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No matter our race, religion, or upbringing, we're all equal. Equally dumb, that is. And before you say anything, just remember that thing that keeps you up at night. The one that brought you shame years ago and still haunts you. Humbling, isn't it?
A month ago, Redditor u/lord-stryker117 wanted to hear more about the moments when common sense goes out the window, so they asked other users: "Think of the smartest person you know, what is the dumbest thing they've ever done?" As of today, there are 12,500 comments under u/lord-stryker177's question.
I don't want to spoil anything, you just have to believe me on this one: we all have our moments, and these are some of the funniest and most unfortunate ones.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My dad is the smartest person I (and anyone who knows him) know and once when we were kids he tried to make us laugh by sticking peas in his nostrils and ended up accidentally snorting them up into his nasal passages. Best part: he’s an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. One of the best in the region I can still hear him pleading with my mother to take them out because he couldn’t face his colleagues with peas up his nose that he voluntarily put there.
RELATED:
#2
Brother in law is a pretty clever guy. Ran a bath for his kid, couldn't get the tap to turn off, mad panic, rang a plumber friend asking him to come round quick or the house is gonna flood. Friend was like, you could just pull the plug?
Real nice, real clever guy. Zero common sense
Serial pacifist 4 years ago
I always panic when it comes to uncontrolled water running. Had a similar experience. It knocks the common sense out of you.
#3
I was picking up my date (future wife) when her valedictorian roommate turned quickly away from the TV and said in all seriousness “don’t look, they’re welding! It will damage your eyes”. She got more serious as I continued to look back and forth at the tv and her. She actually yelled “it’s going to blind you!” I then asked her “So when your tv is showing an image of the sun…”. That’s as far as I got. You could see the wave of embarrassment wash over her face, she immediately started laugh/crying and begged me not to tell anyone.
#4
My friend has a master's degree in mechanical engineering and robotics. He once made a potato salad with raw potatoes because he thought, since it's a salad, you're not supposed to cook it.
#5
My sister. My wonderful sister. So intelligent, educated… but dang. They had their house inspected and the inspector found an issue with their gas heat. Called in a repairman and it turns out the were having lower levels of carbon monoxide leaking into their home. When my mom asked her why she didn’t have several working detectors she answered “well I did, but one just wouldn’t quit beeping”. This was 10 years ago and we still bring it up all the time. Thankfully everyone turned out to be ok, but that wouldn’t have been the case much longer.
#6
My brother was in uni in the UK And needed a toaster. He ordered on off of Amazon for £3 and was surprised to find one so cheap. Turns out it was a kids toy, it came with plastic pieces of bread as well.
#7
My one college professor had a double doctorate, several masters, and was literally was the head of the national magazine for his field and had a lot of respect in the science community. He didn't know electric eels were real. Like he argued with us.
#8
while applying for a job, he thought “sick pay” meant that the job paid really well
#9
My brother has PhDs in bioengineering. We were on a call one day and he was saying "i can't find my phone. Probably my kids took it." Didn't realize until i told him that he was using his phone to talk to me.
Chucky Cheezburger 4 years ago
Ive done this with my glasses...Not sunglasses lost on top of my head. I mean my vision correction glasses. Could not find them anywhere. They were on my face. I was literally looking through them trying to find said glasses.
Samantha Lomb 4 years ago
My father used to lose them on the top of his head and storm around the house looking for them while we giggled like mad. The weirdest though was the one time they turned up in the fridge. My brother found them and asked Dad wtf would he put his glasses in the fridge. Dad replied "he wanted some cool-shades" ( they were reading glasses). Max dad energy.
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Luis Hernandez Dauajare 4 years ago
Confession: I consider myself a smart guy. I once used my landline to dial myself to find my phone. Found it. Ten minutes later, I proceed to call back the missed call...and then answer myself on the landline... *facepalm*
Vicky Z 4 years ago
I've done something even more embarrassing! I was at the airport shopping at the duty free section and suddenly i realise i don't have my phone! I start to panic, search around and run to a security guy to alert him that i have lost my phone and my flight is leaving soon! He was patient and calm enough to inform me that i was holding it under my wallet🙄
Thomas Hiette 4 years ago
Back in the modem days, I get a call at work from wife. Tells me computer is acting up. She connects to an internet site just fine, but when she calls her friend the computer loses the site. Gently reminded her, the modem uses the telephone line,,,,,
Radek Suski 4 years ago
So I was talking to my wife on the phone while using a radiation detector and was literally telling my wife whilst walking around the house how much radiation there in every corner...before realising I'm walking with my mobile phone in one hand (hint) and the detector in the other
Sage Gusano 4 years ago
Normally carry my phone in my pant pocket. Getting ready for work. Slipped the phone into my shirt pocket. Checked my pant pocket on the way out the door. No phone. Proceeded to search for my phone...
