What makes a person "smart" to you?

someone that i can actually have a conversation with and know that they understand me. i hate when i say something and the other person says 'yeah i know. last week...'. and im like, no. no that is not at all what im talking about. thats just annoying. smart people are ones that can listen and have common sense. they dont think about what they should say. they say what should be said.

XD

Well, I could automatically tell you're intelligent because of your sentence structure, grammar skills (yes, I do judge people by how they spell and write), the coherency of your thoughts - well developed yet terse enough to not deter from the subject, and your use of vocabulary. This is basically how I would judge anyone over the internet. In person, I judge my peers mostly by the kinds of grades they get, however I do this mostly to see how motivated they are, because grades do not reflect most people's true intelligence. And true intelligence I base on common sense and reasoning. I know students with a 4.0 GPA that can't even break 1000 on the SAT Reasoning Test. Just because mommy cares about their grades, or they need to maintain a certain GPA to play sports, or whatever their motivation may be, doesn't make them smart, or even necessarily driven. I've known many A students who are simply good cheaters/bullshitters. However, I wouldn't necessarily consider someone smart for getting a high SAT score either, because much of that - especially the math and grammar sections - is simply a matter of learning and memorization of formulas, rules, etc. True intelligence comes from a place well beyond any of that, which I'm finding almost difficult to put into words. The closest I can come to explaining this is simply creativity, in a broad sense of the word.

By either being socially positive in actions. Like Mother Terresa, a scientist who creates an actual cure like G. Washington's doctor who using a knife, inoculated 3 out of 4 Soldiers, yet killed or sickened 1 out of 4 and saved his army from small pox. A person who considers a selfless act to help 1 or more people more important than self reward or as a reward in it's self. There are plenty of examples of bad people throughout history.

First, I want to say that the SAT does not determine "smartness". All you have to do is study algebra, geometry, and tricks/hints. It also depends on how well a person takes tests and their stress level. Standardized tests only prove how much someone wants to get into college. If you really care, you will study more.

In our society, people who are good at english/math are considered smart but I believe smartness covers (talent, common sense & book knowledge) The smartest people in history were not booksmart. Many of the genious' were people who discovered things on their own. Booksmart people memorize other people's work.

Also in our society, people who are able to take a subject/topic and master it are considered smart. I agree with this but there are degree's of smartness. You can tell if a person is "smarter" than another person according to the amount of time it took a person to master something. For example, my friend and I started the piano at the same time. She practiced less often than I did, but is already better than me.

Common sense. Book smart doesn't go far if you're a natural idiot, know what I mean?

Trust me, being good w/ numbers does not equal intelligence. Just look at me!

Someone you can carry on a conversation with and has common sense. Some people that are so very smart haven't any common sense.

I would say partly common sense and education. Life experience also has a large part to play.

Wisdom and wit. A good sense of humor. Academics doesn't make one smart. Common sense does.

its actually quite interesting! my teacher recently talked to us about how the teachers had a meeting and they talked about the different types of intelligence. there is like 7 or 9 actually, and how they have to let people show all of these types of intelligence in their activities. :D

For me it's the ability to listen and use logical thinking