http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingStupidity

Advice for spies. And many others.

— Cato the Elder "It is sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity."

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Also sometimes known as "playing dumb", a tactic whose effectiveness is predicated on characters convincing others they are complete oafs and therefore harmless. Acting like an ignorant hayseed, misinformed tourist, Handsome Lech, or Funny Foreigner is popular.

A variant of this, primarily found in teen comedies, is the popular student (almost invariably a girl) who acts like The Ditz in order to avoid being stigmatized as a nerd; in such cases, the character may be willfully ignorant, but inevitably faces a situation where she needs her native wits to escape a problem.

This differs from the Genius Ditz in that the latter is brilliant in a single field (or multiple obscure fields) but genuinely ditzy otherwise. Another variant is of someone who is a genuine genius but who pretends to be The Fool in order to avoid responsibility, either because they are lazy or because of some trauma which has undermined their confidence. May appear to be The Fool until the viewer realizes he's just so good at making intentional actions seem like total coincidences that it appears to be blind luck. If done well, you may not be able to tell if the character is an Almighty Janitor, a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, a not-so-Inept Mage, or a Bunny-Ears Lawyer. Or, for that matter, Too Dumb to Fool, especially if the character is good at noticing what is too obvious to be seen.

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A favorite tactic of The Trickster. The opposite trope is Feigning Intelligence. See also the Old Master, to whom using this trope comes as natural as breathing; Covert Pervert, where the "stupidity" may be in reference to a particular subject; and Rich Idiot With No Day Job, a special case of this trope. See also Fauxreigner and Bilingual Backfire. Compare Obfuscating Insanity. Blondes may exploit the Dumb Blonde stereotype to help with the obfuscation. Another tactic characters doing this will use is pretending to be Easily Impressed to make it seem like they have no sense of judgment of quality. A Good Is Not Dumb character is often accused of using this trope.

This can backfire in a big way if the person using Obfuscating Stupidity needs people to trust him or her—only to realize that no one will believe the "idiot". Inversely, if other characters think the person is being obfuscating but he really is simple-minded, then he's a Seemingly Profound Fool. Occasional lapses might be dismissed with Too Dumb to Fool.

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This may lead to someone Underestimating Badassery.

This is not to be confused with Smarter Than You Look, where that trope has no intention of appearing to be unintelligent; the character simply can't help the appearance of stupidity they have.

This is Older Than Feudalism, occurring in the Book of Genesis and in legends of the earliest days of Rome. note In this context, the trope name refers to fake stupidity obfuscating the intelligence of the person. In other words, "obfuscating stupidity" is the method being used, a person is not obfuscating stupidity themselves. It is also the core of the 27th stratagem.

Contrast Feigning Intelligence. See also Beneath the Mask, Faking Amnesia, Obfuscating Disability, Obfuscating Insanity, Deliberate Under-Performance, Apparently Powerless Puppetmaster and Playing Sick.

No Real Life Examples, Please!

Examples:

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Advertising

A lot of spam emails are a variation. They are badly written and spelled, but that isn't because the spammer is from a foreign country and doesn't know how to spell and write correctly. It's because they know that anyone who goes along with that kind of email is less likely to notice later on that something isn't right, so the spammer isn't wasting their time with more alert users who will put the brakes on when things get suspicious.

Comedy

Comic Strips

Calvin and Hobbes: Calvin is apparently a user of this trope, as he once told Susie that it's far easier to keep people's expectations low, and wow them every now and again, than to keep them high and wind up disappointing at some point. A cloning storyline in which Calvin (supposedly) creates a personification of his "good half" to take his classes for him proves this: if the clone is real, then it demonstrates that Calvin could do well in school if he bothered to try; if it's an extended game of make-believe then Calvin really is doing well for a change (if only for the sake of keeping the game going.) Then again, any of Calvin's musings to Hobbes on the nature of existence and reality during any given 'sledding' strip should tip even the most casual reader off that the kid's a freaking genius, it's just that school bores him senseless.

Roger Fox of FoxTrot is usually a quite legitimate Bumbling Dad. However, from time to time he is able to use this apparent cluelessness to get what he wants. For instance, in a week-arc where his wife forces him to go to an aerobics class, he spends the entire time doing embarrassing things like doing the wrong moves and singing along to the music. She gets so mad that she tells him she's never going to take him to another class...which, as his thought bubble points out, is just what he wanted in the first place. In another strip he messes up cleaning the dishes so badly that Andy declares that she will handle all dishwashing in the future. Roger then silently muses that "sometimes having no knowledge is power". Andy then discovers that Roger messed up another chore...

