How to call someone STUPID, SMART, or CRAZY in English

Hi.

Welcome to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

Today's lesson is a little bit special and a little bit...

You have to be careful with it, so I want to give you a little bit of a warning before

we even start because I'm going to show you some ways to say: "crazy" and "stupid".

I'm going to show you expressions that we use to talk about a person who's a little

bit crazy or you think is stupid without actually using the words: "crazy" or "stupid".

Now, on the other hand, I'm also going to show you some ways to say a person is very

smart or sharp.

Now, "sharp" generally means smart, but it could also mean very aware or very in control

of a situation.

Now, all of these expressions, they're very creative and you can play with them a lot.

I'm going to show you basics and then show you how to expand on them, and I want you

to understand them because they are very common, and especially if you're watching TV shows

or movies...

And I get a lot of students say to me: "I can understand all the English, but I don't

know what they're saying on...

In the movies."

Well, the thing you have to remember, in the movies, their audience, their target audience

is native English speakers, which means they can use slang, and they can use idioms, and

they can use all kinds of cultural expressions that a non-native speaker, that someone who's

learning English simply won't understand until it is explained to him or her.

So that's what we're going to do here.

So we're going to start with "crazy" and "stupid" expressions, and then we're going to look

at "smart" and "sharp" expressions.

Okay?

Now, a very common expression...

And the reason I'm starting with this is because you can be very creative with this one.

You are... "__________ short/shy of __________".

A person is something short of something, or shy of something.

Now, before I continue, "shy".

Everybody knows "shy" means, you know, you get nervous when you talk to strangers or

your face gets red.

Shy, "to be shy of" means to have less than complete.

Okay?

So there's a new meaning of the word "shy" for you.

And if...

Those of you taking an English test, this is a good word to use in your essay.

Keep that in mind.

So let's look at a few examples.

"A few cards short of a full deck."

So, a full deck of cards has-what?-I think 52 cards, so this person only has 45, so he's

not playing a complete game.

It means something a little bit missing, so either crazy or stupid-okay?-without actually

saying those words, but everybody will understand.

Now, this ex-...

This structure you can use anything you want on either end, and people get very creative.

Some...

"That person is a few sandwiches short of a picnic."

You can't have a picnic if you don't have all the sandwiches there, so a little bit

not 100%.

Right?

Oh, that's another expression, to say: "He is not 100%."

It means something a little bit missing.

"A few beers short of a 6-pack.", "A few French fries short of a Happy Meal."

The list goes on and on and on and on.

You can hear all kinds, just remember this part

of it and you'll understand what's going on.

Now, other expressions: "He's not playing with a full deck."

So, basically the same meaning as this, but just a different construct.

"Oh, that guy's not playing with a full deck.

Be careful about him."

Means he's a little bit crazy, he's not 100%.

Another expression, and this is, again, we use it with these two: "sharpest" and "brightest".

Now, "sharp" generally means smart, "bright" also means smart.

So if somebody is bright, clever; somebody is sharp, clever.

But if somebody is "not the sharpest knife in the drawer", it means he's not very sharp,

he's actually quite blunt so he's a little bit stupid.

If somebody is "not the brightest star in the sky", same meaning, not very smart, a

little bit stupid.

Okay?

Other ways: "The lights are on, but nobody's home."

So eyes are open, he's alive and seeing everything, but nobody's home, nothing's going on inside

the brain.

"A person is out to lunch", so the body is here but the brain is outside having lunch

somewhere, so not present.

You can also say the person "has a loose screw", or "has a few loose screws", means not everything's

tight and working properly.

"This person's cheese slid off his cracker".

So, again, the list goes on and on and on.

Make sure you understand them, make sure you know...

You recognize them for what they mean.

But if you're going to use them, be very, very careful.

Because if...

Sometimes I've heard students mix up expressions, and the other person doesn't understand what

they're saying and they can get in...

