It came about because today I gave someone a fairly detailed explanation of Big Bang Theory, Doppler redshift, and cosmic background radiation. They, in return, pointed out that I'd spent the entire evening with my trousers accidentally tucked into my boots.
So what is cleverness? It's probably not wondering where your car is while driving it (bing!) or setting fire to two matchboxes while holding them (bing!) I'd also wager that cleverness is not thinking you've locked your keys inside your car for a week, getting the AA man to prize open your windows only to find you've left them somewhere else all along and the whole thing has been a hilarious waste of time (bing bing bing bing bing!)
So, is it context-sensitive? Does it depend on circumstances or is it a sort of inherent quality? Can you be smart in one dimension and a bit dizzy in others? Can you be an academic who can't tie shoelaces? Can you be a bit of a genius with a paintbrush and hopeless with a roll of wallpaper?
I think so, and I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better about wearing my trousers inside my boots. I think there are clever ideas but they're not restricted to clever people. There are ways to be clever, not just with words or logic or art or music, but with emotions and empathy and fun and life. All you have to do is tune into the way of thinking that gets you where you need to be, and your natural creativity will do the rest.
As an unrelated side note, is anyone any good at hanging pencil pleat curtains in a way that doesn't make them look like they've been put up by Mr Bean?
Anyone?
Asking for a friend.
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