A Garfield strip from 1989 sees Odie waiting for the other main characters to leave the house... and then turning on the TV and watching Mozart.

sees Odie waiting for the other main characters to leave the house... and then turning on the TV and watching Mozart. Sherman's Lagoon: Discussed in one strip. After a string of robberies, Sherman theorizes that the jellyfish is behind it, to which Hawthorne claims that he doesn't have the intelligence to pull it off. Sherman then suggests that perhaps his lack of intelligence is just a disguise. Hawthorne doesn't believe it. Hawthorne: Sometimes I wonder if yours is a disguise. Sherman: Nope. Another strip has Hawthorne telling Sherman to do this when the health department comes to his tattoo parlor. In the next strip, Hawthorne discovers that it's been shut down. Why? Well... Sherman: I pretended that I couldn't speak English, so they asked me what language I did speak. So I said I didn't speak ANY language. Then they asked, "What language are we speaking now?" So I said "English." That's when they got suspicious. (Hawthorne does a Facepalm) Sherman: So, you see, I tried to play dumb. Hawthorne: But the REAL dumb took over.

One ''Dilbert comic discussed this. Alice got stuck with prepping for a trade show because all of the men in the office had disqualified themselves through "Strategic Incompetence".

Fairy Tales

In Master and Pupil , the wizard rejects the boy as a servant because he can read. So the boy turns his jacket inside out to disguise himself and lies the next time, that he cannot read. Then he learns wizardry by reading the books. Other fairy tales with the hero in the power of the evil wizard have someone warn him to feign incompetence at a lesson even though he gets beaten. Thus, he manages to master all the spells while the wizard thinks he's stuck, and use them to escape.

Films — Animation

Folklore

Folk legends of various European peoples speak of entire towns and villages of unusually-smart folks who purposefully feign stupidity. This article on The Other Wiki sums it up pretty well.

on The Other Wiki sums it up pretty well. The story of Hamlet is based on the legend of the Danish Prince Amled, whose father was murdered by his Evil Uncle Fenge. Amled took to sitting near the fire and carving wooden hooks all day, telling everyone that he would use them to avenge his father. Fenge thought he was crazy—until the night where Amled used the hooks to pin down Fenge and his men under their sleeping blankets and burn down the palace over their heads before they could get free.

A female version of the legend has a man kill his tribe's chief and take his place, shortly before lusting after the former chief's daughter. Said daughter knew full well who murdered her father, but pretended to not know anything. Then the murderer asked her to meet him in his tent one night, and she brought a knife with her... and cut some bread?

According to his legend, Saint Simeon the Holy Fool . He was a simple ascetic monk whom God himself asked to act like a madman so he could save souls, and lo did he make honor to that.

. He was a simple ascetic monk whom God himself asked to act like a madman so he could save souls, and lo did he make honor to that. One old story tells about a guy who owned someone else a big amount of money and would be thrown into debtors' prison if he couldn't pay. However, he found an Amoral Attorney who promised him to bail him out for four gold pieces, to be paid after a successful acquitting. So the lawyer advises his client: "When in court, say nothing but 'bleh!', whatever happens!" The process starts, and the client indeed answers nothing but "Bleh!" no matter what he's asked. Finally the judge has enough: Judge: Why does your client say nothing but "bleh!"?

Amoral Attorney: I'm sorry, Your Honor, he's an idiot, when I was talking to him, he also said nothing but that! Why does your client say nothing but "bleh!"?I'm sorry, Your Honor, he's an idiot, when I was talking to him, he also said nothing but that! So the judge comes to the conclusion that the defendant can't be condemned and lets him go. Now the Amoral Attorney demands his money. But the client, again, just says "Bleh!" Amoral Attorney: Are you joking? You promised me four gold pieces! I want them now!

Client: [tips on the table] Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh! Are you joking? You promised me four gold pieces! I want them now![tips on the table] Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh! The 16th-century Teutonic legend of the Schildbürgers says they were great sages who went far and wide to advise princes—until their wives got sick of them going far and wide and they needed to get the princes to stop seeking their advice.

According to legend, the Roman Lucius Junius feigned stupidity (earning the name "Brutus", Latin for "dullard") to avoid being killed by the evil king Tarquin. When the time came, Brutus dropped the mask and led the overthrow of the monarchy, establishing the Roman Republic. (Centuries later, his descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, followed his ancestor's example by participating in the assassination of Julius Caesar.)

Socrates was so good at this, they had him killed.

