this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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I realized that "Mensa" didn't contain enough numerals to be a phone number, and knew it must be understood that any future member would be able to figure out the next two digits in the sequence. I tried dialling MENSANE, MENSAIL, MENSAFE, and MENSAAB, but got three rebuffs and a fax tone.

From "How I Joined MENSA" by Steve Martin

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[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 24 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

In Spanish, mensa means stupid. You'd think geniuses would've chosen a better acronym

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 14 points 20 hours ago

Blame the Romans.

Both words are derived from late Latin mentalis, from Latin mens, ment- β€˜mind’.