One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with
Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to
get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be
bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be
so outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn't understand what
was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was reknowned for being
quite clever and quite clearly was so -- but not all the time, which obviously
worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than
contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but
she could no longer be bothered to argue about.
-- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to
get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be
bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be
so outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn't understand what
was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was reknowned for being
quite clever and quite clearly was so -- but not all the time, which obviously
worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than
contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but
she could no longer be bothered to argue about.
-- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
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