Residents of Wiltshire, England are also known as Moonrakers, based on a 200 year old story about a pair of smugglers sneaking french brandy across the county. The smugglers hid their stock in a lake and went back to retrieve it one night but were encountered by authorities. In an attempt to fool them, they played the fools themselves by taking a pair of rakes and swiping at the reflection of the moon in the water, claiming they were trying to rake in a round cheese. The authorities laughed them off as idiots and went on their way, leaving the smugglers to make a clean getaway.

are also known as Moonrakers, based on a 200 year old story about a pair of smugglers sneaking french brandy across the county. The smugglers hid their stock in a lake and went back to retrieve it one night but were encountered by authorities. In an attempt to fool them, they played the fools themselves by taking a pair of rakes and swiping at the reflection of the moon in the water, claiming they were trying to rake in a round cheese. The authorities laughed them off as idiots and went on their way, leaving the smugglers to make a clean getaway. Stories about the Sufi Muslim trickster Nasreddin Hodja sometimes portray him as a clever person who pretends to be foolish to teach people lessons or get away with doing things he shouldn't (then again, others portray him as kind of a dim bulb in general).

Jokes

One joke recounts the tale of a kindly shopkeeper and a little kid named Billy (other variations have it as the village idiot and a tourist). On many an occasion, the shopkeeper would witness older boys teasing Billy by offering him a choice between a nickel and a dime, then laughing at him choosing the nickel, supposedly because the nickel was larger and Billy was too slow to realize that the dime was worth more. Eventually, the shopkeeper took pity on Billy, and took him aside for a quiet word on the matter... only for Billy to reveal that he was playing this trope all along: he knows very well how much the two coins are worth, but if he ever picks the dime, the kids will stop giving him free nickels.

It's a common theme on the internet, often related to "And that's when the fight started." The images, playing on the stereotype that husbands play dumb to get out of helping around the house, show the results when a wife asks her husband to: Put some spaghetti on the stove, and she'll finish up the cooking when she gets home. The photo shows a pile of uncooked spaghetti placed directly on the stove top, sans cooking pot. Peel half of the potatoes and put them in water. Each potato in the pot is exactly 50% peeled. Label the plugs attached to the power strip. He does, but he labels them all "PLUG."

A few Dumb Blonde jokes fall into this territory, with the apparently stupid blonde playing on the stereotype to trick people: A beautiful blonde ends up sitting on a plane next to an arrogant professor. He's amused by her ditzy attitude, and the two start playing a trivia game. The blonde agrees to pay a dollar for every question she gets wrong, and the professor, feeling pompous, offers to pay a hundred dollars for his incorrect answers. After missing the first question, the blonde asks something along the lines of "What goes up a hill wet, then comes down the hill dry?" The professor spends the whole ride trying to solve the riddle, but eventually gives up and hands the blonde a hundred dollar bill when the plane lands. As she stands up to leave, the professor asks "So what does go up a hill wet, then down a hill dry?" ...at which point the blonde takes out another dollar and hands it to him with a wink. A blonde walks into a New York City bank and asks for a small loan of $2,000 for her upcoming vacation. When asked for collateral, she offers up her brand-new late-model Ferrari, which is worth at least $100,000. The bank manager accepts the terms, and he and all of his employees laugh at how stupid the woman is for making such a deal while a valet parks the car in the bank's underground vault. A month later, the blonde returns to pick up her car and pays back the $2,000, along with the $15.71 that she owes in interest. The bank manager takes her aside and comments that he looked up the woman's records; she's actually a multimillionaire, so why on earth did she need to borrow such a paltry sum? With a smile, the blonde replies, "Well, sir, where else could I park a brand-new Ferrari in New York City for a month, know that it would be kept totally safe, and only have to pay $15.71 for it?" In some online material, Pawn Stars host Rick points out this is a fairly common tactic used by some people at his shop. He has a few regulars that will bring in seasonal recreational equipment (ATVs, Snowmobiles, etc) during the off season and pawn them for a small loan. They always come back right before the new season for said item with the loan and interest. Unlike the Bank, the Pawn Stars are very much aware this is going on and see it as more of one of their services they offer rather than anything sneaky on the part of the customer.



Music

The fact that the Amateur Transplants often affect a stage persona reminiscent of ignorant chavs just makes it all the more impressive and hilarious when they rattle off lengthy amounts of obscure medical terms in their songs.

Shy Ronnie from the two songs by The Lonely Island featuring him. When his partner Rihanna's around, he's a wimpy-looking nerd who mumbles everything he says and is prone to pissing himself. Whenever Rihanna leaves, he turns out to be an aggressive, in his own words "twisted as shit" gun-lover.

Van Halen was known for offering tour contracts requesting a bowl of M&M's with all brown candies removed. If they found a brown candy, they would proceed to trash the whole place. This had a stealthy purpose: failure to get the bowl of M&M's right implied not reading the contract or failure to get power and safety requirements right.

