What makes someone intelligent? It may sound like an easy question, but people always seem to give different answers about what could be considered signs of genius. Is it the ability to solve complex problems quickly? Knowing tons of facts about various topics? Being among those high-IQ people who supposedly have what it takes to change the world? Or maybe it’s having a strong work ethic and excellent communication skills? These are all things that can influence how successful someone will be in their career or personal life, but they aren’t necessarily what makes an individual objectively smart.
First of all, what does “intelligent” mean? The Cambridge Dictionary, among other sources, defines an intelligent person as someone who is able to learn and understand things easily. As soon as we read this, a picture of Albert Einstein’s face inevitably popped into our minds. One of the most brilliant people to ever walk this planet was a late talker and couldn’t form full sentences until he was 5 years old. Does this mean the one and only Albert Einstein, who struggled to learn how to talk correctly, could be considered unintelligent? Honestly, we don’t have the skills and knowledge to answer this question. The only sure thing is that we love looking for people’s opinions about different topics and sharing them to spark meaningful and thought-provoking conversations.
That’s what we did today. We recently found an AskReddit thread where people posted which, in their own personal opinion, are the subtle signs that someone is intelligent. Some of the results are things you might have expected, but others honestly surprised us! So if you’ve ever wondered, “Am I smart?”, this might be the moment of truth. Check out what people consider signs of intelligence and find out if you have a chance to be the smart person in your group of friends!
#83
"Some people would argue; people who have very colorful language have a larger vocabulary and are generally more intelligent."
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7points
#84
"The smartest people I know eventually lose the need to ever act smart. Obviously they “act smart” when the time is necessary but 9/10 they’re just goofing."
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7points
#85
"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."
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6points
#88
"Like not blocking the entire aisle when they’re reading the labels and 5 people are trying to squeeze by. Like, be aware of your surroundings because people are trying to move on with their lives!"
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6points
#90
"One of the first cues for me is when someone speaks rather quickly but pauses/backtracks in the middle of a sentence to think about what they’re saying."
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6points
#92
"I once was hired by a college as a tutor for other students who were having trouble with courses they found difficult but I had absorbed pretty easily – electronics stuff mostly. The department head who hired me said something along the lines of "Pay isn't much, you won't make enough to buy more than a pizza or two a week. But you'll learn stuff about what you teach you never realized you needed to know – you never REALLY grasp a topic until you can explain it clearly to someone else."
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5points
#95
"Highly inefficient at accomplishing anything because they're enamored by everything. Like little moths flapping towards flickering candles in the distance."
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5points
#96
"'The Wire' scene about gangbangers learning how to play chess comes to mind here somehow."
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4points
#97
"Comfort level in traditionally complex subjects would likely correlate with intelligence.
Trying to discern comfort from undeserved confidence would be the difficult part for the average interaction unless you're well versed enough in the same topics."
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4points
#98
"They can follow the plot of Kingdom Hearts without needing any line graphs or charts."
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3points
#99
"They don’t open up threads like these hoping to find comments that fit how they see themselves.
Yeah, I see you looking through these comments."
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3points
