Meaning of nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people | Babel Free

Definitions

Phrase. [C2]

Examples

“Ed Wood was a backwards genius, he set out to make horror movies and he didn’t know how to do it. . . . Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” Well, Ed Wood did go broke by underestimating their intelligence.”

“H. L. Mencken may have noted that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people, but not even he could have anticipated this. Like Bill and Ted, their principal rivals among screen duos who play dumb, Wayne and Garth do their best to elevate stupidity to an art form.”

“It's noteworthy, by the way, that a pleasure dome like Palm Beach should also be the home of a drama troupe that not only specializes in shows like "Copenhagen" and "The Chairs" but performs them with flair. We have it on the best of authority that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people, but Palm Beach Dramaworks seems to be doing quite well for itself by operating on the opposite assumption.”

“Most advertising seems to be aimed at an extremely unintelligent audience, and yet seems effective in persuading most of us. But the software industry may, I suspect, provide a few exceptions to the old saying that “nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.””

CEFR level