This is an All Ears English Podcast, episode 2354.
Is everyone smart? Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish .com forward slash subscribe.
Today, our listener shares a story about an interaction with her native speaking in -laws that was confusing.
In this episode, learn the many ways to talk about intelligence in English.
Do you struggle with phrasal verbs?
They can be confusing.
So coming up this week on All Ears English, we'll show you three new phrasal verbs to talk about making a mistake.
And then on Saturday, we'll answer the question, should we say I don't care in English?
To make sure that you don't miss any of these episodes go ahead and hit the follow button right now on the all ears english podcast and thank you for listening to our show hey there michelle what's shaking not too much lizzie how are you fantastic fantastic what are we getting into on all ears english
today lindsay who is the smartest person you know and don't say me don't say me i know you want to just joking well i think my brother's pretty smart actually you know he's pretty good He, you know, he's an engineer.
He's, uh, he's pretty smart.
I would say, what about you, Michelle?
That's funny. I was going to say my brother's pretty smart too.
Weird. I don't want him to hear this because I don't want him to know that I'm complimenting him, but no, he's a lawyer.
Um, and he always, he's one of those people.
I don't know. I just, I always believe what he says.
Like he, he's your big brother, right?
Yeah. Right. That's true.
So So I always feel like he has a really good sense about things.
And that's good. Yeah.
It's good to have someone around who has a very good intuition about things and they can articulate it for you, but not in an overbearing way.
You know, you can say, what do you think about this?
Just to get this outside opinion.
Really good. Yes, exactly.
Exactly. All right.
Well, we're going to be talking about this more in a second.
But before we do, we want to say thank you so much to our reviewers.
Guys, we're so appreciative, right, Lindsay?
Yeah, we so appreciate every time we read a new review.
We love it. It keeps us podcasting for you.
It keeps us happy. We love to see that this show makes an impact on you.
That's what this is all about.
So a special thank you to our reviewer, Anonymous, on January 5th left a five -star review.
And a special thank you to Mohamed Bala Ahmed on January 1st from the UAE also left a five -star review.
Huge thank you to these listeners.
Amazing. you yeah thank you so much we really appreciate it we do um lindsey so we are gonna get into the question today this is from kate um do you want me to read the question first sure we shall go for it read us the question please okay this says hello aee family hope you all had a nice thanksgiving
with your family and friends so guys this is from a little while ago yes um but it says i'd like to inquire about how you use this word smart in real life on thanksgiving day i met my American in -laws and they used smart very often.
I thought it was a compliment when they said it to me until I realized it was not a big deal because they also used that word for almost everyone.
That's really funny.
How would you describe people who are smart?
What are the characteristics of smart people and what's the difference between being smart and bright, well -educated, or intelligent?
And which adjective is suitable for a person who excels at math or science specifically?
Thank you. Best regards, Kate.
Great. Great question.
And that's a funny scenario being in that situation, especially when you're learning a language, you're in a place where you hear a word, you think it's uniquely being spoken to you, but then you hear the person say it to everyone else in the room.
It's almost like a movie or something.
Yeah, there's actually a there's actually a seinfeld where yeah that that this reminds me of um so anyway kate this is a great question so oh my gosh we have a lot to get into today um let's dive in so let's talk about smart first um so to me this is the most basic version right and very very common which is probably
why you hear them use it a lot right lindsay sure yeah it's it's the most basic for sure the most common it can also be used so obviously it can mean a cerebral conceptual intelligence but it can mean other things too um for example you could look smart and i guess that could also mean two things maybe
you look studious or like a good student or something but more often what michelle when it comes to fashion yeah well if you're using it to talk about fashion, it means you look good, right?
It's like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it to someone wearing a ball gown.
I don't know. Right, right.
But you know, if you just kind of look, it's the same idea.
You look sharp, right?
Sharp or smart. Yeah.
Like your, your shirt is tucked in.
Maybe look good. Things match your clothes look clean and ironed pressed.
You look good. You look sharp.
You look smart. Okay.
So that's veering away from the idea of conceptual intelligence, right?
Right. Interesting.
But it could be about this basic idea of just maybe it's about a specific topic.
So for example, I feel so smart when I get the right answers when I watch Jeopardy.
Sure. Yeah. You could hear people say that all the time, 100%.
So I agree, Michelle, that the word smart is the more common way to articulate this concept.
For sure. Right. Lindsey, do you watch Jeopardy?
Jeopardy, I don't see it on TV much anymore.
I mean, I have flipped through the channels and it would be on.
Yeah. What about you, Michelle?
Are you a Jeopardy person?
There are people who watch Jeopardy every single day, you know?
And my parents watch Jeopardy not every single day, but they get into phases.
I think my brother -in -law watches it almost every day.
