"Closet Intellectual"

Before I forget, my sympathy to the family of former Gov. and Sen. J.J. Exon, whose funeral is tomorrow. Although I am a young Democrat, I have been catching up on some of the things that he's done.

Now on to something that has nothing to do with politics.
Last weekend, my wife and myself, along with a friend, went to the Anchor Inn to catch Lemon Fresh Day. We sat at a picnic table with an older couple (50's, maybe) who were very nice. After we got to know each other a little bit and found out some of our background, they started giving our friend crap about dating and telling her they would find a man. They razed her about dating a "smart guy" (since he's an optometry student). She finally relinquished the fact that she, too, was an optometry student. Completely catching the man off guard, he says, "Oh, you're one of those closet intellectuals that only reveals herself at certain times." Why I found this to be totally hilarious, I'm not sure, but I did. I've been thinking quite a bit about this, and have developed a definition:

Closet intellectual (adj.): A highly intelligent person who does not always choose to use their intelligence, only using it when it is completely advatageous for themselves. Because of their ability to blend in with all groups of individuals (i.e., both idiots and scholars), they are that much smarter.

This, however, is not to be confused with people who are just "book smart". They lack the common sense to turn off and on their intelligence. They are forced to be dumb in certain situations, while a closet intellectual choses to be dumb. I would like to think of myself as a closet intellectual. I'm pretty quiet when it comes to most things, but every now and then I let my true self be revealed. I'm currently theorizing on other levels of intellectual, so check by later when I need something else to blog about.