common sense
1 alan a broad based skill level (this applies to all skills -social, practical and mental etc.), e.g. being able to work as anything from a labourer to a contractor, i.e. me II 2 andrew allegorical e.g. Bryan regularly drinks in the 'Artist's Arms'. One day I get home and he is not there, so I go to the aforementioned pub and am not entirely unsurprised to find him propping up the bar II 3 anisa a communal piggy bank; knowledge instilled by observation and deduction (cause and effect) not books; a sense involving the communion of our sight, hearing, smell, touch; innate understanding attributed to a general harmony of ones senses and an implicit rationality of the situation II 4 aya knowing how to react in situations; things which people know, have learnt - people brought up differently have different ~, so they react differently. i.e. there isn't really ~ II 5 bryan the common knowledge that is so entrenched, of how things work, that goes right across the board, it requires an ability to override the specifics, there is some element of the practical, e.g. you don't spill coffee on yourself. pers. I like the way It often doesn't work, e.g. it's ~ not to walk down the street naked, but if you did you'd find out a lot. II 5 catrin to do smthg without having to impress anyone, it comes from inside, and is the true 'you'; also comes from the outside, e.g. In Sweden we say 'the big brother sees you' : it describes an average state of mind, when everybody is on the same level II 6 charles it is about an assertion of certain (sets of) values as being self-evident, naturalised so they know longer carry the appearance of ideology N.B. making an appeal to ~ is often the way out of an argument, a technique for avoiding a real test of any ideas; it has another side, a more progressive one perh., proposing that 'sense' is held in common and, by extension, constructed out of the collective intelligence of a large group of people pers. I like the underlying logic of 'common wealth' more than ~ II 7 darri get on with people, and don't die; e.g. not to eat blue food II 8 ewan a certain sensibility, almost an innate rational approach to life, it involves a broad understanding of a lot of things, of how they are (as in to be); It is an unspoken language, people's similar vocabulary of outcomes or behaviour, e.g. Carl Andre's bricks, it enables people to see more than a pile of bricks. It is the first stop for thinking: a thought goes through the ~ output to see if anything clicks in there, it has to do with aesthetics, e.g. there is a hundred ways to open a can of beans, but one is the most beautiful, it doesn't make a mess or you don't cut any fingers off II 9 francisca it has to do with consensus, with possible shared denominators. N.B. it can be found, e.g. having a party II 10 george what somebody believes most people in his cultural environment would say or do on a given subject i.e. it varies enormously between cultures and ages; it is entirely subjective N.B it has the same (lack of) objective validity as the 'gesundes Volksempfinden' of the Nazis; appealing to ~ is an excuse for not having a personal opinion or not standing up for it, it is kowtowing to senior authority e.g. paying an unjustified parking fine II 11 huw what you very rarely get from talking to a double glazing (or any other sort of high pressure type executive retail employee) salesperson II 12 jonathan the (effortless?) ability to solve a problem or achieve smthg, or simply function, in the most logical, efficient way, has connotations of everydayness and spontaneity N.B. people who have ~ make you feel like you're the only person who has none. Sometimes. II 14 karen practical wisdom shared by everyone alike e.g. knowing not to stick a wet finger into an electrical socket II 15 kate a collective reasoning; smthg everyone should have or it should be in the reaches of everybody; that which is the intelligent choice to make in a given situation II 16 lili smthg shared, which makes sense for everyone; a sense for common things, it has smthg down to earth about it; the level of understanding which does not need explanation II 17 liz what instinct, experience and humour should bring; it is cultural, age-related, norm-bound and dependent on environmental and dispositional factors i.e. there is no one way of defining what ~ reactions should actually be in a specific situation: they will vary from place to place and person to person. N.B. such is the spice of life, though everyone thinks they know best II 18 luca a consequence of a condition e.g.the ~ of cooks in a kitchen is to cook something good II 19 maria two words put together to create an act; a state of mind without knowing or sensing each others meaning II 20 martin a chameleon phrase which implies a general currency of belief even though it means different things to different people N.B. usu. used to assert an orthodoxy or to legitimise a thought or action by suggesting that it is generally held (emph. 'common') and/or grounded in smthg which is understood (emph. 'sense'). pers. appeal to communality is interesting as the phrase is often applied to justify the exclusion of ideas which contradict the opinion of the speaker. This creates an exclusive vision of society rather than an inclusive one; sense as in 'sensible' not 'sensitive' or 'sensual' - while the latter have retained meanings associated with emotional and sensory awareness, both 'sensible' and 'sense' have accrued connotations in which mental faculties are given greater weight. Hist. prob. a fairly recent development, poss. linked with the control of emotions in parts of British aristocratic and middle class society from the 18. and 19. cc onwards. N.B. making no sense, or speaking nonsense, now generally means that smthg cannot be understood, not that it cannot be felt ref. Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear II 21 naomi when one looks up into the branches of a tree, sees thousands of leaves, each with a different configuration, and still calls every leaf "leaf" II 22 nic it helps you make decisions which allow you to operate normally; smthg learnt, probably constructed around ideas of normality; it is about knowing the right thing to do in an everyday scenario; it asserts itself as knowledge everyone has access to or should be aware of. To have no ~ means to fall outside of what is common or normal and you might be incompetent, pathetic, or brilliant and have someone else to look out for your ~ N.B. people might be envious of you for having no ~, because your mind is on higher things, i.e. un~ e.g. my Mum always said my brother had no ~ because he couldn't boil an egg, but his genius in other areas made this trait endearing (to my Mum) pers. I doubt very much that he was unable to perform this simple task of ~, rather it was too ~ for him i.e. it is smthg people want you to have, as it makes you normal and means you can get on with things, but it kind of makes you boring II 23 omi pers. the G. translation of this term, 'gesunder Menschenverstand' is embarrasing, it divides people into the sick and the healthy. The Engl. 'common' I like, it implies 'connectedness'. If I think about the words literally something clicks, in which I believe. To substantiate this, I must invent the 'common wish', shared by all, sick or healthy : the wish for love, or trust, happiness, belonging. Here we have smthg common to all, surpassing the divisions of borders, ideologies, fashions and time. 'Common' not in the sense that 'everyone has it in their own particular way', but in the sense that 'everyone is a part of the same whole' , like we all have red blood e.g. I imagine both a Neanderthal girl and Hillary Clinton to be partial to this 'common wish' II 24 peter e.g. I recently cut my left index finger with a circular saw. I guess that would have been painful for anyone: i.e. the ~ is in the finger tip II 25 shep N.B. one likes to believe in ~, but it is perhaps as important to recognise its irrationality. Therein lies its truth content II 26 sita this is an attitude toward life and all situations that one experiences in life; it is the ability to create a summary of possible acts-and-effects-analysis at any moment, any place and the ability to select the simplest interpretation of any situation and to know what act will have which effect i.e. a person with ~ is always ready to realise what is going on and what is next best to do II 27 steve the sense to deal with common problems e.g. turning off the stove after cooking II 28 stevie forms of belief and appropriate action which are held by a group of people e.g. it could inform how to cross a road: stop, look and listen II 29 stuart an ability, with a basic knowledge to establish what is the most suitable thing to do II 30 tal a basic knowledge, most adults have, like reason, smthg you get when you're young from parents, school, the environment, i.e. it can be different in different cultures; it helps us react in most situations the way most people would react; it's smthg most people share (emph. 'common') i.e. if someone does smthg we think is not correct or reacts in a way we think is not appropriate for the circumstances, we can relate it to a lack of ~ II 31 teresa moral guide, social agreement pers. something sometimes I don't have; it is the opposite of the literal translation of the words.