Dorothy Parker 4 years ago
That's when it's no longer a phone. It's become an extension of your brain.
Monday 4 years ago
The opposite is also possible. I rarely use my phone but I often end up looking for it when I'm talking on it.
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VeninTheNonBinaryRogue 4 years ago
Once I couldn’t find the sheet music for my ukulele, turns out it was just in the case where the ukulele goes not in the pocket I normally put it in lol. I thought I was going to have to get new sheet music
Vivian Orr 4 years ago
Called my daughter from my car in the parking lot and asked her to bring me my phone. I had left it on her counter in the kitchen. She said ok. So I hung up and a few seconds later my phone rang and answered to my daughter laughing hysterically. Nevermind 🤦🏼♀️
Renate Stargardt 4 years ago
I used my cell phone flashlight to shine under my couch ... thinking my cell phone fell under it 🤦♀️😂
Michael Gaskell 4 years ago
I have a Level7 Qualification and consult in a Tech industry. I have done this too many times. Walking around with my phone in my hand looking for my phone. Even used the flashlight on it to search crevices once. Yea, minds too busy thinking about 5 other things
GaryDKlein 4 years ago
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Carole Reid 4 years ago
I love social media. I used to think there couldn't be anyone more dorky than me. Love the company.
Dre Mosley 4 years ago
My grandmother nearly tore the house apart looking for her glasses. . .and she had been wearing them the whole time
#10
My aunt. College professor. PhD in mathematics. Was blown away when watching my father cook rice without a rice cooker.
#11
My friend M is really good at math. She literally minored in it for fun.
One day, we were walking along, and she said "guys, I saw something on Facebook this morning - we're only 81 years from the year 3000." (This was in 2019.)
I thought she was making fun of the silly Facebook people. Then she said "isn't that crazy?" And then I realized that my friend who enjoyed calculus... Genuinely thought that 2019+81=3000. I had to break it to her gently. I will never let her live it down.
Samantha Lomb 4 years ago
It reminds me of the people who think the year represents the Earth's age
#12
My husband. He’s a mathematician for the Feds, but he has repeatedly gotten us to the wrong airport in cities that have more than one. Like at least three times. He’s brilliant, but a moron.
Andy Acceber 4 years ago
Yep. My father is a legit genius. My mother says he could get lost in a paper bag. My brother is also a legit genius. He got lost one day walking home from high school. Our house was on the same street as the school; it was a straight walk and a route he'd taken twice a day for years. He walked out the school doors and turned right instead of left. It took him an hour to realize he' was lost. We realized he'd inherited my father's sense of direction.
#13
My colleague was tasked to put mail into the mailbox.
She asked me where it is and what it looks like.
"Around the corner, and it's a red box"
Turns out, there is another red box marked "GENERAL WASTE"
About 2m away, is the red box that spells out "AUSTRALIA POST"
She's been throwing away mail.
Sian Edwards 4 years ago
Could BP not find a picture of an Australian post box? This one is Danish.
#14
I have a neighbor, he is by far the smartest person I know. A couple fourth of July’s ago he got a quarter stick of dynamite, and strapped it to an rc boat with a detonate button and a timer. He sent it out on the lake at night, flipped the switch and it didn’t go off. So he took it back into the house to fix it, but never turned the detonate button off. So when it was fixed the 7 second timer started going. It ended up going off in the house and blowing out all of the windows. Everyone was safe.
#15
They used their bare hand to check if the stove was still hot by pressing it directly on the burner, and they had two doctorates.
#17
My friend in college graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in Biology and Chemistry. She went on to medical school and became a physician in a hospital you’ve definitely heard of.
One day she put a fork in the microwave when heating up a bowl of green beans, and I had to explain to her why the microwave sounded like it was full of firecrackers.
#18
My brothers friend was highschool valedictorian. In college, he gathered up deer turds to play a practical joke on his roommate by putting said deer turds into a box of coco puffs cereal. 2 days later he forgets about the deer turds and goes to pour himself a bowl of coco puffs. Instead of nice, sugary cereal, he gets a spoonful of deer turds.
