more professors at the university level. So if you can't show your smart, you don't have a job

by Anonymous 1 week ago

There are plenty of teachers of any discipline that can't teach at all though.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This is true. You see it a lot with politicians. Articulateness does not mean high intelligence, but unfortunately most people seem to think it does. I used to believe it myself. Usually what they're saying is full of logical fallacies and they get away with it because most of us aren't smart enough to catch them.

by SlipNo7566 1 week ago

Aaron Rodgers encapsulates this perfectly

by Adventurous-Cry 1 week ago

Hell. Trump can't even string a coherent sentence together and millions worship him.

by Just_Firefighter_534 1 week ago

Social intelligence is a type of smarts

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Indeed! I think people who overlook the importance of a language base just never had experience learning a foreign language (not as a side hobby but for studies or for a job), so they never really had to consciously master complex vocabulary & analyse speech patterns in order to be taken somewhat seriously by the native speakers. It really opens your eyes to how difficult it is to speak properly, and also to how there is always room for improvement when it comes to language (your native language too) and speech.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

a persuasive skill good to have when owning a business

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I am smart enough to know i am not smart.

by Vivid_Ship5191 1 week ago

Or being smart doesn't mean you're going to be correct. The world is extremely complicated and being intelligent means you understanding of it will be improved. But what's a drop of water to an ocean?

by Specific_Tomorrow269 1 week ago

On the other hand, if you're well spoken, articulate and can express yourself in a way that your audience understands, maybe you are smart? I mean, being smart doesn't mean you can't be wrong or you can't be a con-man… or that you have to be honest or can't be a narcissist.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

One reason why misinformation and disinformation is so rampant.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Social media is why it is so rampant, but yes this is basically the reason why it is so effective.

by Khodkiewicz 1 week ago

Misinformation and disinformation has been rampant long before social media existed.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It always has been, and it's been a common tactic to try to affect change, but social media has created the echo chamber to make it as rampant as it is presently.

by Khodkiewicz 1 week ago

"Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was. The Battle of Gettysburg. What an unbelievable — it was so much and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways. It represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow." 30% of Americans think this guy's smart, proof you don't even have to sound smart.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

People tell me I am smart I personally feel I don't know enough and feel dumb at times

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Oh that's totally true. Many times the way you speak is more important than what you actually say.

by Old_Rule 1 week ago

Way to explain the obvious. At least you proved your own point though!

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Lmao that's what I was thinking

by Common_Grass 1 week ago

While it's true that articulation and confidence can create the illusion of intelligence, it's important to recognize the distinction between sounding intelligent and possessing deep understanding or wisdom. Being articulate can indeed open doors and persuade audiences, but long-term success and respect often come from genuine insight and the ability to contribute meaningfully to discussions. Therefore, while clever wording is a skill, it's only one piece of the puzzle. Don't we also need to value critical thinking and a well-informed perspective?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Pretty much most of the race hustlers like Eric Dyson

by uniquegoyette 1 week ago

You make a very adulterous point.

by BeneficialPen8256 1 week ago

Personally, I've found that convincing language correlates with intelligence, and the "you're not as smart as you think you are" attitude correlates with less intelligence. But overall, I've always liked that Tyrian sentiment from Game of Thrones, about how he finds smart and dumb people are right and wrong about as often as each other.

by Strong-Theory2326 1 week ago

Knowing your audience can help too. I find that using specific words to describe something can better articulate what I'm envisioning. Language can be very important for hashing out small details.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Communication is a completely separate skill though. How convincing would your intelligent language be for someone who speaks a foreign language? They would probably think you're dumb. It's not that they lack the intelligence to understand you, communication is just a separate thing.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

A language barrier is an obvious exception. And I'm saying it's correlated, so I don't disagree they are separate things, but for most ways we measure intelligence, the intelligent person is expected to collect and utilize more words than average.

by Strong-Theory2326 1 week ago

I'd argue that this only works for the first meeting or two. If you're spending extended periods of time with people, you soon come to realise whether they're actually smart or if they're just using big words without being objectively right

by Any-Ad 1 week ago

Thanos discourse in a nutshell

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I'll tell you the other way if you talk like a dumb one, why someone should think you're smart? That you know something more than another doesn't make you smarter. The smart one is who knows how to make most of his current knowledge.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

its not a human flaw, its a marketing flaw. Universities advertise that their graduates are smart because that is their business. We tend to believe them and give them WAY too much authority over our lives.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

What do you think Bernie Madoff did?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Man, in the UK you can make it to high office purely by dint of speaking with the right "smart sounding" accent.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Rhetoric

by Hairy_Neck_2286 1 week ago

This sounds smart, but you're being to articulate, so you're obviously not smart. Now I don't think I can believe you.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Half of us are dumber than average.

by No_Breadfruit 1 week ago

I believe you, you sound smart

by Osbaldogrant 1 week ago

What you describe is influence. If people mistake that for smart then it's on them.

by nicholasjast 1 week ago

I understand this. 95% of people fall into normal distribution curve of intelligence. Unless you're on the upper 2.5%, then you're just average.

by Open-Education 1 week ago

Bro out here trying to sound smart.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Looks at Morgan Freeman...

by Amina23 1 week ago

It's reasonable for someone to take a person more seriously who is articulate. That doesn't make the person correct, of course, but as a rule, people who sound smart are generally more likely to be smart than are people who sound dumb.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Or even people who look and sound stupid are actually pretty intelligent.

