I find these sorts of things amusing (they come in book form too: http://bookoutlet.com/Store/Details/_/R-9781606521328B?gclid...). And of course they are a trap since if you memorize a bunch of trivia and then pose as a 'nerd' or what ever, when you come across someone who actually learned this stuff because they were fascinated with it, and invested the time, they will rapidly spot you as a 'poser' or a fraud. And then they will be less likely to be friends with you than had you simply not attempted to put on the mantle of 'nerdness' or whatever.
Early in my life my wife pretty much cured me of 'male answer syndrome' which occurs whenever a suitably attractive female asks a question, the male is compelled to respond with an answer, regardless of the depth of knowledge on the subject and present it as authoritative. Sometimes you can pull that off, but if the person you are trying to impress is smarter than you, it tends to backfire horribly :-)
With all due respect sir I believe you've found a workable solution to the syndrome despite misdiagnosis of the problem.
Someone should create a koan collection in github to help properly answer "Do these jeans make my butt look fat?" and related topics.
(edited to emphasize WRT the above koan, no amount of deep real, or fake trivial, knowledge of spherical geometry will provide the correct answer. "I can provide a trivial proof that the interior angles of a triangle on the provided surface add up to far more than 180 degrees, and I like it that way" is never the correct answer. Nor is an engineering estimate "to one sig fig its circumference remains about two meters" won't work either, on several levels)
> if the person you are trying to impress is smarter than you, it tends to backfire horribly :-)
That's when you turn on the charm, admit you have no idea what you're talking about, and openly work through the "problem" and try to figure it out on the spot.
You risk to look sleazy in addition of bluffing previously. Men (or woman really) pretending they know the answer are annoying. The worst is if I really need the answer - then they are both waste of time and source of misinformation.
Trying to charm me afterwords will not help. It is more like huge neon writing over your head: do not trust me.
Why would you assume it wouldn't be collaborative? You have a person at your disposal who knows more about something than you do and you aren't going to use that resource when trying to work out a problem? That's just stupid.
Early in my life my wife pretty much cured me of 'male answer syndrome' which occurs whenever a suitably attractive female asks a question, the male is compelled to respond with an answer, regardless of the depth of knowledge on the subject and present it as authoritative. Sometimes you can pull that off, but if the person you are trying to impress is smarter than you, it tends to backfire horribly :-)