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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I realized that "Mensa" didn't contain enough numerals to be a phone number, and knew it must be understood that any future member would be able to figure out the next two digits in the sequence. I tried dialling MENSANE, MENSAIL, MENSAFE, and MENSAAB, but got three rebuffs and a fax tone.

From "How I Joined MENSA" by Steve Martin

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[-] kux@lemm.ee 5 points 9 hours ago

MENSA is a big con. my mother humoured me when i was around 14 or so and i posted back the mini iq test from some paper or magazine or other. of course they replied wow you're a genius, you better come and get tested in a strict testing environment for real qualified geniuses. they scored me well on their test of words, maths, and square patterns with dots where you have to pick if the next dots should be up or down or whatever. all multiple choice of course.

did alright on the vocab stuff because i read a lot. put my best guess for everything else. big surprise then they gave me an OFFICIAL cert that said you are mega clever why don't you pay to join up? being a naive child of course i wanted to. mum said something to the effect of do you think they are playing you? i thought she was shitting me and just didn't want to pay the sub. obviously i'm a fuckin genius. but i knew she didn't have the spare cash so said yeah nevermind fuck em

dossed the rest of school thinking i didn't need it, why bother when i am a certified genius? never occurred to me that spending all my sunday job money going half on twenty fags and an eighth of soap bar wasnt genius level decison making

i'm doing alright these days but still fuck mensa

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 10 hours ago

Jamie Lofus did a podcast: (My Year In Mensa)[https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-my-year-in-mensa-55379945/]

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 hours ago

I just started listening to this thanks to your comment and it does not disappoint, even if it's not terribly surprising so far.

[-] Bunbury@feddit.nl 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Genuinely don’t know if I qualify. I tend to score pretty high on the tests because my brain “gets” the exact kind of logic they usually test. What is more important though is that the tests suck in so many ways that it makes the results basically useless. Also I have yet to meet anyone who brags about their IQ score who happens to be anyone worth knowing.

They’d need to pay me a lot of money to get me to even consider joining Mensa.

[-] dan00@lemm.ee 24 points 19 hours ago

Monthly emails about gathering with members, a useless plastic card and your ego filled to the brim. Don’t waste your time and money, weed is better.

[-] raltoid@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

I know someone who joined on a bet that he couldn't get in, and he said the exact same thing.

[-] relic4322@lemmy.ml 15 points 18 hours ago

Its funny to qualify and not go after it. After exploration I found the same things. Whats the point? Only thing I could find was hey you can hang out with smart people.

Its lonely being SMRT so this seems like it might be a good thing, but you know what... you put a bunch of smart people in a room and they are all used to being the smartest in a group and its insufferable.

Better to not bring it up, and just find people that share your hobbies tbh.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 14 hours ago

I mean, it also selects for people that have something to prove.

[-] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 16 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

the mensa paradox.

people smart enough to get in, are smart enough to know it's not worth it

[-] deadcatbounce@reddthat.com 3 points 13 hours ago

Groucho Marx couldn't have said it better. Oh .. wait.

[-] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

saying it with his voice is much better

however,

some things are better said in Groucho's voice the rest are better said in Harpo's voice.

[-] deadcatbounce@reddthat.com 2 points 9 hours ago

It was actually a (too oblique) reference to his: I wouldn't join a club that would have me as a member quotation. It was too oblique; my bad.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 14 hours ago

Bingo. What's more insufferable than a person whose life revolves around lauding their own achievements? A room full of them.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 13 hours ago

And yet it exists. Ego might seem like a pretty useless motivator, but it doesn't seems to anticorrelate with intelligence. If anything, it correlates, probably because when you're "the smart one" it becomes a vicious cycle pretty easily.

[-] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 1 points 9 hours ago

it exist, but it's like really small.

I'm theory, 2% of the world population is eligible (not that exclusive) yet they only have 50,000 members in the US, ie, 1.4 in every 10,000 people.

so the vast majority of "smart" people think the idea is cringe

[-] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 2 points 12 hours ago

maybe there's a perfect point where you're smart enough to hit that 15% hotel discount

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Yeah, I'm reconsidering now that someone mentioned that. I'm not going to the meets, though.

