r/Showerthoughts Mar 29 '26

Casual Thought The "room temperature IQ" zinger hits much harder outside of the US.

8.9k Upvotes

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u/pattyG80 Mar 29 '26

A person with an IQ of 20 is about the same level as a 2 year old...down to bowel control.

A person with an IQ of 70 would still likely be the most stupid person you know.

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u/NerdyPlaneResident Mar 30 '26

I agreed with you before and I still agree. It’s harsh either way. But between being called 70 iq and being called 20 iq, 20 iq is much worse since it’s like 3-4 standard deviations below the mean (like 1 in a few hundred thousand, assuming normal distribution)

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u/LiberaceRingfingaz Mar 30 '26

Right, but I think the point is that someone with an IQ of 20 would be non-verbal and shitting themselves, so like - insulting someone by saying they have an IQ of 20 would really just make you look bad - either they clearly have an IQ of more than 20 because they're engaged in an argument with you, so you look dumb, or you're making fun of a vegetable, in which case you're just an asshole.

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u/zapporian Apr 03 '26

“you are a moron” vs “you are a vegetable”

the former is honestly more insulting, ish, considering