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I wouldn't necessarily say that intelligent means educated. (And vice versa.) Intelligence to me is a more general umbrella term for a variety of qualities such as cleverness, insight, education, oranization of thought, etc. An uneducated person could certainly be intelligent, such as the Indian mathematician Ramanujan.

"Clever" to me implies a creativity of thought, especially related to problem solving. It seems to connote some idea that relates to action, such as developing a more economical way to perform a task that previously was more complex and time consuming. A clever new way to clean the windows. It wouldn't be completely out of bounds to talk about "developing a clever new way to think about the poems of Emily Dickinson" but it would sound better to me to speak of "developing an insightful new approach to understanding the poems of...."

Crafty is a bit like clever but it implies a certain deviousness. A clever accountant gets a good tax return for you without fear of breaking the law; a crafty one might just be bending the law a little bit.

"Smart" to me seems to be pretty much synonymous with "intelligent." The only difference is the latter would dominate at the top end of the scale in terms of gravitas or brilliance. For example, which would you use to describe Albert Einstein or some other Nobel Prize winner, "very smart" or "highly intelligent"? As another example, if you were a high school teacher and you had two students, both of whom made straight As in all subjects, but only one of whom exhibited surprising creativity, originality and insight on a regular basis. I'd say the latter is highly intelligent or brilliant, whereas the other would be smart or very smart.

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Quote:

An uneducated person could certainly be intelligent, such as the Indian mathematician Ramanujan.




Totally.
My sister gets straight A's, she has all AP classes, but she throws her hands up at the slightest indication of a "real-life" problem. I'm always having to help her out of simple things like applying for financial aid and finding out information about her college... And I myself didn't have all AP or all straight A's, but I know how to easily deal with these kinds of situations all the time. (I find it kind of ironic...)

Last edited by mechanesthesia; 04/14/06 10:19 PM.

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but I know how to easily deal with these kinds of situations all the time.

Like how to more gracefully accept an offered apology, perhaps?

#158436 04/15/06 02:39 PM
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crickets can be (and are ignored)

You haven't heard the ring tone on my cellphone.

A Culture is not an abstraction, a Culture is as concrete as DNA.

Then why don't we use the terms DNA and culture interchangably?

An abstraction is exactly what 'culture' is. I consider it more of a distraction, but... I'll refrain for the moment. There are so many cultures based upon so many different amounts of different defining attributes... it can't get any more abstract... Yet, this is how I understand it, and as *we all know, a culture of one is as valuable as a culture of a million.

#158437 04/15/06 10:20 PM
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I have some cultures in my refrigerator. Wanna try some?

#158438 04/15/06 10:49 PM
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Pulp Culture -- Thomas Dolby

So check beneath your fingernails
In between your toes
Right between your earlobes darling
That's where culture grows

more here



formerly known as etaoin...
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A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)

I been Phil Spectored, resurrected
I been Lou Adlered, Barry Sadlered
Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay
And I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce
And all my wealth want buy me health
So I smoke a pint of tea a day
I knew a man his brain so small
He couldnt think of nothin' at all
He's not the same as you and me
It doesnt take poetry
He's so unhip
When you say Dylan
He thinks you're talkin' about Dylan Thomas
Whoever he was
The man ain't got no culture

#158440 04/16/06 12:23 PM
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Quote:

I have some cultures in my refrigerator. Wanna try some?




Same mold, same mold (thanks Grimm!)


TEd
#158441 04/16/06 12:23 PM
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Quote:

I have some cultures in my refrigerator. Wanna try some?




And I don't think that agars well!


TEd
#158442 04/16/06 12:58 PM
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TEd's wife, peg sneaking on for a sec, before she closes out the window he left on:
My working definition of intelligence is: degree of problem solving ability.
Have fun folks!
PEg


TEd
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