Just smart enough to be into Monty Python

[Cain]

I suspect social ineptitude is closer to the mark as well.

As a rule, intelligence is linked to memory and the ability to transpose learned material into different conceptual environments...while it's not a very productive use of intelligence, it takes some to understand the joke, memorize it and deploy it in a different setting.

There is also an element of OCD about it, to me.  I don't know about anyone else, but unless I watch a film obsessively, I have trouble remembering more than a few lines of it after a couple of weeks. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There is, by the way, a correlation between humor and intelligence. I wanted to post links to studies but you need an account to view most of them and I don't have one so I can't even do pullquotes, but here's one that's small but OK: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=studies%3B%20humor%20and%20intelligence&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epjournal.net%2Ffilestore%2Fep06652666.pdf&ei=oF7yTqeFMqiGiQLr89i-Dg&usg=AFQjCNGHvnM7aej1sRTUOketM50lbG6FMQ&cad=rja

The interesting thing is that not only does higher intelligence seem to predict a greater ability to make others laugh, but exposure to humor also increases certain types of intelligence. Neat!

(I know, it's that evolutionary psychology mumbo-jumbo.)

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I suspect social ineptitude is closer to the mark as well.

As a rule, intelligence is linked to memory and the ability to transpose learned material into different conceptual environments...while it's not a very productive use of intelligence, it takes some to understand the joke, memorize it and deploy it in a different setting.

There is also an element of OCD about it, to me.  I don't know about anyone else, but unless I watch a film obsessively, I have trouble remembering more than a few lines of it after a couple of weeks. 

I bet you're right about the OCD.

One study I don't have full access to linked humor with emotional intelligence as well, which makes perfect sense.

[Cain]

I also recall something about OCD being linked to social anxiety, though I haven't seen anything more recent than, say, 2005 on that, so I'm not 100% certain it is still considered to be the case.

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

I used to think the same thing about some of the people I knew and their incessant quoting. I used to cringe when I heard people recite the "Why are we here?" skit from Red vs. Blue for the billionth time.

Then I spent a year of high school repeating a math class I had already passed(long story) along with other "special" cases. Every day it was "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THE LATEST EPISODE OF FAMILY GUY?"

The entire year all I heard was family guy quotes. I never watched an episode but I could probably recite each one like fucking scripture. When we had extra time at the end of class they would all huddle around an I-pod and watch family guy, and they would laugh. They would laugh so god damn loud that it corroded my very soul.

So whenever my friends quote 70's Show or Monty Python or whatever it is that they've been watching on netflix lately, I don't complain. Once you've felt the flames of Hell an ordinary blaze just doesn't seem that hot.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I also recall something about OCD being linked to social anxiety, though I haven't seen anything more recent than, say, 2005 on that, so I'm not 100% certain it is still considered to be the case.

As far as I know the current knowledge is that they have a tendency to be comorbid.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I used to think the same thing about some of the people I knew and their incessant quoting. I used to cringe when I heard people recite the "Why are we here?" skit from Red vs. Blue for the billionth time.

Then I spent a year of high school repeating a math class I had already passed(long story) along with other "special" cases. Every day it was "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THE LATEST EPISODE OF FAMILY GUY?"

The entire year all I heard was family guy quotes. I never watched an episode but I could probably recite each one like fucking scripture. When we had extra time at the end of class they would all huddle around an I-pod and watch family guy, and they would laugh. They would laugh so god damn loud that it corroded my very soul.

So whenever my friends quote 70's Show or Monty Python or whatever it is that they've been watching on netflix lately, I don't complain. Once you've felt the flames of Hell an ordinary blaze just doesn't seem that hot.

Oh my god.

So far, you're not dissuading me from my theory that obsessively repeating lines from a TV series or movie is a sign of lower intelligence...

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

I used to think the same thing about some of the people I knew and their incessant quoting. I used to cringe when I heard people recite the "Why are we here?" skit from Red vs. Blue for the billionth time.

Then I spent a year of high school repeating a math class I had already passed(long story) along with other "special" cases. Every day it was "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THE LATEST EPISODE OF FAMILY GUY?"

The entire year all I heard was family guy quotes. I never watched an episode but I could probably recite each one like fucking scripture. When we had extra time at the end of class they would all huddle around an I-pod and watch family guy, and they would laugh. They would laugh so god damn loud that it corroded my very soul.