#19
I lived in Colorado Springs. My friend came into town and was booked into a hotel. I called and asked for the name or address of the hotel and he told me he did not know, but he could see the mountains from where he was. He narrowed his location down to a time zone.
Andy Acceber 4 years ago
I was flying to Colorado Springs with a friend who had only lived on the west coast. As we flew over the Rocky Mountains, the largest mountain range in the country, my friend looked out the plane window asked, "What's that?" Apparently, she didn't quite understand what mountains looked like from above.
#20
my dad. he had one of his ears pierced when he was in college. he went to a party wearing an earring. a girl started talking to him and decided to give him one of her earrings, but he didn't want to take his earring out, so he stabbed her earring through his unpierced earlobe. this man is now an engineer.
#21
I did my undergrad with a guy who got an almost perfect score on his MCAT but also ate a raw chicken breast because he thought it was a really bad hot pocket (he was sober)
#23
My older brother was the highschool validictorian and decided to cut an apple with a large knife while holding it in his hand. He has a lovely scar from it.
#24
No joke, poured gasoline on a campfire.
Tweetysvoice 4 years ago
Last time we had a supposed gas shortage and idiots were rushing to hoard gas, I saw someone filling black plastic bags with gas...
#26
Tried jumping over a pallet of boxes with their arms tied behind their back. Split lip open.
#27
I graduated with someone who got a perfect S A.T score, but managed to cut off two fingers in shop class while trying to make a birdhouse.
What do you think ?
Kim Kermes 4 years ago
My brother was a chemical engineer, navigated fighter/light bombers, rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel, but argued with a crazy woman holding a chain saw. She was me.
NsG 4 years ago
There's a school of thought that suggests that the cleverer a person is, the more likely they are to do dumb stuff if they are distracted by their field of expertise. So, to elaborate, someone thinking about complex mathematics problems will microwave a spoon, because they've turned off the thinking parts of the brain not associated with mathematics to conserve energy and divert resources to the "more important" task. Some others of these are simply down to different life experiences - you can be a genius and get confused by multiple airports if you've never been to that city before. And then again, I'm not sure the bar for "smartest" was set very high with some of these...
Amina Hays 4 years ago
I'm a biomedical scientist in histopathology and a member of Mensa. I didn't understand the play on words in 'The Beatles' until I was 30. Oh the shame, the shame of it all! :-D
Ricky Hunter 4 years ago
Depression has been beating me for the last few days and these have really cheered me up,thank you 🙂
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
That's good to read. I am a sufferer myself - small uplifts from things like this can seriously make a difference!!
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IlovemydogShilo 4 years ago
My friend has a brother who has several degrees in engineering and now teaches it in a well known UK college as well as works for the local council. He was living in his new apartment when he took delivery of a new dishwasher. The delivery guy offered to set it up for him but he declined saying he was an Engineer so fixing in a new dishwasher should be easy enough for him. The next evening he was in college giving a lecture when the college secretary ran in and told him his apartment was on fire. He left quickly and got there just in time to see the firemen put out the last of the flames. He was told that it looked like the fire had started with the dishwasher. Upset my friends brother told the firefighter that it was brand new. The firefighter replied that the dishwasher was not plumbed in just plugged in and then when it was turned on it overheated and caught fire. You would think that an Engineer would know that you need water to wash dishes.
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
My brother is an electrical engineer and an electrician (change of career as he thought it would be easier - tip, it is not but for different reasons!). There are things that the latter are trained in that the former do not know - he's had to correct mistakes made by the former (mistakes he might have made without the additional training and qualifications).
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Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yep. Great friend in college. We spent half our time yanking her out of the way of oncoming traffic. Brilliant mind? Yes. Situational awareness? Not so much. Got her PhD, works in AI, married an astrophysicist, still walks without looking to see if there's traffic coming... Of course, now she lives in Seattle, so maybe it's the coffee ;-P
Katie Lutesinger 4 years ago
Time to quote one of my favourite lines from I, Robot: "You are the DUMBEST smart person I have ever met in my life!"
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
I know the feeling! A few years ago I stopped at a bank to use the ATM. When I got out of my car I couldn't remove the keys, and I couldn't start my car either, so I called AAA. The man arrives, and politely points out that my automatic-shift car was not in park! I give him credit - he wasn't snarky at all, just understanding.
