Smarts

This week, I commented to someone that I didn't think that another person was smart enough to have done something we were discussing. The identity of the person and the nature of the task are irrelevant for this blog posting.

The more I thought about my original assessment of the person, the more I've thought about the different kinds of smart there are in the world.

A sampling of what I've come up with so far:

• Street smart: good at finding alleys, making shivs
• Book smart: skilled in finding square roots, wearing square cardboard hats
• Finance smart: retiring sooner and richer than the rest of us
• Jeopardy smart: excels in knowing a little bit about many things, rapid button pressing
• Evil genius smart: currently on phase 2 or 3 of global domination plan

Each type is powerful, different, and equally valuable.

Next time I say that I don't think someone is smart enough to have done something, I need to clarify which kind of smart it is that I think they don't have.

Or I can just stop saying that I don't think people are smart. It sounds much meaner than it did in my head. In my defense, I was referring to evil genius smart, which is probably okay not to have.