[-] Canopyflyer@lemmy.world 10 points 19 hours ago

Mensa membership is directly correlated to taking online IQ tests.

Truly intelligent people don't.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

It’s like buying a knighthood from an organization that claims to have rights to grant such things. Even though the title is meaningless.

Mensa is the same.

IOW it’s an organization designed to take your money for a title. They get money, you get a meaningless membership.

[-] thirteene@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Hey my knighthood came with a certificate and everything! It's easily given me $100 worth of joy, anything that's not survival is bullshit. Lean into stupid if you can afford it and it makes you happy.

[-] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 9 points 18 hours ago

I see one key difference, in social value:

Someone tells me they bought a meaningless knighthood: hearty laugh and a high five.

Someone tells me they're in MENSA: Awkward silence and maybe a mental note to check how they're doing more often.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Hah, yes. This is a good take.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago

There used to be a discount on condoms but it never got used.

[-] HoneyMustardGas@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

This type of humor is paramount.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 27 points 1 day ago

In Spanish, mensa means stupid. You'd think geniuses would've chosen a better acronym

[-] digdilem@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 day ago

Blame the Romans.

Both words are derived from late Latin mentalis, from Latin mens, ment- ‘mind’.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 78 points 1 day ago

It discounts my impression of them.

[-] tourist@lemmy.world 53 points 1 day ago

Same.

The entire concept of mensa always rubbed me the wrong way

It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.

You're supposedly one of the smartest people alive, and yet you somehow concluded that a good use of your limited time on Earth is to blow smoke up your own ass with a group of other pretentious jerkoffs who know how to cheese IQ tests

[-] ChexMax@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

I listened to a podcast basically saying once you're really smart, it's likely your life just really sucks. Of course there are a handful of people who are wildly successful, but most high IQ people just feel like nothing in the world was built for them. Basically the father out on the bell curve you are, the less the world is made for you to function happily in, whether your IQ is 60 or 140. If you want to be smart and happy, a doctor or lawyer or whatever, 125 is the sweet spot. 140 is depression.

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It just feels like its only purpose is to be a magnet for narcissists.

I’ve seen a few dating profiles near me with women claiming to be in Mensa. I’m glad they mention it, as it’s a dog whistle for me to move on to another profile that will inevitably ignore me because I just don’t stack up.

~That’s meant to be funny.~

[-] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 7 points 20 hours ago

I think that's a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it

[-] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago

I think that's a red flag, not a dog whistle. the latter is intended by the person publishing it

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 day ago

Most people smart enough to join are smart enough not to.

[-] bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

Don't forget racists. Plenty of those are drawn to the Mensa labels, too.

[-] bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

This is worth the entire post and more. I'm chuckling while my kid gives me weird looks from the other room.

[-] dylanmorgan@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 day ago

Look up Jaime Loftus’ excellent podcast “My Year in MENSA” for an in-depth look at the organization.

[-] bobbyfiend@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 day ago

Thinking one step further: Even if I somehow got into MENSA (unlikely), I can't imagine ever saying, "I see you have a MENSA discount..." ugh.

[-] Carl@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

If there's any discounts they probably take the form of a link on a website that gets you 10% off (clicking the link installs a cookie that increases your prices on that website by 10%)

[-] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

For anyone else wondering what a "MENSA" member is:

Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.[3][4][5] It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test.

I was already questioning why school/university cafeteria staff should get any benefits that aren't present in other jobs.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago
[-] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 points 18 hours ago

Fucking perkopolification of the discount landscape yet again

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

Yo 15% off at hotels and inns. Dope benefit

[-] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago

Half off soft drinks at Texas Roadhouse!

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 day ago

ASSMEN/MENSASS has pro-state biases

[-] tonyn@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

Apparently they get 15% off at Comfort Inn

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Oh shit, maybe I need to reconsider, as a very poor person with fancy test results.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 14 hours ago

And Alamo Car Rental!

this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
69 points (91.6% liked)

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