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BlackPearltheSeaWing/NightWing 4 years ago
I'm in all honors and AP classes and I keep smiling under my mask like an idiot thinking people can see it.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Keep smiling. I even wear bright red lipstick under mine. WE can feel the smile. And it shows in your eyes. :-)
Load More Replies... Kesam 4 years ago
My dad. Respected surgeon. Super smart. Asked me out of the blue one day how Moon phases work.
Zak Rasten 4 years ago
You would be surprised how many people don't know basic facts about astronomy such as is the moon or the sun closer to Earth, or have no idea of the size of either of them or their distances from us
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marianne eliza 4 years ago (edited)
They had a lot of book learning but very little real life skills. Parents make sure you teach your kids what they need to know to live alone. In the old days it was called chores. Cooking, baking, house cleaning, laundry, bill paying, and basic critical thinking skills.
Alexei Arntzen 4 years ago
Yeah, this. Sometimes the reason a person is able to go to university and get a higher degree is because someone else is doing the heavy lifting in the finances/life-skills department. I once shared some fresh cherries with a college roommate and he chomped straight into the pit. He didn't know cherries had pits because his Mom had been de-pitting them for him his whole life.
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Ben Steinberg 4 years ago
This is why trying to describe a person's intelligence with "IQ" is nonsense. People are a mix of things. They can be really good at one form of thinking but then be lacking knowledge in a different area. Thinking that because someone is smart that they're "smart across the board" with everything is clearly not a good idea. Sadly, many smart people don't realize this and think that if they're smart with one subject, they know it all...
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
.. or worse yet, feel pressure and failure when they realize they don't know it all, but feel they're expected to....
Load More Replies... Zak Rasten 4 years ago
There was a race of intelligent beings on this planet and they kept releasing carbon dioxide into their atmosphere even though they knew it was warming the entire planet and causing climate change, heatwaves, wildfires and sea levels to ride.....
Jo Choto 4 years ago
I can explain this to some degree, since I have an extremely high IQ (160) but am prone to do nonsensical and stupid things that lack common sense sometimes. My brain is a really, really busy place. I remember trying to explain to my brother all the thoughts I have over the course of a minute and he was horrified. Many of these thoughts and ideas go on simultaneously or in very rapid succession. I can be so in my head that I am kind of not really always focused on the rest of the world. There's a sort of sense of autopilot, and that can result in doing really stupid things. Like the time I decided to extinguish a match by the power of my inhalation. I wanted to compare the strength of inhale versus exhale. I did not think about how inhaling the match would first send flames flying up my nostrils before extinguishing the match. Burned nose hairs smell vile.
Matheus Oliveira 4 years ago
My chemistry professor at uni, a kind and genius PhD at 24, was taken aback when she was talking to us at the cafeteria about fruits and learned that grapes are the individual fruits - until then, she thought grape was the entire cluster and the individual fruits were grape seeds.
Nigel Rodgers 4 years ago
In some cases it could be a trait such as adhd or autism. People appear normal, smart even until they're in a situation their condition can't process. Don't judge them. And of it's you don't feel guilty.
UpupaEpops 4 years ago
My father, who is good enough in his field to have hundreds of interns sent to him from abroad every year, got mighty pissed at me for not helping him search for the P.J.s he was wearing...
AzKhaleesi 4 years ago
One of the most stupid things I've ever done (yes one of ) my girls (13 and 17 at the time) went on a mom / daughter camping trip. Next day I had not gotten much sleep and we were driving home and I was tired. I was looking at the beautiful scenery and literally told my girls how amazing it was that the trees grew perfectly straight along the road. This was a few years ago and they STILL don't let me live that down....every damn time we see trees lining a road. And I have three degrees.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
My dad was absolutely brilliant when it came to book learning, but not so much when it came to common sense. He once put antifreeze in the crank case. When my mom told me, I said, "But oil caps usually say "OIL" on them!" She replied, "Yes. Ours does too."
Miss Frankfurter 4 years ago
My mom. Incredible at mathematics and a brilliant bookkeeper ( the old days, I know). She could take shopping bags full of receipts just shoved in any old bag and make a complete set of books out of the mess. Few people could do that so she was in high demand by accountants all over. The first time my parents moved into a place with a dishwasher it was great. I was on a visit home when the dishwasher broke down. The question? "How are we going to do the dishes now?" I said grabbing some dishes, "You put the dishes in the sink, pour in dish soap, fill the sink with hot water and wash them". Very embarrassed and then we had a good laugh.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
There’s an entire class of folks who make life possible for people like this called “the working class” plumbers, electricians, handypeople, mechanics, barbers, cooks, waitstaff, taxi drivers, etc, etc, etc……
Nandina 4 years ago
After reading this entire list, I would much rather be of average intelligence and not cut off my fingers, blow up my house, swallow a wooden game piece, flood a bathroom, eat raw chicken and deer poop.....
