smart, sensible

[Jim Parish]

Indigo Som wrote:
> If I may trouble y'all for your thoughts... where did the common pair "smart, sensible" come from,&/or why does it sound like it must have originated somewhere specific (like an ad campaign)? Smart&  sensible separately would seem to be almost interchangeable to most people, but together they sound to me like an evocation of, hmm... down-to-earth, old-fashioned common sense.
>
> Related, I think: short, sensible haircut.
In what context? To my mind, that pair is most often applied to clothing
(or, as you mention, grooming). In that case, "sensible" means what
you'd expect: comfortable, appropriate to the season, etc. But "smart"
seems to me to mean well turned out, done "just so"; Webster's Third New
International suggests "stylish, natty" in that situation.

Jim Parish

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