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What would describe someone who puts on a façade of stupidity, but is actually much smarter than they appear? I would say that this is the oppposite of pretentious.

I have looked all over the web and Stack and I cannot find it. I was told that I once said it and that it was a noun, and that I said it was found in a book.

0101010
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    That's "playing dumb". – Hot Licks Feb 06 '16 at 01:54
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    "Disingenuous" comes to mind, too. – Rob_Ster Feb 06 '16 at 02:22
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    @Rob_Ster: You should make that an answer. – Joe L. Feb 06 '16 at 05:03
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    How about Columbo? – Jim Feb 06 '16 at 05:11
  • +1 to disingenuous, which can be read as "falsely acting like an ingenue [naive]." There's also words like taciturn but that's much more passive than disingenuous. – stevesliva Feb 06 '16 at 06:18
  • Sounds like a clever person. – Charon Feb 06 '16 at 12:08
  • The problem is that users have given "answers" in comments, those who would have posted the same suggestions feel they cannot for ethical reasons as the original suggestions "belong" to the commenter/s. Answers in comments should be accompanied by a close vote, it means that the question posed is a bad fit for the site: e.g. too easy, off-topic, too broad; nonetheless to help the OP I'll leave the answer in a comment. Posting an answer in a comment and then disappearing is...very unhelpful to everyone, IMO. – Mari-Lou A Feb 06 '16 at 12:51
  • My guess is that the OP read Rob_Ster's disingenuous, and "left". Which is, again, unhelpful for everyone concerned. The OP should have posted a comment saying that the question had been answered. Anyway, this question is a duplicate. – Mari-Lou A Feb 06 '16 at 12:53
  • Related: Idiom/phrase which means “to pretend not to understand or know” – Mari-Lou A Feb 06 '16 at 13:01
  • @Mari-LouA: I don't believe that my question has been answered. Further, to assume that my question is a duplicate is to make the assumption that intelligence and wisdom are the same thing. I'm afraid they aren't, and by the very nature of my request, I am not dealing with generalizations. So please refrain from choosing "general" words. Or linking idioms, when I am clearly looking for a single word. – 0101010 Feb 07 '16 at 00:12

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The word I would use is sandbagging

"Sandbagging, hiding the strength, skill or difficulty of something or someone early in an engagement"

This is usually used in the context of hiding your abilities to gain some sort of advantage, but why else would you deliberately try to appear less smart than you are?

Roaring Fish
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George Bush ... ?

No more seriously; humble may fit the situation though one who is humble does not play dumb; Let me think ... politic; shrewd; artful or even wily, there is quite a list of synonyms for this many of which have a derogatory feel to them; however, in the positive one may go so far as to say a sage, and perhaps even a jester; I am not certain that these words today are so very well understood.

Could it be, the King who obliges the sage to become a fool?

iain
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