Even in stressful or emotional conversations, using the phrases brilliant people use to politely say "Are you stupid?" Intelligence is embodied in a number of unique ways, and attacking someone with a phrase like "Are you stupid?" 'I understand what you're saying, but the facts say otherwise'fizkes | ShutterstockThere are two important facets to this phrase. The second: the more literal half, pointing out where there's logical room for improvement without simply saying "you're wrong." In fact, most productive conversations usually have a few people with differing opinions.