To think that "common sense" isn't as common as people believe?

except it's not at all

In my "toddler with a chocolate example", it might be an issue for YOU
but there's no such a person in my house. So it really doesn't apply.

If you prefer, completely different scenario, if you have a disabled family member, you buy a bungalow and common sense dictates that stairs are a problem.
It doesn't mean we should ALL buy a property on single level without stairs in the off-chance (or risk) that someone is suddenly injured and starts using a wheelchair.

Back to my first example, ANY house with toddler and chocolate cake sitting on white furniture will have the same result, common sense. But when there's no toddler or cake involved, it's irrelevant what could happen if 😂

...er....I think that that's precisely my point....

Why not?

I have white fabric sofas, for more than 10 years, they are as practical as anything in my own house. They are still white and clean!

Common sense is that I would not put them in the spare room where all the kids and teens now gather.

Just because it wouldn't work for you, doesn't mean it doesn't work for me - so nothing to with common sense here.

See, I'd say that common sense would suggest that a white sofa is never a practical idea, regardless of two-year-olds and chocolate cake. So when whatever was going to happen happened, I'd be saying, "Shouldn't have a white sofa. It's only common sense."

....which you wouldn't say because you think differently to me.

Which is my point, really.

I guess it is natural that someone without common sense sees the term as a judgement

not really

Give a slice of chocolate cake to a 2 year old sitting on a white sofa.

Common sense is what tells you what is going to happen to the sofa within the next minute or so 😂

'People lack common sense' invariably means 'I don't know why everyone doesn't think like me'.

It's a completely useless expression.

I was also told I lack common sense, often daydreaming etc. I now know I'm dyslexic and think I have other neurodiversity. I can't think of an example where I don't have common sense but if things are ambiguous I'll often interpret it different to the majority.

I don't know what common sense is, there's no test for it, but I think it's majority assumptions, which is different on different groups of people, different cultures etc...

My dad was born before WWII and his brothers after so there is a bit of an age gap.

One or other of his brothers would sometimes visit. My mum used to say brother A lacked common sense but was highly intelligent (went to uni in the 1970s when not many working class kids did) brother B had more common sense.

She could ask each brother to put the kettle on, and brother A would put the kettle on. Brother B would put the kettle on, get the tea bags and pot out of the cupboard and arrive at my mum's side with a mug of tea.

Agree with this. “Common sense” is also often a license for a piece of inverted snobbery. Eg: “He’s read loads of books but lacks common sense.”

There’s a slightly jealous and jubilant edge to it. “You think you’re clever/different but you walked into the side of the door so you can’t be”. Etc.

I absolutely disagree with it! The post you quoted is about specialised skills - knowing how to knit, crochet, type and use Excel are skills learned for a specific purpose. They may be commonly acquired skills, like driving, but everyone knows the acquisition takes targeted learning with guidance and practice.

If, on the other hand, you can't work out that your bus will be travelling in the direction of the traffic, you ... lack common sense. (OK, contraflow bus lanes exist - and are marked with big fucking signs & arrows.)

I absolutely agree with this^
Common sense is based on environment, basic experiences and knowledge about life. So the more we mix and the quicker our environment changes the more “common sense” is affected.

Do we know that as the OP never showed or said what it said - she assumed she was correct.

I know what you mean OP, one of my cousins has a lot of problems with things like this. Someone she j we would have to sit her down and explain what this issue was and why she was wrong. I’m trying not to make her sound stupid, because she isn’t, there are just some things she doesn’t ‘get’ that others do. Just the way her brain works

Common sense is making the effort to accept what is bloody obvious.
Not acting all shocked and flabbergasted, thinking they look cute.

But I think often people know but they are just chancers who fake ignorance and are just trying to play the system and get very disgruntled when they realise they are not that clever and they won't get away with it.

Like the OP.

Or the many threads from parents, raised in the same country, with the same experience, who suddenly are in utter shock that they have to spend money to buy clothes for their kids, or my personal favourite, are flabbergasted that children have a few weeks off in the summer 😂

before I get shouted at by a poster who is 82 and invented coding

😂

I'm not sure there's as much of a shared idea of what constitutes common sense as there used to be in the less individualistic past.

Well, that's common sense 😉

I can't believe there are so many people saying common sense doesn't exist, is arcane knowledge, or is somehow discriminatory. Sure: go ahead and wash your hands in boiling water, spend your entire income on lipsticks every month, wait for a train on the motorway, complain when shops demand payment for things you take. No-one's forcing you not to and you can't be expected to just know stuff, can you?!

I used to work with someone who taught me "There's nothing common about common sense". Everyone's level of 'common sense' is different and remembering this has made me (slightly) more tolerant as I've got older!

That kind of thing is to stop the coffee shop owners being sued when someone spills a hot drink on themselves.

I think when people talk about common sense they actually mean knowledge that comes from experience.

For example a PP said it is common sense to carry the bowl of sugar to the table where your coffee is rather than carrying a spoonful of sugar across the kitchen, but you only know that because you have experienced that sugar easily falls off a spoon and it is inconvenient to clean spilled sugar off the floor.

Common sense generally equates to using your brain. If you actually think about something then it becomes obvious. Where the common sense comes in is where those obvious things shouldn't need to be thought through. For instance if a deal is for money off food for 5 people why would it include children who already get food at a reduced rate or free.

I suppose it depends on the definition. I think I'm capable of thinking through consequences and learning from experiences but I'm useless at "reading between the lines". There have been loads of times where someone has been annoyed at me because I didn't "just know" something when it's something that I needed to be told or something I needed to be taught how to do.

I don't think I always have common sense. It's a great thing if you do have it as its such an advantage in jobs and life.
Re that thread, the kids' meal only cost £5 so was already discounted, and I'd know not to expect double discounts. Eg. You wouldn't use two discount codes when ordering online.
I think people reacted strongly on the thread as the OP was talking about writing a damaging review to try and get a voucher. Even though the restaurant had done nothing wrong and the OP said the food was lovely etc. People don't like spiteful, grabby behaviour

This thread shows that common sense means something different to everyone!!!

I think common sense is what you acquire as you go through life. This is experience and wisdom.

One word less loaded than “common sense” is “judgement”, as in “use your judgement”. Judgement is not the same thing as common sense at all. Common sense is simple, fast and almost instinctive, judgement is deliberative, slow and involves review of facts.

And another phrase with a similar meaning, and despicable to many MNetters is “you do you”. You do you is directly opposite to common sense, it means everyone can come to a different conclusion by virtue of being different people.

Common sense is really just a relic from the old ways when there's was less freedom, choice and difference.

Also, the trend of helicopter parenting will hardly train young people to have common sense.

Ditto health and safety: there are prescribed procedures for just about everything in the workplace.

One word less loaded than “common sense” is “judgement”, as in “use your judgement”. And another phrase with a similar meaning, and despicable to many MNetters is “you do you”.