Stupid is as Stupid Does

[TomBrooklyn]

Stupid is as stupid does.

A line from the movie Forrest Gump.

I don't know what that means. Does it have a meaning or is it just a nonsensical phrase?

 

[hobbes]

Meaning, you cannot expect anything except stupidity from a stupid person.

Just change it to "Is Stupid.....does stupid".

 

[Harambour]

Actually is the other way around. It means that you can tell who is stupid by looking at his actions. It is a modern way to represent what Jesus said:
"by their fruits ye shall know them"
Matthew 7:16-20 (King James Version)



16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

 

[curmudgeon]

As green as he is cabbage looking

 

[RonBee]

A: Are you stupid or something?
B: Stupid is as stupid does.
​

Gump's "Stupid is as stupid does" is a rejoinder, and a rather intelligent one. It means that calling a person stupid doesn't make him stupid, that we know a person by his actions.

~R

 

[Miner49'er]

I just heard another one in one of Catherine Cookson's movies "The Moth".

"Handsome is as handsome does"

In this case used for "Behaviour counts more than appearance" I think.

Is this correct?

 

[RonBee]

I just heard another one in one of Catherine Cookson's movies "The Moth".

"Handsome is as handsome does"

In this case used for "Behaviour counts more than appearance" I think.

Is this correct?

I think you should trust your judgment on that based on the context in which you heard that spoken.

~R

 

[svartnik]

Stupid is as stupid does.
A line from the movie Forrest Gump.
I don't know what that means. Does it have a meaning or is it just a nonsensical phrase?

2 cents of mine:

Analogous with 'pretty is as pretty does," which says people should be judged by what they do rather than their appearance.

"Stupid is as stupid does" -- How stupid you are should be judged by what you do, and not by your "cover" (appearance).

 

[Miner49'er]

I Heard another one.
Rowan Atkinson sells his house in "Blackadder II".
The buyer find some dry rot on one of the the beams and makes a remark about it.
Atkinson answers:
Dry rot is as dry rot does :twisted:

 

[janmarbol]

Put simply: You are as stupid as your actions and vice-versa

 

[RonBee]

Actually, Forrest Gump wasn't very smart. He only repeated what he had heard somebody else say. If he said anything intelligent it was by accident.

 

[VSPrasad]

It means that an intelligent person who does stupid things is still stupid. You are what you do.


Another variation is "beauty is as beauty does" or "ugly is as ugly does".

 

[kingyo1409]

Celebrity is as celebrity does

from Harry Potter 2, Gilderoy Lockhart, who always blabs nonsense...

I just got reminded of this... nearly drove me crazy until I'd remembered the actual phrasing :-D:roll:

 

[CORYSAYRE]

Actually I think it means that a person isnt stupid. Only their actions are.

"Stupid(1) is as stupid(2) does."

The first "stupid" is the noun for stupidity, not being the person. The second "stupid" represents a person. So it could be read: "Stupidity is made up of the actions of a person, not the person himself." or "Stupid is as a person does." so its saying a person can't be stupid, but making a joke at the same time by calling the person in the sentence "stupid".

 

[kr8772]

A: Are you stupid or something?
B: Stupid is as stupid does.
​

Gump's "Stupid is as stupid does" is a rejoinder, and a rather intelligent one. It means that calling a person stupid doesn't make him stupid, that we know a person by his actions.

~R

I know this is a rather old thread but your answer makes the most sense. But I just don't get why it's an intelligent answer coming from Gump in the situation that you quoted?

 

[euncu]

Honestly, it is hard for me to understand the structure like" X is as X does". It would sound better to my non-native-English-speaker ears as "X is what an X does".

 

[RonBee]

In practice, "Stupid is as stupid does" is likely to refer to somebody who has done (or said) something that is not very smart.

 

[Raymott]

Honestly, it is hard for me to understand the structure like" X is as X does". It would sound better to my non-native-English-speaker ears as "X is what an X does".

Don't worry. It sounds just as silly in English, which is why there are so many opinions about what it means!

 

[konungursvia]

You can understand it more easily with a slight rephrasing:

Stupid is [he who] [does] stupid [things].
[He] is stupid [who] [behaves] stupid[ly].

 

[karimk]

thank you