PSA, brought to you by nothing in particular.

[moominmolly]

I have buttons! I do not like having them pressed. Things that will help you not press my buttons:

* Knowledge and intelligence are different things. Don't assume they're the same. It makes you look like an asshole.
* I'm smart. You probably think you know this about me, but most of you are wrong.
* If we're having a conversation, feel free to assume I know what you're talking about. If I don't, I'll ask, and then you can excitedly explain it to me. It'll be fun! I promise.
* I seriously, seriously will want to punch you in the face if you come off as condescending. Seriously.
* If you want to offer me basic advice about something, ask first, THEN offer. I might want it! I probably don't, though.

People, I love you. You are fantastic. Please, keep having ideas and thought processes and fascinations and hobbies that are different from my own, so I can keep hearing about them all and learning from you. Just, for the love of all that's good in the world, give me a bit of credit sometimes. Christ almighty, it's like I'm NINE.

Comments

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

One-on-one (and sometimes while teaching,) I try to check-in, because I find a lot of the time my audience will know stuff about my subject that I didn't learn until I went to grad school for it; but then I find that people who learned, say, "Evolution" in school have what I consider gaping holes in their understanding and knowledge.

It forces one to be more interactive than discoursive

When giving talks, there's a knack to laying out the groundwork of a subject in a way that's explanatory to the unfamiliar, while feeling like a nice review of the issues at stake to the familiar. I haven't quite mastered it, but it's really impressive to see it in action.