"Don't judge a book by it's cover"

Don't judge a book by it's cover -
A metaphorical phrase meaning to not judge the character or content of a person, phenomenon, item, etc. by physical appearances.

With people, do you think this old idiom is valid?

When I look at the kids who go to my school, you can pretty much tell who is who by the way they look, who is dumb, who is shallow, who is a jerk, etc. I have always thought of the phrase as being totally false, and that anyone who looks like what they are, are exactly what they appear to be unless they specifically try to hide it.

I think that some people are open books. Some people put up fronts. Some people act one way every day and yet have unfathomable depths that no one will ever see.

*shrug*

People are too complex to be summed up by such a quick-cut metaphor, but I understand and applaud the general message that the metaphor argues for.

Be open to experiencing whatever you can in others and in yourself.

Most ppl at my school thought has me has very bright. Most where surprised when they found out I was at the bottom of the class for all most every subject.
I can remember one guy a year younger then me that was stunned when he found out I was not at the top of my classes for everything after quite an intellectual conversation. well intellectual for a 13 year old lol
The guy I was talking to was at the top of he's classes for most subjects.

I very much agree that you should never Judge a book by its cover.

A perfect example for this would be this video clip here.
Am not into her music but who would know this would happen?

[youtube]PpJ865LKSm8[/youtube]

I agree with Jedi. In addition, I'd find it interesting to apply the "book cover" metaphor in a longitudinal rather than latitudinal social study. Yes, we're all familiar with the general comparison of one person's "book cover" versus another's, but what about how each person then morphed over time? Similarly, statements such as "every picture tells a story" and "everybody's got a story" could be applied to these generalized "book covers". Then, assuming we could remove an aging process variable, we might formulate general assumptions about the manner a person's life may have progressed. Hmmm...LG

Namzii_Hash said:

When I look at the kids who go to my school, you can pretty much tell who is who by the way they look, who is dumb, who is shallow, who is a jerk, etc.

Click to expand...

Just wondering, what does a dumb person look like?

There is a woman that drives a taxi here in my town that looks like she is a total b!*(#, but she is a very nice woman. She is nothing like what I thought she was going to be when I talked to her.

Also, there is a show called "If you really knew me" people on there are totally not what they appear to be at first site.

Sometimes people (myself included) put up walls to protect themselves and do not show who they really are to the outside world.

You really don't know someone until you get to know them. When I was in school, and even now, I know people who are different than what I expected. And until I got to know them, I would have never guessed. Example, I thought this one dude was completely mean-hearted and just a mean-spirited person. I got to know him, and he's a really nice dude.

But too many people don't care to learn about someone, and get to know them before slapping a sticker on them. Everyone is different, and you never know how someone is.

Namzii_Hash said:

When I look at the kids who go to my school, you can pretty much tell who is who by the way they look, who is dumb, who is shallow, who is a jerk, etc....

Click to expand...

The farther away i can get from judging people based on the way they look the more wonderful people i meet that i would never have met otherwise if i had already labeled them and and put them in nice neat little boxes based on appearance.

people are misunderstood and misjudged all the time. you assume someone is dumb because they look dumb, but they could actually be pretty smart, sneaky, deceptive. its means that people can do a lot more than it seems like they're doing. also someone who people who assume is shallow could be very deep. the worst and most common case is that you assume someone is good, and this person turns out to actually be bad.

for example jessica simpson asked if chicken of the sea was chicken or tuna on her tv show. people laughed at her and each time she got more coverage and more people tuned into her show. I doubt that she cared what anyone thought when she was getting checks for more than what most people make in a life time. She has her own line of shoes, etc. Obviously she was acting dumb on purpose and now she's rich. I doubt that Simpson is a genius but she's not as dumb as she acted. She just chose to say that dumb thing for attention and it worked...

Yes there are a number of people who made a good living playing the stereotyped dumb blond.

This is something people do with me sooooo much. But those who have got to know me realize that I"m much more complicated than that. People tend to underestimate me or think I'm not a very serious person, etc. I notice I make friends pretty quickly when they see the deeper side of me especially, but I tend not to show such unless I have a reason to.

One girl I know has trouble because people thing on appearance that she's stuck up, unapprochable, etc, when she really isn't. Total opposite.

It's a little annoying sometimes.