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
.... What all the super smart people are saying is that they're human like the rest of us ~ they'll probably appreciate it if we laugh along at their goof-ups instead of holding them to a different standard ! In fact, it's good if they can laugh at theirselves now-and-then to ensure they're not taking theirselves too seriously!
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Carol Emory 4 years ago
My mother was a smart woman. She was a wealth of trivia and a wizard when it came to crossword puzzles. She almost ended up on Jeopardy, but couldn't hack being in front of an audience or cameras. Yet, somehow, this smart woman was convinced by my sister that I lived in a different time zone in Washington state even though we were only 120 miles apart...in the same state.
Chich 4 years ago
Met a girl who was working on getting an environmental sciences degree. She was convinced that trees only die when people killed them. As in all the trees are 4.54 billion years old. Fires? all caused by people. No matter what the cause it was people because trees were immortal. Was no point in trying to tell her otherwise.
Henry Russell 4 years ago
it is actually very common for smart people to make more mistakes than other people dont know alot aboy it but i know this for sure dont why but it is true search it up
Samuel Zhao 4 years ago
My dad is the smartest guy I know. He has a PhD in computer science and could homeschool me. He also didn’t know that the plastic wrap in fruit roll ups aren’t edible
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago (edited)
As horrified as I am of AOC's politics (such as her failure to recognize that "democratic socialism" is an oxymoron, since democracy requires the ability to say what the incumbent government doesn't want you to say), I always felt some tendency to defend some of the ignorant things she says. Like for instance, her amazement at a sink garbage disposal; she had never seen one, because they are banned in New York City. (Then again, that's not a fact independent from the problems of socialism.)
Krásnoočko Zelené 4 years ago
I'm a molecular biologist with a PhD and throughout my career I already a) forgot which malonic acid buffer I did and did not put salt in and couldn't think of a better way to determine it but taste it, and yeah, one was sour and the other was sour and salty! b) poured water *into* acid and not vice versa (a very strong acid to be precise; the good thing is I will never forget which is the correct way now) and c) pipetted concentrated acetic acid by mouth and got a caustic burn on my lip; the liquid obviously did not touch me - but I completely forgot that the vapours are caustic too.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago (edited)
It’s really sad but also not surprising how many people keep insinuating that having a phd means you’re smart. I don’t think most people are even intelligent enough to measure what’s intelligent or not, so they use school as a guideline. Schooling makes you disciplined and sometimes educated, not intelligent. Most of the people in these stories and the panda comments are actually just dumb but have degrees.
pebs 4 years ago
I must say that the amount of PhDs and various professors in this thread is amazing ...
Sharon Pace 4 years ago
My cousin grew up in Manhattan and moved to Madison Wisconsin. Has a Ph.D. & is a university dean. When she got her first apartment, on one particular morning, she called the police to report there were 2 deer in her yard. The officer asked, "So?"
Load More Replies... JeannevB 4 years ago
This guy takes off the winter tires from his car, and put on the summer tires. He wants to write the locations of each winter tire in chalk on it for when he has to put them back next winter. So he asks me: the left front side of the car, is that when you face the car or when you sit in it? I answer it is when you sit in the car. Oh, he says. I'll have to change it then. So I ask him: what is the left back of your car then? When you stand behind it? He's a smart guy but this he couldn't handle this one.
IlovemydogShilo 4 years ago
My Mother, in a way. She is an absolutely genius when it comes to sewing and dress making. Seriously she can make anything out of material from toys soft furnishings like curtains to every kind of clothing you can think of. Even period clothing. Yes technology baffles her. She cannot work the TV remote to save her life or send or respond to a text from her phone and she cant' do anything on a computer. In fact I have never seen her use one. Ever
Fester Sixonesixonethree 4 years ago
A very smart friend of mine - National Honor Society, always a 4.0 GPA, got a full free ride to very good schools - both undergrad and masters/phd - on his way home went the wrong direction and had to call his mom for directions. He was 21.
