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For me, it comes down to several ways - things that make me turn my head. Well spoken and well written people always come off as intelligent to me. If you have taken enough time to master the English language, chances are you are pretty bright. On the flip side, I find writers who are very vague and non-descriptive while using big "smart-sounding words" in their writing to be pompous, pretentious and less smart. You'll find this a ton with scholars and what they write (especially now as I find myself trudging through college textbooks). You know who I'm referring to. The guy who uses words like "antidisestablishmentarianism," when 99% of his audience will have no clue what he means, and therefore find him boring and tough to read. Anyway, I digress......
My mother always said one of the biggest signs of intelligence is this: "being able to take a complicated issue and put it into terms such that the average person can understand it." Barack Obama is an example of someone who does this impeccably. NY Times OpEd writers as well (almost all NYT journalists actually). I try to strive for this now with everything I say or write, and I obviously use it as a gage for smarts in a particular person. Thanks mom!
A real sense of humor with a quick wit is also another giveaway.
What in particular makes you take notice of someone's brains?
My mother always said one of the biggest signs of intelligence is this: "being able to take a complicated issue and put it into terms such that the average person can understand it." Barack Obama is an example of someone who does this impeccably. NY Times OpEd writers as well (almost all NYT journalists actually). I try to strive for this now with everything I say or write, and I obviously use it as a gage for smarts in a particular person. Thanks mom!
A real sense of humor with a quick wit is also another giveaway.
What in particular makes you take notice of someone's brains?
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