Nagging Question--was: Hot new Einstein quote

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
Thu Nov 1 10:38:25 UTC 2012


On Oct 31, 2012, at 6:04 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> I remember about thirty years ago telling my then 12-year-old son that
> Beethoven was a genius.  His incredulous response was, "But he was
> just a musician!"

Herb's son, like some others reported on in this thread, makes the folk distinction between two kinds of great ability, "intelligence" and "talent" (for athletic or artistic endeavors) -- and uses "genius" only for someone with a very high level of intelligence.

arnold

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