Themselves into a little bit of trouble, so be careful about that.

Let's look at a few expressions to talk about somebody being smart, or sharp, or on the

ball, as we'll see.

Okay, so now we're going to look at the other side of the coin.

Okay?

We're going to look at some ways to say good things about people.

So, if say...

If we say somebody is the "cream of the crop", it means he's the best of the best, or she's

the best of the best.

So if you're taking...

If you're looking at a group of students, all of them are...

Sorry.

All of them are very smart, but this one in particular, he is the cream of the crop.

He's the best of the best.

He's the smartest, the most talented, etc.

When we talk about smarts, there are two types of...

Descriptions of smart, so there's "book smarts" means somebody who's studied a lot and knows

everything in theory, and then there are "street smarts".

So if we say: "This guy, not so much book smarts, but his street smarts will get him

very far."

Okay?

It means he knows how to handle himself, he knows how to deal with people.

He knows how to get the things he wants.

He might not know very much about books or what's in them, but he knows how to deal with

the world he lives in or she lives in.

Whereas book smarts, a person can graduate with a PhD, and then go out into the real

world to work and not know what's going on because this person lacks street smarts.

So it's good to have a combination of both if you can.

If somebody is "on the ball", "on the ball" means in control, aware of the situation,

ready to act in any circumstance.

Okay?

Very prepared, very ready.

If somebody was "not born yesterday"...

Not bo-...

If I say: "I wasn't born yesterday", it doesn't mean I'm smart, but it means: "I'm not stupid.

I wasn't born yesterday.

I've been around long enough, I understand how things work."

So: "not born yesterday", not stupid.

Not necessarily smart, but not stupid.

If somebody "knows the score"...

If you know the score it means you know what's going on.

So, if we think about a base-...

A basketball game or a hockey game, in the middle of the arena there's a big scoreboard.

So everybody knows the score, it's right there.

So if somebody says: "I know the score", it means: "I know what's going on.

I know the situation, I'm aware of what's happening.

I can take care of it.

I'm ready for whatever's coming."

If somebody "doesn't miss a tick", it means that this person notices everything.

So this person's very sharp, he or she always knows what's going on, sees everything that's

happening, knows what everybody's doing, is very aware of the situation, very smart.

Okay?

If we say somebody's a "sharp cookie", it means smart.

So: "She's a smart cookie.

She knows exactly what he's trying to do", etc.

Same thing: "sharp as a tack".

A tack is a little piece of metal that you put on the wall to hold the paper or whatever

picture you have, you just tack it to the wall.

Right?

It's very sharp.

So if you're sharp as a tack, it means you're very smart.

Now, if you're "_____-savvy", "s-a-v-v-y", "tech-savvy", "computer-savvy", "internet-savvy",

whatever it is you're savvy with means you're very good at, you're very knowledgeable about,

you're very aware of, you know how to use, etc.

So the most common these days is "tech-savvy".

So, children today are much more tech-savvy than their grandparents because the children

are born to a digital world, whereas the grandparents are still writing in pen and paper, so they

don't know.

They're not tech-savvy.

And you can say somebody is "quick".

If somebody is quick, it means smart, very sharp, can process information very quickly.

If somebody is a bit "slow", then a little bit dumb, not so smart.

Not necessarily stupid, just not necessarily very smart either.

But somebody who's quick is actually very smart.

Okay?

Now, again, very important to know how to use these and to know how to use them correctly.

If you're not sure, don't use it.

But when you watch movies, when you watch TV shows, when you speak to native speakers

and you hear these expressions, at least you know what's going on.

You can be on the ball, ready for whatever the conv-...

Wherever the conversation leads.

Okay?

If you have any questions about any of these, please go to www.engvid.com and ask me on

the forum there.

There's also a quiz on the site where you can test your knowledge of these expressions.

If you like the video, press "Like" on YouTube, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel.

And I'll see you again soon with some new videos and new things to learn. Bye-bye.