People With Sharp Mental Skills Often Say 6 Phrases Average People Don’t Always Get
Grustock / Shutterstock My sister is the smartest person I know, and being around her can be intimidating. Sometimes I won’t even understand what she’s saying because she’s so smart. She has an insane vocabulary that confuses most people she talks to.
People like that aren't necessarily trying to make other people feel dumb. They picked up their vocabulary naturally, and using words they know just makes sense to them. If someone has sharp mental skills, they want to say exactly what they’re thinking, even if it doesn’t make sense to the average person.
If someone has sharp mental skills, they'll often say these phrases that an average person doesn't always understand
1. “I try to have a multifaceted perspective on the world.”
There’s rarely one right answer to complicated questions. People with sharp mental skills know that one opinion isn’t enough information to truly understand something. They want to learn as many different perspectives as possible to better understand what they’re learning.
That’s what a multifaceted perspective is. They think deeply about a variety of different opinions without ignoring anyone’s side. They believe everyone’s opinions are relevant, even if they don't personally agree. When they say they try to have a multifaceted perspective on the world, they're encouraging their friends to share their thoughts so they can see the big picture rather than just the basic information.
2. "I'm just being facetious."
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There are many ways to tell someone you’re just joking around. Smart people tend to stick with the most uncommon of them all. When they’re messing with someone, they’ll tell them, “I’m just being facetious.”
This means you shouldn’t take them seriously. Being facetious is kind of like being sarcastic, but it’s still a little different. When someone’s being facetious, they’re poking fun at a situation on purpose. They prefer using facetious to saying that they are joking because it more accurately describes what they're doing.
Smart people love dark humor because it makes the really hard situations in life just a bit easier. These people spend a lot of time educating themselves about the world, and a lot of bad things are happening out there. Smart people like to be facetious so they don’t get trapped in a negative mindset.
3. “Let me put this a different way...”
As I said before, most sharp people aren’t out there trying to make people feel dumb. My sister actually loves when people stop her to explain something more because she wants them to learn. That way, people can meet her where she is and discuss deeper ideas with her.
Smart people will explain things in different ways because that’s just a sign of true intelligence. When people can relay the information they know differently than how they learned it, it shows they truly grasped the information. These people will have an easy time breaking down a complicated idea into smaller parts so the average person can better understand it.
Smart people know that everyone has their strengths, and they make sure to play to whatever that is for their friends when explaining this information. They won’t just simplify what they’re saying. They’ll put it into terms that their friend is most likely to understand.
4. “They're just dogmatic, not accurate.”
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Smart people know when someone else is lying about how much they know. They can recognize when a friend gives incorrect information just to make themselves seem smarter. They also know that false information can spread quickly, and they don’t want their friends to pick up on whatever incorrect idea was discussed.
They’ll warn their friends that, "They're just dogmatic, not accurate.”
Someone who’s dogmatic tells people their opinions, but makes them seem like a fact. They’ll pretend to be more knowledgeable than they are, and they might not even realize it. Their smart friends will probably want to make sure their friends know the information isn’t accurate. They might not help all that much, though, because the average person won’t understand their warning.
5. "It’s the same logic as…"
Smart people like to learn about many different things. When they're having discussions with their friends, they’ll usually connect the ideas with something they read or learned about in the past.
They’ll tell their friends, “It’s the same logic as…” to introduce a new idea. Their new ideas usually relate to the topic in some way, but the average person won’t get that. If they connect a book their friends are talking about to a scientific study they're researching, it might make the people around them scratch their heads.
But people with sharp mental skills want to bring in other ideas to a discussion. They enjoy diving as deeply into a subject as they can. Their friends just might not be able to go as deeply.
6. “I don’t know if I deserve this.”
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Unfortunately, success and stress are often closely connected. Smart people tend to experience a lot of negative emotions that they have to work through. When talking about their accomplishments, you’ll hear them say, “I don’t know if I deserve this.”
Their friends won't understand because they see the other person as incredibly smart. They probably think they do deserve it because they’ve worked hard to get where they are now. They probably don’t realize their friend is suffering from imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is when people feel they don’t deserve the success they've achieved. They’ll see it as a fluke rather than as a reflection of their abilities. People with sharp mental abilities are usually the ones who can get into higher-achieving positions, but those jobs also cause the most self-doubt.
Lily Bell is a college student studying English and Publications who covers relationships, mental health, and personal narratives surrounding the human experience.
