Common Sense
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
A term defining the elusive quality some people possess of knowing what to do and why it should be done.
Mark Twain once pointed out that common sense isn't terribly common. Nevertheless, many people seem to go through life firmly convinced that common sense is one of their more reliable attributes.
One possible reason for this might be that common people are rather thick.
Because common sense is not necessarily defined by education or intelligence, many uneducated, unintelligent people use it as a rallying cry for various political causes, and freely invoke it as a shield against any threat to their particular view of the world such as, say, a new idea.
Uncommon wisdom is the term generally used for common sense by people who actually have any.
Mark Twain once pointed out that common sense isn't terribly common. Nevertheless, many people seem to go through life firmly convinced that common sense is one of their more reliable attributes.
One possible reason for this might be that common people are rather thick.
Because common sense is not necessarily defined by education or intelligence, many uneducated, unintelligent people use it as a rallying cry for various political causes, and freely invoke it as a shield against any threat to their particular view of the world such as, say, a new idea.
Uncommon wisdom is the term generally used for common sense by people who actually have any.
