On 7 Sep 2006 07:15:56 -0700, "Peter Wieck" wrote:


paul packer wrote:

Aren't silly and stupid effectively the same?

Not hardly.

Silly is typically applied to those who lack common sense, impulse
control, judgement, or act dazed or stunned... out-of-it, so to speak.
It can also be a temporary condition brought on by drink or drugs or
lust. But silly people may be very bright, just not always under
real-world conditions.

Stupid is systemic. Slow of mind, dull, given to unintelligent acts,
senseless, and so forth. Typically, "stupid" is permanent.


But if a person is permanently "stupid", how does one pick when he's
also temporarily "silly"? Wouldn't the first effectively camouflage
the second?