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

[janmarbol]

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