room-temperature IQ

English

Alternative forms

Noun

room-temperature IQ (plural room-temperature IQs)

  1. (idiomatic, slang, derogatory) A below-average IQ; by extension, a dull or unintelligent mind.
    • 1990, Jim Bashline, "An Honorable Profession", Field & Stream, June 1990:
      It's the proverbial two-way street; treat a guide like he has more than a room-temperature IQ, and he'll do likewise.
    • 2000, Maggie Price, On Dangerous Ground, Silhouette Books (2000), →ISBN, unnumbered page:
      “The guy's got a room-temperature IQ. He dropped out of grade school. To him, DNA is probably just three letters.”
    • 2011, Gregg Loomis, The Coptic Secret, Dorchester Publishing (2011), →ISBN, page 51:
      “Sara? I need you to call Home Depot, see if you can get someone on the phone with at least a room-temperature IQ . . .”
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:room-temperature IQ.

Usage notes

Technically, a room-temperature IQ would either be 20 or 68, depending on whether one relies on Celsius or Fahrenheit, both of which are considered well below the average IQ of 100 (see w:Intelligence quotient).

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