<p>what exactly is this thing called “street smart”?</p>
<p>does it really exist? is it possible for a person from the affluent suburbs to be “street smart” </p>
<p>or does the person’s finanicial background automatically disqualify him/her from being “street smart” … sounds like an oxymoron.</p>
<p>enlighten this grasshopper oh cerebral ones</p>
<p>Personally, I think the operative word is “suburban”. At my school, suburban kids have a much steeper learning curve when arriving in the urban environment.
Manner of dress, how to get around, how to act when walking late at night, being aware. Walking/taking public transport/how to hail a cab+tip. These all seem to be problems.</p>
<p>Quite appropriately, I visited urbandictionary.com for the official “street” definition of “street smart” lol:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=street+smart[/url]”>Urban Dictionary: street smarts;
<p>Street smart is another variation of common sense (IMO).</p>
<p>It’s what people who aren’t actually smart say to assuage their fear of intellectual inadequacy.</p>
<p>^Not true, I’d give up my intellectual smarts to become more street smart (although it doesn’t have to be a tradeoff necessarily)</p>
<p>There’s such thing as a multiplicity of intelligences. There’s more to life than the “intellectual.” You ARE confused.</p>
<p>I think it comes down to who lived in a sheltered enviorment and who didn’t.</p>
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<p>No.</p>
<p>The same way the rich people can quickly determine who doesn’t belong at their country club, the people who run the streets can determine who doesn’t belong in that neighborhood. The only difference is one can put your safety at risk, and the other doesn’t.</p>
<p>^ haha. That depends on how concerned those New England Gangsters are about the safety of their golf clubs!</p>
<p>^ that comment pretty much requires this video: <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0</a></p>
<p>street smart, if a u are in college and u are still thinking in street smart terms then i believe that something is wrong</p>
<p>street smart is handling yourself on the street/nightlife/conflicts. having a mixture of ‘book smart’ and ‘street smart’ would allow you to spend a day in a classroom and a night in the city without sticking out like a sore thumb.</p>
<p>say if some guy calls you out for talking to his gf and you freeze, you have no street smarts. it encompasses a lot of stuff but that’s just an exapmle.</p>
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<p>Uh huh. You can be on your way to CEO. You get mugged, you get confronted, all the college classes in the world aren’t going to help you most likely.</p>
<p>Guys, street smart does NOT mean you are a gangster… its when you are smart in the sense that you solve problems you are no prepared for, often in your everyday life. For example, figuring out how to find an alternative transportation when you missed the bus, skimming through the whole test before starting and realizing the last questions are the easiest, etc. Hmm, it was difficult to explain…</p>
<p>While that may be the actual definition, it’s not what the term is normally used for.</p>
<p>good point snow.</p>
<p>Street smarts means being able to do things that actually count towards success, not just memorizing for exams and not being able to apply your knowledge. It doesn’t mean that the person is someone who isn’t intelligent.</p>
<p>laserprecision:
If you are referring to what I wrote, I have never heard someone talk about street smart in the sense you describe it. If you mean regular social competence, reading situations correctly etc. it is however a factor that I would include in "street smart”…</p>
<p>I don’t think looking through the whole test before you start taking it is going to get you very far on the street.</p>
<p>Maybe that falls under class smarts.</p>