There’s always someone in a friend group who is determined to show how much smarter they are. No humility at all, just pure smugness and a constant need to undermine anything others say.
It’s not just in the outside world, though, because they also show up online. Usually with comments starting with “Well, actually…” popping up all over social media. And, funnily enough, Reddit even has a dedicated space for people to share these moments. So, if you’re in the mood to get a little infuriated, you’ve come to the right place.
#1 I Will Let You Guess How Rich And Smart I Am
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#2 This Kid’s Introduction In My Virtual English Class Today
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Funnily enough, researchers have actually studied people who act smug on social media and seem to think they’re better than everyone else.
This brings us to the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias identified by psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. It suggests that people with limited knowledge or skills in a particular area will actually overestimate their competence. This happens because they lack the expertise to recognize their own mistakes, leading them to share their opinions with complete confidence.
#3 Some People Eat Paint In Prison, Yet Others Read The Classics
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#4 Ladies Are Surely Lining Up For This Alpha Specimen
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#5 My Boyfriend Is AI Because Only AI Can “Match My Intellectual Pace”
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#6 Wow, What A Genius Im Soooo Intimidated
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#7 He’s Literally Responsible For 5G
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Another factor comes into play with this cognitive bias: the online disinhibition effect, identified by psychologist John Suler over two decades ago.
This explains why people drop their usual social filters when they’re behind a screen rather than in person. Because of the invisibility factor, meaning no eye contact or immediate facial feedback, people who love to say “well, actually” will often talk down to strangers in ways they would never dare to in a face-to-face conversation.
#8 A.i’s Chosen One
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#9 Very Smart
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#10 Leagues Above You In Iq
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#11 So Self Aware. Such Intelligence
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And of course, it’s just so satisfying to see these people getting owned by others online. And well, there’s actually an explanation for how our brains work in these situations.
A 2019 study found that schadenfreude, or taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, tends to spike when the person falling from grace displays “hubristic pride.” In other words, when they’re arrogant, dominant, and constantly bragging. Seeing someone arrogant get put in their place isn’t just funny; it can also feel like a little restoration of fairness in society.
#12 Watch Your Mouth I Am 1000 Elo At Chess
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#13 “Everyone Remembers The Word That Knocked Them Out Of The Third Grade Spelling Bee”
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#14 Surface-Level Philosophy Expert
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#15 I Bet He Felt Cool Typing This One Out
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#16 Iq:146- Doesn’t Know The Difference Between Adrenochrome And Plasma
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#17 A Very Humble Musician
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And it’s not just in the modern world that we see this happening. Historically, there have also been examples of this exact phenomenon.
Apparently, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, rulers used the metaphor of “cutting down the tall poppy” to describe bringing overly prominent or arrogant figures down to size. Nowadays, this idea is even known in countries like New Zealand, Australia, and the UK as “tall poppy syndrome.”
#18 This Character Thinks Basic Hygiene Is Overrated
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#19 Only Idiots Like The Movies
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#20 Insufferable And Asking For Tinder Profile Advice
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#21 Never Change, Reddit… Never Change
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And well, being overconfident isn’t exactly rare, either. Studies actually show that overconfidence is pretty much the default state for many people. Plenty of examples show this. For instance, 94% of college professors rate their work as above average, while 88% of American drivers claim to be better than the median driver.
So, it’s obviously good to feel confident in what you do, but being humble and admitting that you’re not an expert in every aspect of life is just as important. So, which of these comebacks was the most satisfying for you? Let us know!
#22 The Takes On This Game Have Been Extremely Cringe, But This Post Absolutely Takes The Cake
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#23 I Don’t Want To Come Off As Ableist, But Come On
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#24 Well, If That’s What AI Said
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#25 Why Must They Have The Most Pretentious Vocabulary Known To Mankind
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#26 You Are Too Stupid To Understand Why Vacation Is Fun
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#27 Are We For Real Right Now
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#28 Overqualified For Germany
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#29 AI Is Not A Bubble And I’m Right Because I Have A Degree
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#30 Average Reddit Moment
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#31 He Must Be Very Smart
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#32 A Bit Of Reddit Infamy
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#33 No One Has More Knowledge Of Ocd Than Me
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#34 Liking Numbers Means I (A Ph.d. Student In Mathematics, By The Way) Simply Cannot Like Rap
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#35 Surprised? Lunkhead
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#36 Just Some Accelerationist Gems; Only High Performers Like Us Understand AI Utopia Because Billionaires Say So
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#37 They Are Very Smart At Games, So There Were A Lot Of Grotted Teeth
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#38 “When Someone’s Iq Reaches The Level Of Mine…”
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#39 Verbally Gifted And Can Imagine Apples
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#40 Academic Reads Alot
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#41 Maybe It’s Just You
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#42 Specific People Might Find You Dumb
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#43 I Wonder How Much The World’s Highest Paid Grammar Tutor Makes
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#44 To Your Peril!
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#45 Only Smart People Get The Funnys
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#46 Wrote A Bad Story? No, It’s You Who Is Wrong!
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#47 I Know How To Calculate Radiation
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#48 He Must Be Very Smart
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#49 This Guy Just Laughs About Throwing Radical Future Monophysite Alexandrians Under The Bus
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#50 All That “Math” Just To Come To A Similar Percentage And Say 32 Million/342 Million People Is “Rare” LOL
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#51 I Know A Lot. Many Are Saying This That I Know More Than You. The FBI Trust Me Yes
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#52 Under A Monty Python Clip
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#53 Cheaters Ruin My Superiority
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#54 I Am Very Smart, Unlike You Npcs
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#55 Run Along Now,
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#56 Op Missed The Global Dark Knight Reevaluation Convention
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#57 I Am Intellectually Superior And You Mere Fools Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Vote
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#58 Technically Incorrect
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#59 All Mathematicians Are Just Slow Well Except Me Iam A Genius!
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#60 Why Invoke Mark Twain?
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#61 “As An Autodidactic Polymath I Amassed That Knowledge Over A 20 Year Span”
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#62 We Need Some Dressing For This Over-Analytical Word Salad…
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