A lot of people, there are people who just, it's almost because I think it's kind of a comforting show because it's been on for so long.
I think it's one of those comfort shows.
But yeah, I don't watch it.
I watch it mostly when I'm with the people who watch it.
Remember, my grandmother used to watch Wheel of Fortune every day.
She had her schedule to come on at like 430.
She turned the TV on for Wheel of Fortune.
Yeah, it's that comfort.
It's that comfort. So but yeah, that's a smart is the most basic one.
I don't know why your in -laws were using it to describe everyone.
But I mean, I guess they're being very nice.
And take the compliment.
So I'm sure they still mean it about you.
Of course. I wouldn't take it personally either way.
I'd say in general, yeah, it can be intense, Kate, right?
Meeting your in -laws, especially if English is their second language and maybe they're native speakers of English.
That could be very intense.
But I wouldn't worry too much about that kind of scenario.
Yeah. You can build the relationship with them in other ways.
Yes, exactly. So let's go through some of the other ones Kate asked about.
okay bright what do you think of this one lindsay so i think this maybe has a slight hint of a bit more energy to it um maybe a bit more of a youthful tone i think um for like maybe to describe younger people i would say interesting yeah that's not probably not gonna be found in the dictionary but that's
just the feeling i'm getting when i'm thinking about this uh for example your your example michelle is about a child right he's a very bright boy he just needs to apply himself more so it might be something that a teacher would say to parents in a parent -teacher conference um do you agree with that with the youthfulness
to that word a little bit um well to me i also think of a light bulb you know like yeah i think of the light bulb being bright and so that's just kind of the image right um i get with it is that yeah they they know a lot there's i i do agree i I think there's a lot of energy youthfulness to this.
Yeah, for sure. There's some youth.
I mean, it doesn't mean you can't refer to someone in their 70s as bright.
You could, it would be correct.
Um, but there's some, for some reason we might just use this on the younger end of the spectrum for some reason.
Yeah. Okay. All right, Michelle, what else?
Well educated. Yes.
Okay. So Lindsay, what is this one?
This one is more to me, um, about being studious or more dealing with school so but what's interesting is you can be well -educated and not smart or smart but not well -educated yeah of course does that make sense of course 100 100 just because you've spent tons of money on education which we would in the u
.s um and years and years it doesn't mean you've learned to think for yourself right to think in a critical way um and to yeah think in your own way A lot of what, unfortunately, the school system does, at least here in the U .S., teaches us a certain formula, a certain template of how to pass classes,
right? How to write a paper and, you know, cite citations and things like that.
But are we really learning how to think critically?
Not always. Not always.
Right. And sometimes we're learning, a lot of times we're learning things that we don't actually need in the real world.
Like, you know, you never learn to balance a checkbook or you're about like your finances in school or how to unclog the toilet or, you know, things like that.
You know, you don't, you're learning.
It's, you know, it's the whole, I think we've talked about book smart and street smart before.
It kind of goes back to that.
oh absolutely and there's also other ways of being intelligent and you know i think this is important you know some people have uncanny emotional intelligence it's just unbelievable and nine ten times out of ten that's going to get them further in life than conceptual you know iq intelligence to be
honest i would argue that that's probably more important in life to be successful is EQ.
Yeah, exactly. So you want to read the example for this one?
Yeah. So here we go.
I don't care how well educated she is.
She doesn't know how to read people's emotions and it gets in the way of her work.
Exactly. Just what you were saying.
Exactly. There's also other forms of intelligence, like spiritual intelligence, like people who are very in touch with their body, with the earth, with, you know, there's just a lot of ways of being smart you know yeah exactly it's not all like just if you pass your tests exactly right now let's go
over to the word intelligent because we've been throwing it out there so this is to me um that overall about a person it's sounding more a little more well rounded um it's not necessarily specific to one topic um it's more like a whole person or a whole animal like for example in this example is I've
heard dolphins are very intelligent does that make sense what I'm trying to say or is it just how do you know I think it makes sense I've heard that also that elephants are by the way elephants are supposed to be really intelligent which is really cool it's fun to know which animals are intelligent
you know which animals have that sense so maybe build families stick with their partners for life penguins for example yeah yeah really kind of cool stuff but I think I don't oh oh yeah dolphins are intelligent I was just making sure i didn't make that up like i thought that they were yeah okay i think
you can also be really book smart but not have much common sense and i guess that is kind of street smarts as we've said earlier in the episode but common sense is is again kind of intuition about what should be done in this scenario or this scenario and in the end yeah these are all different ways
of being smart but intelligent is i agree with you michelle it's more broad it's more well -rounded i would say right, right, right, right.
You just realized that your business needed to hire someone yesterday.
How can you find amazing candidates fast?
Easy. Just use Indeed.
When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need.
Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites.
Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps you stand out and hire fast.
With Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster and it makes a huge difference.
According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45 % more applications than non -sponsored jobs.
When I post jobs for my business, I need access to dozens of high quality candidates to choose from within just a few days.
Speed matters when it comes to building your team.
There's no need to wait any longer.
Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed .com slash a e e just go to indeed .com slash a e e right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast one more time go to indeed
.com slash a e e terms and conditions apply hiring indeed is all you need okay anything else we need to know here about different ways to say smart yes well we're gonna talk about a couple different things before we wrap up wrap up the episode so we're also going to add the word knowledgeable knowledgeable
that's a big one lindsey what is knowledgeable yeah so generally just knowing a lot about a specific topic so for example he's very knowledgeable about cookware.
He has been keeping up with all the different brands.
So I suppose you could be maybe not super intelligent overall, but really knowledgeable about one area.
And if that's the area that you go into professionally, you're good to go.
Right. Right. Exactly.
Exactly. And then Kate was also asking about, you know, somebody who's really smart with math or science specifically.
So I guess maybe a math.
I mean, will you if they are really a mathematician or a scientist right those are the professions but if you sometimes you might want to use them to highlight that they're good at something so for example you could use it in kind of a joking way you could say look at you you're a real mathematician right
yes exactly look at you right we must have done an episode at some point yeah look at you you are xyz yeah really good kind of teasing someone a little bit that's fun that's fun or you could say that you're proficient in something.
So you could say you're proficient in math or science.
So I'm proficient in math, but I don't feel as smart when it comes to history.
Yeah, I think proficient in it would be more commonly used in a job interview.
You know, I'm proficient in certain coding languages, right?
AI coding, that kind of thing.
It feels a little formal for that kind of dinner conversation with within laws.
Don't you think so, Michelle?
Yeah, I would say yeah yeah I would say it's a little bit more formal but Lindsay any other that you can think that is specific to math or science I think we pretty much nailed the important ones yeah I think so too conceptual cerebral I've mentioned those words a few times you know conceptual intelligence
he's very cerebral I actually my favorite brewery in my neighborhood is called cerebral brewing and they're supposedly they use a lot of special science in brewing the darker beers that they create I don't know if that's just part of their branding or what but cerebral is a good word so he's very he's
very um head head focused right uh he's very active in his mind his or her mind that kind of thing could be other words to use yeah absolutely all right should we do a role play let's do it michelle here we go all right i can't believe oh sorry no we are well here we are college friends we're going
over a test all right i can't believe i got a b Lindsay, you're so smart.
You'll catch up next test.
I just don't feel very bright right now.
You're one of the most intelligent people I know.
You just had a couple bad breaks.
Oh, well, thanks. I think I'm more proficient in math than science, so my grades reflect that.
Well, I don't think our teacher is that great, to be honest.
He may have a PhD, but being well -educated doesn't always translate into being a good classroom teacher.
That's true. Oh, that is true.
Sometimes, did you ever run into in college, you know, especially because you went to a larger university, right, Michelle?
University of Maryland.
Yes. Right. So I imagine a lot of your professors were doing research like that.
Is that true? Or at the same time, well teaching because they have to teach?
Yeah. Yeah. But a lot of times, yes, that's true.
A lot of professors, they're doing research as well.
A lot of times like they are required to teach, but they're really there to research, to become really well -known in their field because they love their discipline, whatever they're researching.
And then teaching is kind of a side gig for them in a lot of cases.
You do run into that a lot of times in bigger universities, for sure.
Yeah. So let's go through this.
So I said, so you're upset you got to be.
And I said, you're so smart.
You'll catch up next test.
Right. And then I said, I just don't feel very bright right now.
Right. And you said?
I said, Lindsay, you're one of the most intelligent and people I know, you just got a couple of bad breaks.
Yeah. And then I said, well, thanks.
I think I'm more proficient in math and science.
So my greed reflects that.
And that feels like a pretty formal statement right there, right?
The word proficient for some reason is feeling formal today for me.
No, I get it. I get it.
It's good to point that out.
Definitely. Yeah. And then I'm starting to trash talk the teacher and I said he may have a PhD, but being well educated doesn't always translate into being a good classroom teacher exactly and we did go into this topic a little bit of a different direction in 2270 are you book smart or are you Street Smart
so and I believe we probably had a poll there too for that episode so guys yeah and check out that episode find out the difference between book smart and Street Smart and tell us which one you are that's always really interesting when we apply what we're learning to ourselves Right, Michelle?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
I love it. All right.
Takeaway for today.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's, first of all, intelligence is, we live in a culture that is obsessed with, again, cerebral conceptual intelligence, but there's a lot of ways to be smart in the world.
There's a lot of niche things we can be smart in.
So I would encourage our listeners to think beyond.