Sonia Bailey 4 years ago
A friend who is a postdoctoral geneticist split open his upper lip attempting to open a beer bottle with his teeth.
Loralie Chase 4 years ago
My step brother, super smart kid in highschool at the time, DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD PEEL A CARROT!! A carrot! I will never let him live it down. Talking to him today he tried to say he didn't know you peel it with a potato peeler and thought you peeled it with a knife. Sure dude, sure.
Ileana Sky Aviles 4 years ago
Dad has a Phd & two masters, mother also has a Phd. Both were perpetually losing their cars and blaming each other in parking lots. Sister is an industrial Psychologist with also a Phd, can't operate a washing machine or any household appliance except for a microwave and toaster. Cousin two Phds in Math and Physics can't park to save his life. Stupidity hits us all
Kim Kermes 4 years ago
My brother was a chemical engineer, navigated fighter/light bombers, rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel, but argued with a crazy woman holding a chain saw. She was me.
NsG 4 years ago
There's a school of thought that suggests that the cleverer a person is, the more likely they are to do dumb stuff if they are distracted by their field of expertise. So, to elaborate, someone thinking about complex mathematics problems will microwave a spoon, because they've turned off the thinking parts of the brain not associated with mathematics to conserve energy and divert resources to the "more important" task. Some others of these are simply down to different life experiences - you can be a genius and get confused by multiple airports if you've never been to that city before. And then again, I'm not sure the bar for "smartest" was set very high with some of these...
Amina Hays 4 years ago
I'm a biomedical scientist in histopathology and a member of Mensa. I didn't understand the play on words in 'The Beatles' until I was 30. Oh the shame, the shame of it all! :-D
Ricky Hunter 4 years ago
Depression has been beating me for the last few days and these have really cheered me up,thank you 🙂
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
That's good to read. I am a sufferer myself - small uplifts from things like this can seriously make a difference!!
Load More Replies... IlovemydogShilo 4 years ago
My friend has a brother who has several degrees in engineering and now teaches it in a well known UK college as well as works for the local council. He was living in his new apartment when he took delivery of a new dishwasher. The delivery guy offered to set it up for him but he declined saying he was an Engineer so fixing in a new dishwasher should be easy enough for him. The next evening he was in college giving a lecture when the college secretary ran in and told him his apartment was on fire. He left quickly and got there just in time to see the firemen put out the last of the flames. He was told that it looked like the fire had started with the dishwasher. Upset my friends brother told the firefighter that it was brand new. The firefighter replied that the dishwasher was not plumbed in just plugged in and then when it was turned on it overheated and caught fire. You would think that an Engineer would know that you need water to wash dishes.
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
My brother is an electrical engineer and an electrician (change of career as he thought it would be easier - tip, it is not but for different reasons!). There are things that the latter are trained in that the former do not know - he's had to correct mistakes made by the former (mistakes he might have made without the additional training and qualifications).
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yep. Great friend in college. We spent half our time yanking her out of the way of oncoming traffic. Brilliant mind? Yes. Situational awareness? Not so much. Got her PhD, works in AI, married an astrophysicist, still walks without looking to see if there's traffic coming... Of course, now she lives in Seattle, so maybe it's the coffee ;-P
Katie Lutesinger 4 years ago
Time to quote one of my favourite lines from I, Robot: "You are the DUMBEST smart person I have ever met in my life!"
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
I know the feeling! A few years ago I stopped at a bank to use the ATM. When I got out of my car I couldn't remove the keys, and I couldn't start my car either, so I called AAA. The man arrives, and politely points out that my automatic-shift car was not in park! I give him credit - he wasn't snarky at all, just understanding.
Load More Replies... BlackPearltheSeaWing/NightWing 4 years ago
I'm in all honors and AP classes and I keep smiling under my mask like an idiot thinking people can see it.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Keep smiling. I even wear bright red lipstick under mine. WE can feel the smile. And it shows in your eyes. :-)
Load More Replies... Kesam 4 years ago
My dad. Respected surgeon. Super smart. Asked me out of the blue one day how Moon phases work.
Zak Rasten 4 years ago
You would be surprised how many people don't know basic facts about astronomy such as is the moon or the sun closer to Earth, or have no idea of the size of either of them or their distances from us
Load More Replies... marianne eliza 4 years ago (edited)
They had a lot of book learning but very little real life skills. Parents make sure you teach your kids what they need to know to live alone. In the old days it was called chores. Cooking, baking, house cleaning, laundry, bill paying, and basic critical thinking skills.
