People With Zero Street Smarts Can't Seem To Stop Themselves From Saying 11 Specific Things
insta_photos | Shutterstock We all know someone who is incredibly book smart, maybe even someone with a doctorate, who has absolutely zero street smarts. They often can't change a tire or even figure out how to order food on their phones. But they do seem to say the same things over and over again.
The specific phrases people with zero street smarts can't seem to stop saying:
1. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
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People with zero street smarts can't seem to stop themselves from saying, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Often, they have no idea how bad the worst thing can be.
They believe that the world is inherently fair and that other people are guided through the world by a strong moral compass. People with zero street smarts underestimate how often things can go wrong. Their inability to consider worst case scenarios means they don’t put any contingency plans in place.
According to the Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence, having street smarts means people have common sense, plain and simple.
Someone with an incredibly high IQ might get stranded on the side of the highway because they don’t know how to change a flat tire, whereas someone with street smarts likely knows how to solve the problem, one way or another.
2. ‘I don’t need directions. I can get there on my own’
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People who don’t have street smarts have a hard time understanding (or admitting!) that they don’t actually know everything there is to know. As they say, the more you know, the more you realize you do not know.
Their lack of intellectual humility combines with extreme over-confidence in their own knowledge, which often leads them into challenging situations without a clear exit plan.
Someone who does have street smarts knows that anything can happen, especially if they’re traveling to an unfamiliar place. They understand that there will always be unexpected twists and turns on every journey, both literally and figuratively.
People who are truly smart know that they won't be perfect, and that leaning on the wisdom of others is a sign of strength.
3. ‘I’m sure everything will work out fine’
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There's no way to know that everything will work out fine, and that's why people with actual common sense don't say "I know it'll turn out great!" or anything like it. In many situations, this time of naive positivity can read as insensitive.
Street smarts can also be seen through the lens of practical intelligence, which is a person’s ability to handle tasks in real-world situations.
According to psychologist Robert Sternberg, practical intelligence is an important feature of being truly wise. He believes that intelligence is an ongoing conversation between the practical, creative, and analytical aspects of a person’s mind. By engaging their practical intelligence, people are able to adapt their behavior to every situation they encounter.
“Intelligent behavior involves adapting to your environment, changing your environment, or selecting a better environment,” Sternberg explained. People with zero street smarts simply cannot do that.
4. ‘I trust everyone I meet’
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A major part of fostering true human connection is letting down our guard and inviting other people into our lives. Yet people without street smarts trust first, and ask questions later.
They invite people in without vetting them properly. They ignore the messages that their intuition sends them, the ones whispering that a certain person might not have their best interests at heart.
Oftentimes, people with zero street smarts are blinded by trust and maybe even hope. They think that everyone is as trustworthy as they are, so they don’t interrogate what another person’s motives might be. This is how the end up being taken advantage of. Still, they don't learn.
5. ‘Why would someone lie to me?’
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People with zero street smarts often struggle with the concept of nuance, taking almost everyone they meet at face value. They don’t read into their tone or consider the context of what they’re saying or put things into a bigger perspective. People with zero street smarts accept other people exactly at their word, without wondering if anything deeper lies beneath.
Someone with strong social intelligence, on the other hand, understands what makes others tick. They tune into other people, listening to their words and watching their actions, to decipher what they’re actually thinking or feeling. This is a skill that is extremely valuable in life, making it clear how sad it is when people have no street smarts.
6. ‘The rules don't really apply'
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A phrase people with zero street smarts say often is, “The rules don't apply!" Often, they don't really think the rules apply to them, or to a situation, without really considering the bigger picture.
They may look at a "no parking" sign and park there anyway, for example. They think if they're quick, there won't be any consequences.
When they inevitably find a ticket on their windshield, people with no street smarts will be genuinely confused as to why it’s there. Often, they get angry at someone else, despite it being their own choice to ignore the rules.
Their lack of street smarts often means they don’t change the behavior that got them into trouble in the first place, which means they’re often perennial victims in their own story.
7. ‘A verbal agreement is the same as a contract’
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Another phrase people with zero street smarts say often is, “A verbal agreement is the same as a contract.” This phrase is rooted in their tendency to be too trusting. They mistakenly think that other people are as trustworthy as they are.
People with no street smarts plan to hold up their end of any agreement, so it goes without saying that the person on the other side of the handshake would follow through, too.
This misguided belief will land them in hot water more times than they can count. Because they have very little common sense, they fail to learn from this particular mistake. They continue to think that they can trust people’s words, without analyzing their actions on a deeper level.
8. ‘I did that, and I survived!'
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People who lack street smarts or general wisdom often fall prey to this survivor-oriented fallacy. For example, a person in their 50s may say, "We didn't sit in booster seats when we were toddlers, and we survived!"
This mindset operates on the assumption that their experience is just like other people's experience, not realizing that many people didn't have the same outcome. As the name implies, survivorship bias causes people to look at the one that survived (or succeeded, or any other positive outcome), as the ones that didn't aren't here to object to that assertion.
It’s an unfortunately hard truth that bad things, just like good things, are bound to happen, even if they haven’t happened yet. Some people are luckier than others, and you can't measure every experience based on these best-case scenario.
People with street smarts can see the bigger picture, well beyond their own experience. They know that it doesn't always go their way, and that it's best to prepare for something bad, just to be safe.
9. ‘I never lock my doors’
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“I never lock my doors” is a phrase representing both the profound naivete of lacking street smarts and the survivorship bias that can cloud people's decisins.
People with zero street smarts often can’t imagine a world where one person knowingly takes advantage of another. They also may believe that two years of not locking their door with no consequence means that the rest of their life will go that way.
They have no problem leaving their house unlocked, because they simply don't worry about it. Over the long-term, this rarely turns out well.
10. ‘This deal I found online seems legit’
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Someone who believes a Gucci bag can cost less than one from one from Forever 21 probably has very little common sense. People with zero street smarts simply don't consider the origin of the deal. They don’t double-check the veracity of the website, and they definitely don’t read the fine print.
It's sad, because they probably weren't taught the phrase, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" and thus fall for every well-crafted scam (and probably some poorly-crafted ones, too).
11. ‘I refuse to worry about the negative’
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"I try not to think about the negative" is like the battle cry of people who have zero street smarts. It is the definitive statement that sums up everything they believe.
People with zero street smarts operate from a place of never truly being bothered. They have a laissez-faire attitude toward the future. They don’t plan for life’s unexpected outcomes because they understand that so much of life is out of their control.
According to the way that people with zero street smarts see the world, there’s no use in getting stuck on what could go wrong, because that’s not in their powers of prediction. This sounds like wonderful positivity, but it's not real life.
While you should do your best not to get stuck in negativity, some aspects of life are negative, and they need to be considered. For people lacking common sense, this feels like a waste of time, which is why they often end up in big trouble.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a staff writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