So whenever my friends quote 70's Show or Monty Python or whatever it is that they've been watching on netflix lately, I don't complain. Once you've felt the flames of Hell an ordinary blaze just doesn't seem that hot.

Oh my god.

So far, you're not dissuading me from my theory that obsessively repeating lines from a TV series or movie is a sign of lower intelligence...

I think it has more to do with social anxiety. An original comment or joke carries the risk of people not liking it. Quotes are socially safe territory.

[Lenin McCarthy]

I think it has more to do with social anxiety. An original comment or joke carries the risk of people not liking it. Quotes are socially safe territory.

This makes sense. I have used this tactic many times, and then switched over to more risky stuff later when I get to know people better.

[Freeky]

There is also an element of OCD about it, to me.  I don't know about anyone else, but unless I watch a film obsessively, I have trouble remembering more than a few lines of it after a couple of weeks. 

I can't do movies as well as I can do books, but if someone sets up the situation right and gets the quote wrong I usually know it.

I am insanely good at remembering exact words in books, but I think this is a different thing...

[hooplala]

I dunno, I guess unless I knew the person I wouldn't read too much into it.  We all have things we really like and enjoy.  I'm not sure that this really speaks as a detriment to a person's character, not on its own anyway. 

I mean, my daughter for a time was really into Justin Bieber, and would sing Justin Bieber songs.  Now, this is a very smart little girl who also is really into and really good at art. 

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not sure that being into a kind of mindless entertainment is necessarily indicative of the quality of one's mind, again, without knowing more about the person. 

I am not sure it is completely fair to compare a four-year-old with grown adults, but OK.

On the other hand, maybe it is completely fair to compare a four-year-old with people who constantly quote Monty Python. Hmmmm.

All I know is that frequent Monty Python quotes, in and of themselves,  are enough to let me know that I don't want to know more about the person. Unless they are four years old, in which case, I'ma cut them some slack.

Okay, change it to a 23 year old who really likes The Office.  So what?  Your question was about using this as a method for judging a person's intelligence.  What I'm saying is that I don't think it is an accurate, nor fair, test.  I mean, this board has gone through phases where internet memes were repeated ad nauseum.  Does that make us a bunch of dullards?  Of course not.

All I'm saying is that I don't think it is a fair assessment in and of itself without knowing more about a person.  They could be stuck.  They could just really, really like Monty Python.  Who knows? 

Or... DOES it?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I used to think the same thing about some of the people I knew and their incessant quoting. I used to cringe when I heard people recite the "Why are we here?" skit from Red vs. Blue for the billionth time.

Then I spent a year of high school repeating a math class I had already passed(long story) along with other "special" cases. Every day it was "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THE LATEST EPISODE OF FAMILY GUY?"

The entire year all I heard was family guy quotes. I never watched an episode but I could probably recite each one like fucking scripture. When we had extra time at the end of class they would all huddle around an I-pod and watch family guy, and they would laugh. They would laugh so god damn loud that it corroded my very soul.

So whenever my friends quote 70's Show or Monty Python or whatever it is that they've been watching on netflix lately, I don't complain. Once you've felt the flames of Hell an ordinary blaze just doesn't seem that hot.

Oh my god.

So far, you're not dissuading me from my theory that obsessively repeating lines from a TV series or movie is a sign of lower intelligence...

I think it has more to do with social anxiety. An original comment or joke carries the risk of people not liking it. Quotes are socially safe territory.

...and more intelligent people (up to a point*) are more likely to engage in exploratory behavior.





*People at the highest ranges of the "IQ" score tend to be what society usually considers losers.

[Bruno]

I don't think I've ever met anyone over the age of 25 who showed signs of Chronic Monty Python Quoting Syndrome.

There seems to be an element of critical mass, where if you get enough nerds together in one place, it sets of a cascade effect, and then Spanish Inquisition!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I don't think I've ever met anyone over the age of 25 who showed signs of Chronic Monty Python Quoting Syndrome.

The worst offenders are gamers over 30 years old.

[LMNO]

I don't think I've ever met anyone over the age of 25 who showed signs of Chronic Monty Python Quoting Syndrome.

There seems to be an element of critical mass, where if you get enough nerds together in one place, it sets of a cascade effect, and then Spanish Inquisition!

You apparently don't hang around with old people.



"Three is the number of the counting, and the number of the counting shall be three!"
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