Alexei Arntzen 4 years ago
Yeah, this. Sometimes the reason a person is able to go to university and get a higher degree is because someone else is doing the heavy lifting in the finances/life-skills department. I once shared some fresh cherries with a college roommate and he chomped straight into the pit. He didn't know cherries had pits because his Mom had been de-pitting them for him his whole life.
Load More Replies... Ben Steinberg 4 years ago
This is why trying to describe a person's intelligence with "IQ" is nonsense. People are a mix of things. They can be really good at one form of thinking but then be lacking knowledge in a different area. Thinking that because someone is smart that they're "smart across the board" with everything is clearly not a good idea. Sadly, many smart people don't realize this and think that if they're smart with one subject, they know it all...
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
.. or worse yet, feel pressure and failure when they realize they don't know it all, but feel they're expected to....
Load More Replies... Zak Rasten 4 years ago
There was a race of intelligent beings on this planet and they kept releasing carbon dioxide into their atmosphere even though they knew it was warming the entire planet and causing climate change, heatwaves, wildfires and sea levels to ride.....
Jo Choto 4 years ago
I can explain this to some degree, since I have an extremely high IQ (160) but am prone to do nonsensical and stupid things that lack common sense sometimes. My brain is a really, really busy place. I remember trying to explain to my brother all the thoughts I have over the course of a minute and he was horrified. Many of these thoughts and ideas go on simultaneously or in very rapid succession. I can be so in my head that I am kind of not really always focused on the rest of the world. There's a sort of sense of autopilot, and that can result in doing really stupid things. Like the time I decided to extinguish a match by the power of my inhalation. I wanted to compare the strength of inhale versus exhale. I did not think about how inhaling the match would first send flames flying up my nostrils before extinguishing the match. Burned nose hairs smell vile.
Matheus Oliveira 4 years ago
My chemistry professor at uni, a kind and genius PhD at 24, was taken aback when she was talking to us at the cafeteria about fruits and learned that grapes are the individual fruits - until then, she thought grape was the entire cluster and the individual fruits were grape seeds.
Nigel Rodgers 4 years ago
In some cases it could be a trait such as adhd or autism. People appear normal, smart even until they're in a situation their condition can't process. Don't judge them. And of it's you don't feel guilty.
UpupaEpops 4 years ago
My father, who is good enough in his field to have hundreds of interns sent to him from abroad every year, got mighty pissed at me for not helping him search for the P.J.s he was wearing...
AzKhaleesi 4 years ago
One of the most stupid things I've ever done (yes one of ) my girls (13 and 17 at the time) went on a mom / daughter camping trip. Next day I had not gotten much sleep and we were driving home and I was tired. I was looking at the beautiful scenery and literally told my girls how amazing it was that the trees grew perfectly straight along the road. This was a few years ago and they STILL don't let me live that down....every damn time we see trees lining a road. And I have three degrees.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
My dad was absolutely brilliant when it came to book learning, but not so much when it came to common sense. He once put antifreeze in the crank case. When my mom told me, I said, "But oil caps usually say "OIL" on them!" She replied, "Yes. Ours does too."
Miss Frankfurter 4 years ago
My mom. Incredible at mathematics and a brilliant bookkeeper ( the old days, I know). She could take shopping bags full of receipts just shoved in any old bag and make a complete set of books out of the mess. Few people could do that so she was in high demand by accountants all over. The first time my parents moved into a place with a dishwasher it was great. I was on a visit home when the dishwasher broke down. The question? "How are we going to do the dishes now?" I said grabbing some dishes, "You put the dishes in the sink, pour in dish soap, fill the sink with hot water and wash them". Very embarrassed and then we had a good laugh.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
There’s an entire class of folks who make life possible for people like this called “the working class” plumbers, electricians, handypeople, mechanics, barbers, cooks, waitstaff, taxi drivers, etc, etc, etc……
Nandina 4 years ago
After reading this entire list, I would much rather be of average intelligence and not cut off my fingers, blow up my house, swallow a wooden game piece, flood a bathroom, eat raw chicken and deer poop.....
Cheri Aline Sydney 4 years ago
.... What all the super smart people are saying is that they're human like the rest of us ~ they'll probably appreciate it if we laugh along at their goof-ups instead of holding them to a different standard ! In fact, it's good if they can laugh at theirselves now-and-then to ensure they're not taking theirselves too seriously!
