“Use your common sense”
“You don’t have common sense”
How often have you heard this, people saying this to you and you to others.
After all these years, I had a question ” what is common sense”
When others do not do things my way, they do not have common sense, that was my immediate thought. This wise statement is made, when the result is different from the intended outcome.
When you lose a game, you have a whole lot of people who are not playing, the couch potatoes, blaming them for lack of common sense, right from team selection to the way they played and all comments after it is over.
I threw this question in general ” what is common sense”. All of a sudden it looked like a difficult question for some to answer.
I searched the net and found a lot of wise people with their definitions. Not that I found the answers comfortable, here are some.
“Common sense is sound, practical judgment concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge in a manner that is shared by nearly all people. “
“Common sense is the knowledge that all humans have. Such knowledge is unspoken and unwritten – we take it for granted. We acquire it imperceptibly from the day we are born. For example, “animals don’t drive cars” or “my mother is older than me”. “⁰
“A person may be considered to be lacking in common sense if they continue to believe or do something when there is evidence to suggest they would be better off thinking/acting differently.”
“In other words, liberals and other intelligent people lack common sense because their general intelligence overrides it. They think in situations where they are supposed to feel. In evolutionarily familiar domains such as interpersonal relationships, feeling usually leads to correct solutions whereas thinking does not.”
“Common sense is good sense in practical matters. On the other hand, intelligence is the ability to gain and apply knowledge and skills. … The key difference between the two is that while common sense gives more prominence to practical knowledge, intelligence focuses on intellectual capacities of an individual.”
“Common sense isn’t actually common, in either sense: it is different from person to person, and may not be employed even when many editors could agree on what it is in a particular situation. It is sometimes said, common sense is very rare.”
“Common sense is a form of practical decision-making and the ability to imagine the consequences of something you do. It stops us making irrational mistakes and makes it easier to make choices on what to do. … Some people find it harder to think through the consequences of their actions and need to learn common sense.”
“Common sense allows people to go through their life with little difficulties since they tend to have immediate solutions to the problems that life offers to them by making optimum use of the available resources. … Education makes people intelligent but it’s the common sense that makes people smart.”
As per the reports, an influential antique dealer claimed to have rare collections, including two of the 30 coins that Judas received for betraying Jesus, a piece of clothing that Jesus had worn, a chalice that Prophet Muhammad used, the throne of Tipu Sultan,paintings of Leonardo la vinci, Raja Ravi Varma, a copy of Bhagawad Gita which was with chatrapati Shivaji, the staff of Sri Narayana Guru, the Quran used by Saddam Hussain and more. Not sure, whether Adam’s rib was in the list. Though the authenticity of all these ‘antiques’ are under question, what legitimised the claims over the years was the steady flow of VIPs to his house. The rich, famous, celebrities and literates fell for his smooth talk. Here, no sense worked.
My friend, Kannan Vembu had said, education and common sense are not related at all.
A truck got stuck under a bridge. A few engineers started working on which structures to be removed to relieve the truck, when a boy hesitantly suggested to deflate the tyres to bring down the top level of the truck
What is obvious for you need not be for me and the other way around. I have stopped questioning anybody’s common sense
Rajmenon's Blog 
Great Read!I think there is no end to the definition of common sense.. here’s another characteristic of common sense: ” common sense is very relative”.. what is common sense to one, can be very complicated rocket science to another…! and again: common sense creates attitude!: “It’s common sense “s says a member of Mensa in solving an otherwise complicated puzzle to the ordinary..thereby establishing his “superior “holier than thou”attitude!,..and the list goes on I guess…..
While in a restaurant, the mensa team found the pepper in the salt bottle and salt in the pepper bottle. They were sitting and discussing how they could put them back in their right bottle. When the waitress came near them they told her they were finding out ways to enhance the contents of the bottles. She said, oh sorry, the caps have got exchanged and she set it right
As usual excellent writing. I liked the quotes you have used. But no one likes to be corrected. Some people take offence very easily. Mostly when young people try to teach older people( about mobiles for example) or viceversa( about life decisions)
As usual excellent writing. I liked the quotes you have used. But no one likes to be corrected. Some people take offence very easily. Mostly when young people try to teach older people( about mobiles for example) or viceversa( about life decisions)
You are right.
Hi
Beautifully written and examples given proves common sense can make the complicate things simple.
Thank you. Bhaskar.
Hahahaha…unique topic!!! Never thought about it soo much until I read this. Again a great piece of writing Uncle 🙂
Ya, when I realized what is obvious for you, need not be for me, I asked what is common sense and I did not have an answer, went in search of it.
Good article. “In evolutionarily familiar domains such as interpersonal relationships, feeling usually leads to correct solutions whereas thinking does not.” This reaffirms my belief!
Ha ha. Real funny examples. Had a smile while reading. And sometimes I feel spouses lack common sense too as we can’t be on the same frequency .
That’s a good one. Any body who Iis not in my frequency lacks common sense
Common sense is not so common