‘What skill makes people instantly assume you’re way smarter than you actually are?’ – 23 quick hacks to help you seem extra brainy

To be truly intelligent you need to read a lot, have a good education, and rack up a fair amount of years at the university of life. But what if you haven’t got time for all that and want to look super clever right now?

The good people of Reddit have got your back, coming up with a list of ways to achieve it after user TheFilthiestMuggle asked this:

What skill makes people instantly assume you’re way smarter than you actually are?

Read on for methods to fast-track your (apparent) genius.

1.

‘Having a little bit of functional knowledge of a wide range of things.’
–tolacid

2.

‘I used a single pivot table in a spreadsheet and it led directly to a bonus. Not that it’s so difficult but just that there are few in our specialty who do anything other than plain text in Excel, any normal feature use seems amazing.’
–butter_lover

3.

‘Speaking calmly while everyone else is freaking out. Instant ‘genius’ badge unlocked.’
–Shawon770

4.

‘I kid you not someone thought I was tech savvy cause I knew Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.’
–No_Big_6151

5.

‘Definitely Chess. ‘Woah you must be smart,’ they say, as I hang an M1.’
–Keegx

6.

‘Typing fast without looking at the keyboard.’
–the_tithe

7.

‘A good walk or posture.’
–karlpacman

8.

‘I dunno if it can be considered a skill, but I’ve managed to accidentally fool damn near every human being I’ve ever met into thinking I’m a genius solely because I have a good memory and communicate clearly.

A recent psychologist-issued test of my mental state showed, among other things, that my IQ is on the low end of average. It still makes me laugh now and then.’
–AlteredEinst

9.

‘Grammar. It’s the difference between knowing your shit, and knowing you’re shit.’
–andymannoh

10.

‘Being able to build computers, its actually very simple but a lot of people don’t know that.’
–Goth-Bxnny666`

11.

‘Knowing the thin line between my opinion and what truly is.’
–Far_Fix3493

12.

‘The fact I have basic geography knowledge. I’ve shocked people by being able to find longitude and latitude on maps.’
–Az_30