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Dear Miss Manners: I am a physics student and aspiring physicist, and when I answer people’s questions about my career plans, I often find myself confronted with a conversation-stopping “You must be so smart!”

Despite feeling a little marginalized by this common comment, I realize it usually is intended to be flattering.

However, agreeing with this declaration makes me sound arrogant, and disagreeing seems unnecessarily self-effacing.

Can you offer any suggestions?

Gentle Reader: “No, if I were really smart, I’d find a way to get on the football team.”