by nikolueilwitz 1 week ago

In fact most smart people I've met are not actually that well spoken. People believe the best actor.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Many, many people fall for a lot of things. That's why our political system will never change.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I can definitely say this is correct. Confidence is key if you want to sound smart.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Jacob Rees-Mogg immediately springs to mind.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I don't think it's really unpopular. A dumb character talking in a very fancy way is a common joke. People've always put effort into sounding smarter then they are, from academic rhetoric to self-improvement BS courses

by Budget_Shoe 1 week ago

Major pro sports owners immediately come to my mind. LOL

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Some of the best scorers on tests are the easiest to hoodwink

by Holly31 1 week ago

Elon Musk has made a career out of this point.

by Thick_Membership 1 week ago

Most people are dumb and get tricked out of their money all the time.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

can confiirm, im fuciking useless

by VegetableSea9816 1 week ago

The issue is you're dealing with the human brain here. Confidence can really shadow over decision making. They'll follow the most confident of person without fact checking, it's a phenomenon that's hard to sift through

by Living-Historian-110 1 week ago

That's because dumb people don't know what smart people sound like because they are too dumb to be able to figure that out.

by pollichalessand 1 week ago

I've always gone with the mantra ‘the smartest guy in the room, isn't'. Especially when it comes to financial matters.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

For example, Trump is what a stupid person thinks is a smart person.

by bhalvorson 1 week ago

Agreed. Many people can be debunked as what's called "youtube experts" lol

by Adventurous-Ebb 1 week ago

Look at the resume fraud rampant on LinkedIn. Just say you have degrees and worked in Italy. Nobody will know you're an ex con with high school. People are liars.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Luckily I'm as dumb as I sound.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

The counterpoint here is sometimes people who are really smart are also wrong.

by Quitzonelaina 1 week ago

Indubitably

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They are called educated idiots. The world is full of them.

by krice 1 week ago

Majority of humans in general aren't smart, and many of those in that category suffer from dunning-Kruger leading to inflated egos, inflated belief that they are smart, and inflated beliefs that they are way more capable than they are.

by schadennoah 1 week ago

I have a co worker who does this and when you simply say, no, that's incorrect, they shut down and can't say anything else because they spent all their energy and "intelligence" on forming the original sentence. It's quite annoying.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I've known people at work that interview someone and tell me how smart the interviewee was after spending half an hour with them. They are always the worst hires. It's like they are a one trick pony at interviews but nothing else.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Honestly, I think the interviewee just sucks up to them without being obvious about it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Sounds like the interviewers are the problem after all.

by Fearless_Raccoon4708 1 week ago

agreed. i LOVE m telling friends completely incorrect things with intelligent sound language, seeing just how many i can get to fully believe me, and then just going "lol i completely made that all up"

by Which_Step 1 week ago

I like playing dumb. It builds others up when they get to be "the smart one"

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You have to be smart to do all of those tactics that you mentioned well.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

People who are intelligent can speak in very simple terms and explain their specialty to level. Intelligence means speaking for the audience, not your ego.

by Automatic_Plant 1 week ago

This is why celebrities, influencers, athletes etc are so effective at spreading misinformation about science: few people (about 5%) have been educated in science past high school, where it is rarely taught well and generally designed so the dumbest person in the room can pass.

by Just_Firefighter_534 1 week ago

I HATE THE BRITISH

by Consistent-Box-1125 1 week ago

it is the bane of my life now a days when i see articles by "scientists" who have a great data set providing interesting and informative statistics, and then they seemingly pluck a conclusion about what that data means right out of thin air the life style ones are the biggest culprit here, largely due to the impossibility of controlling all of the variables in a life style study, where they look and say "oh statistics tells us people who eat a lot of fat and red meat tend to have worse health outcomes, so that means fat and red meat is bad for you", without factoring in that fact that people have been told red meat and fat is bad for them for years, so the people who maintain a healthy lifestyle, eat lots of veg, dont drink, dont smoke, and exercise regularly are less likely to eat fatty red meat, and vice versa, and the scientists act as if they can definitively put the health outcome down to that one single factor dont get me wrong, im not one of those anti science nutters, i did chemistry at university myself, i just hate to see data abused by bad assumptions, and the rub here of course is that when you confront someone about their assumptions, they point at the data and say "no the data is good so i am right" as all too often they dont even REALISE they have coloured it with their own pre-existing biases, showing, as you say, knowledge, and education, and experience do not automatically imply intelligence

by Anonymous 1 week ago

People that stereotype things by painting with a broad brush aren't smart. Therefore any opinion they have should not be trusted. Smart is not how you talk, it's what you say. Intelligence listens and is very hard to fool.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Moreover, actual intelligent people (whatever that may mean) are capable of very wrong headed, and very immoral ideas. This is something that makes intelligence dangerous. A prime example in literature (as pointed out be a tic toc I've seen and lost) is Humbert Humbert of Lolita. The character is a very intelligent person who uses his skills (including beautiful language ) for disgusting and disturbing means.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Give me a break. You're just jealous of smart people. That used to be me.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

OP is extremely vague who he is talking about exactly. The people he describes definitely exist and they are not that rare. Actually intelligent people also exist. So OP is either right or wrong depending on who we're talking about specifically.

by Anonymous 1 week ago