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 4 years ago
My mother was a smart woman. She was a wealth of trivia and a wizard when it came to crossword puzzles. She almost ended up on Jeopardy, but couldn't hack being in front of an audience or cameras. Yet, somehow, this smart woman was convinced by my sister that I lived in a different time zone in Washington state even though we were only 120 miles apart...in the same state.
Chich 4 years ago
Met a girl who was working on getting an environmental sciences degree. She was convinced that trees only die when people killed them. As in all the trees are 4.54 billion years old. Fires? all caused by people. No matter what the cause it was people because trees were immortal. Was no point in trying to tell her otherwise.
Henry Russell 4 years ago
it is actually very common for smart people to make more mistakes than other people dont know alot aboy it but i know this for sure dont why but it is true search it up
Samuel Zhao 4 years ago
My dad is the smartest guy I know. He has a PhD in computer science and could homeschool me. He also didn’t know that the plastic wrap in fruit roll ups aren’t edible
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago (edited)
As horrified as I am of AOC's politics (such as her failure to recognize that "democratic socialism" is an oxymoron, since democracy requires the ability to say what the incumbent government doesn't want you to say), I always felt some tendency to defend some of the ignorant things she says. Like for instance, her amazement at a sink garbage disposal; she had never seen one, because they are banned in New York City. (Then again, that's not a fact independent from the problems of socialism.)
Krásnoočko Zelené 4 years ago
I'm a molecular biologist with a PhD and throughout my career I already a) forgot which malonic acid buffer I did and did not put salt in and couldn't think of a better way to determine it but taste it, and yeah, one was sour and the other was sour and salty! b) poured water *into* acid and not vice versa (a very strong acid to be precise; the good thing is I will never forget which is the correct way now) and c) pipetted concentrated acetic acid by mouth and got a caustic burn on my lip; the liquid obviously did not touch me - but I completely forgot that the vapours are caustic too.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago (edited)
It’s really sad but also not surprising how many people keep insinuating that having a phd means you’re smart. I don’t think most people are even intelligent enough to measure what’s intelligent or not, so they use school as a guideline. Schooling makes you disciplined and sometimes educated, not intelligent. Most of the people in these stories and the panda comments are actually just dumb but have degrees.
pebs 4 years ago
I must say that the amount of PhDs and various professors in this thread is amazing ...
Sharon Pace 4 years ago
My cousin grew up in Manhattan and moved to Madison Wisconsin. Has a Ph.D. & is a university dean. When she got her first apartment, on one particular morning, she called the police to report there were 2 deer in her yard. The officer asked, "So?"
Load More Replies... JeannevB 4 years ago
This guy takes off the winter tires from his car, and put on the summer tires. He wants to write the locations of each winter tire in chalk on it for when he has to put them back next winter. So he asks me: the left front side of the car, is that when you face the car or when you sit in it? I answer it is when you sit in the car. Oh, he says. I'll have to change it then. So I ask him: what is the left back of your car then? When you stand behind it? He's a smart guy but this he couldn't handle this one.
IlovemydogShilo 4 years ago
My Mother, in a way. She is an absolutely genius when it comes to sewing and dress making. Seriously she can make anything out of material from toys soft furnishings like curtains to every kind of clothing you can think of. Even period clothing. Yes technology baffles her. She cannot work the TV remote to save her life or send or respond to a text from her phone and she cant' do anything on a computer. In fact I have never seen her use one. Ever
Fester Sixonesixonethree 4 years ago
A very smart friend of mine - National Honor Society, always a 4.0 GPA, got a full free ride to very good schools - both undergrad and masters/phd - on his way home went the wrong direction and had to call his mom for directions. He was 21.
Sonia Bailey 4 years ago
A friend who is a postdoctoral geneticist split open his upper lip attempting to open a beer bottle with his teeth.
Loralie Chase 4 years ago
My step brother, super smart kid in highschool at the time, DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD PEEL A CARROT!! A carrot! I will never let him live it down. Talking to him today he tried to say he didn't know you peel it with a potato peeler and thought you peeled it with a knife. Sure dude, sure.
Ileana Sky Aviles 4 years ago
Dad has a Phd & two masters, mother also has a Phd. Both were perpetually losing their cars and blaming each other in parking lots. Sister is an industrial Psychologist with also a Phd, can't operate a washing machine or any household appliance except for a microwave and toaster. Cousin two Phds in Math and Physics can't park to save his life. Stupidity hits us all
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