When Dee Snider of Twisted Sister was to talk to a hearing in front of the PMRC regarding accusations about his band and music, he went there in the same trashy clothes he used in the performance the day before, including his now smeared makeup and bed hair, greeted the room with "I don't know if it's morning or afternoon so I'm going to say both: good morning and good afternoon" and took out his talking points from some folded papers he kept in his back pocket... what people didn't know is that he was going out of his way to look like some teenage moron presenting rushed homework, just to drop a bombshell on everyone: in those papers he meticulously deconstructed every lie told about Twisted Sister, defended freedom of speech and music as an art and even turned the tables on Ms. Gore, saying that the only reason she found messages about sadomasochism and rape in one of his songs is because that's what she was looking for, all in an incredibly intelligent and eloquent matter.

Pro Wrestling

Maria Kanellis was The Ditz as a backstage interviewer to start off, always asking the wrong questions and getting wrestlers' names wrong. Then she had to testify at Eric Bischoff's (Kayfabe) trial... Maria: Last week Bischoff abused his power in a way that was both malicious and capricious, and it's this rash of discourse that ultimately led to a locker room of disdain and mutiny, and it should be grounds for his immediate dismissal. She went back to the ditzy gimmick for quite a while afterwards. In a subsequent appearance, Bischoff flat-out accused her of using Obfuscating Stupidity based on what happened at his trial, saying she pretended to be "stupid and sweet" to curry favor from the crowd. LayCool could count. A pair of bubbly ditzy Valley Girls who have managed to dominate the division for over a year, capturing four sets of titles for themselves. The ditziness also (somewhat) concealed their extreme cruelty, making them Faux Affably Evil Alpha Bitches as well.

During a brief feud with Maryse, Gail Kim appeared oblivious when Maryse started talking to her in French, appearing to be trying to be friendly. Anyone who understood French knew Maryse was secretly trash-talking and Gail looked to be falling for it. Then Gail dropped the bombshell that she spoke fluent French and hadn't been fooled by the game.

Batista played this role to some extent during the first two years or so of his career, serving as the Dumb Muscle of Evolution and remaining more or less in the background; he was the last member to receive a serious title opportunity. He even played along with Triple H and Ric Flair for a while after turning face. Both in kayfabe and out, many people probably didn't expect him to defeat Triple H for the world title, especially considering his (relatively) advanced age.

At IWA Mid-South No Retreat...No Surrender, January 21, 2006, Chris Hero faced Garbage Wrestler Necro Butcher in a "European Rules" match with the stipulation that if Necro lasted the time limit Hero would have to face him in a Barroom Brawl Match. Hero imposed tons of rules on the premise that there would be no way Necro would be able to keep up with him. Instead, Necro fought Hero to a draw (Hero won Round 4, Necro won Round 5), thus forcing Hero into the situation he did not want to find himself in, a Barroom Brawl against Necro Butcher. Necro won, of course.

Tabletop Games

In the Legend of the Five Rings franchise, this is the basis of the Scorpion Clan's modus operandi, as revealed to their founder Bayushi by the great sage Shinsei. Shinsei told Baysuhi a parable that Bayushi believed he already knew, about the scorpion and the frog, which normally ends with the scorpion stinging the frog while they're crossing the river and both of them drowning because it's the scorpion's basic nature to sting even when it's not in its best interests (this parable also appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Scorpion"). However, at the end of Shinsei's version the scorpion's answer to the frog's question of "why are you dooming us both?" is: "I can swim."

The Space Wolves in Warhammer 40,000 are not as stupid as they act, especially their Chapter Master Logan Grimnar. There is a reason he ends up running most of the wars he gets involved in, even if it's from the sidelines. The Wolves don't really act stupid. It's just that they're entirely Boisterous Bruisers. The Horus Heresy novels place the Legion in a new light. Leman Russ frequently puts on the persona of being the rough barbarian king. This isn't just a convenient affectation for political purposes; it's also a coping mechanism for the things that he has to do. In a similar way, the Space Wolves socially act like ancient Norsemen but plan their attacks with complete and total precision. Likewise, Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! , isn't so much "stupid" in his obfuscations, but he makes it clear in his monologue that he needs to pretend to be much more of a gung-ho Emperor-lover than he actually is if he hopes to stay alive and maintain his heroic reputation. This actually makes him something of an Unreliable Narrator; he frequently mentions doing this with his "humble hero" routine, but the entire series could easily be seen as him doing the same to the reader...

Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution gives us Tony. Tony, who is legitimately a genius and a somakinetic, pretended to be less intelligent in school because being too smart was considered a negative quality where he lived. Considering that espers have a higher wits cap than humans, the player might have to do this to avoid arousing suspicion too.

Visual Novels

Web Animation

Web Original