Who is smarter?

[lucybelle]

We had the who is better looking thread, now who do you think is smarter, you or your SO?

My SO and I have different smarts. I think we're both intelligent (he's an engineer and I'm in science-though it's only high school teaching!) but I think my SO is far more clever than I am. He fixes stuff all the time and can come up with really neat ideas. He also knows much more about machines than I do and on occasion likes to explain how things work to me. I like that he's excited about his work... but really I don't care about the inner workings of a turbine...

But, I think I have more common knowledge than he does. Just a year ago he moved out of his parent's house so he didn't know anything about doing laundry, cooking, cleaning. I even had to teach him how to pump gas since there's no self-service in CR! He has learned so much, but there's still a lot to go Things I think everyone should know (like how to make mac n' cheese from a box) he needs direction with.

[snow_girl]

I think my SO is more book smart and I'm more street smart in general.

[Dziubka]

My boyfriend and I are the same. We have very different smarts.

My boyfriend is in railway engineering and logistics and he knows all kinds of things about trains, timetables, classification yards, signals and stuff, that's all a big (if uninteresting) mystery to me. I'm a linguist so I know all about grammar theories, cases and language typology, most of which isn't really interesting to him.

We also have different non academic smartnesses, too. My boyfriend's very much in geography and he loves planning trips. He can look at maps and come up with different routes for hours.
I'm more practically talented, when it comes to putting things together or figuring out how they work without an instruction, I'm a lot better than him.
We complement each other in everyday life abilities. I cook, he cleans, I come up with places I want to see or things I want to do and he figures out the logistics.

[kiara_silver]

For one, my SO is for sure more street smart then i am, First time over here and he knew his way around everywhere. Within the first day. He knows where he's going and how to get there. My fault, I tend to not pay attention? I don't know, but he's defiantly more street smart.
And he is probably more educated then I am, yeah I graduated but he's taken his knowledge above and is still learning. He knows just about every subject better than I do. Math, history, Defiantly geography. So lol yeah my SO is the smarter one out of us two.

[Bethypoo]

I am defiantly smarter when it comes to intellectual stuff, critical thinking and problem solving and some of the obvious stuff.. But when it comes to putting stuff together that is all him.

[HollzHeartsChris]

Chris is more street wise than I am, since I was born and raised in the country and he's lived in the city all his life. I'd say we're both really book smart, but I think tech-wise...even though I'm far from being a technophobe...he is better since he does a lot of repairing computers, phones, jailbreaking Apple products etc. I think he's seen a lot more than I have too though, not to mention been through, despite him being younger than me. I'd say he's extremely mature for his age, even more so than me. But that's just my opinion I'm sure he'd disagree!

[Zephii]

I'm not sure. I think he has the potential to be smarter than me, but he isn't as interested in learning as I am. :P Obi is great with technology and math, but I've never seen him try to learn anything unless it had to do with work. He is better with abstract things, involving shapes or particles, or knowing where a shadow would fall or force would be applied if he's doing something artistic. Real world things... Not so much.
I learn for fun, right now I am trying to understand politics. It's slow going! I also seem to have more useful street knowledge, like general house maintenance and renovation. I couldn't believe he didn't know how to paint.
I know a lot more about history and cultures (I'm blaming his school for that tho) and when things break its me that fixes them. I'm also our long term planner.

[Haley53]

I see us as operating on the same or a similar wavelength in terms of "life" smarts. I think we both tend to think of the world in the same way, see the same problems, share similar views (though we disagree on some), etc. I would even argue that we both share the same level of spiritual intelligences; he simply uses different language than I do (he identifies as more agnostic and I identify as solidly spiritual, but other than some things, such as I believe in reincarnation and he does not, our foundations are pretty much the same). Where I think we differ is when it comes to academics and logic versus creativity. It's not that my boyfriend is not logical, as he can be, but he has more abstract ways of thinking. He's more artsy and creative whereas I tend to be more linear and logical. He's smarter in things like music and art, though computers/techy stuff as well, but I tend to know more in the ways of mathematics and then of course, the more fact-based bits of psychology (seeing as it's my area of study, I should hope). We tend to balance each other out in that way, I think.

I'm also better with words, and he's better with portraying things visually. :P

[squeeker]

I think my boyfriend is smarter than me in most things. He knows so much because he spends so many hours watching videos and reading information to learn new concepts and things. He is great with languages, and great with understanding complicated subjects, much better than me. I am fairly smart and educated but don't spend nearly as much time learning new things as he does. But then if I thought about it more, I guess I might be smarter than him in some areas but mostly I think he's smarter.

[Sierra]

I feel really guilty answering this question. I think we're intelligent in different ways, but he thinks I'm more intelligent than he is. I may have a higher IQ, but in no way is he stupid or even MINORLY less intelligent than I am, if he was I wouldn't be interested in him.

[Rugger]

I'm def. more well-read than my SO. I read every day, and he barely reads at all. He's more street smart than me. But I'm more book-smart.

[floridaellen]

I'm more intellectual than my SO. I went to a private Catholic high school and graduated at the top of my class. My SO struggled to pass high school. However, I don't think that was because he was stupid or anything; he's definitely not! But his home life and mediocre school did not support him enough and he kind of fell through the cracks.
He's very smart when it comes to fixing things and thinking up creative solutions to problems. I'm jealous of his creativity.
Now that he is applying to college though, I think he will do better in school. He's smart but lacked the motivation to do well in high school due to lack of support and a general feeling of pessimism about his future. Now he has a plan and is extremely interested in his major so I think he will do better!
So technically if you look at grades and SAT scores and such things I'm smarter. But I don't think that's an accurate description of our abilities.

[anlgp]

I don't think it's a smarter, but more of a different kind of smart.

[HS-loves-RT]

My SO and I are both very smart in school, but I think she's got me beat. lol. When I got hopelessly stuck on math problems, she had no trouble with them when I asked her for help. We have different strengths, but especially in math and science she's "smarter" than me.

[marbear31]

Ahhhh I love this topic!!! This is actually one of the small realizations I had about Stephen that made me appreciate him even more. We both have "different" smarts, even though that's a bit of an odd way to describe it, I suppose. Stephen is obsessed with all news and current events; he's constantly checking newspapers, blogs, etc. He's very tech smart, and then he pulls these random facts out of his butt that throw me for a curveball each time. Like, yesterday, we were skyping, and randomly started talking about Jane Austen. He's not the type of guy to read Pride and Prejudice religiously, but he knew a random fact about where she lived. Impressed me like crazy, considering he's more of a science/tech/current events type of guy. He's also WAY more street smart than me (well, he does have 10 years on me...:P), and he loves biographies and hard news. I'm more literary-oriented (I can recite GWTW religiously, and I consider Mr. Darcy to be the epitome of man.) We both have different interests, but are very similar in the ways we think and react to things, I believe at least. He told me the other day I'm such an old romantic, but that he thought it was cute. We have very similar communication styles (compliments, etc.), but I think we complement each other and have many of the same instincts. Regardless, I'm head over heels for him, and I feel like talking to him is Christmas morning every day.