so-so in English
When I want to increase an adjective I can say:
He's very intelligent.
He's incrediblyintelligent.
He's extraordinarily intelligent. etc. etc.
What happens when it is so-so intelligent? What words would you use ? And is there a difference among them or they are all the same to you?
He's ....................... intelligent.
10 Answers
I wouldn't use so-so intelligent.
I would use it in reply to emotions. How are you feeling - so-so [asi asi] How did the exams go - so-so [if someone told me that in the UK I would think they were either going to do brilliantly and were down playing it, or badly but didn't want to admit it.]
Eat out - how was the restaurant - so-so eg mediocre or average
You can say he is so intelligent or really intelligent or extremely intelligent or highly intelligent meaning very.
He is reasonably intelligent is slightly less than very.
You could say he is so not intelligent but that is a little colloquial and would be said by someone chatting to a friend explaining a boyfriend who boasted of being clever was really dim.
He is of average intelligence [note change of word]
In UK he is quite intelligent [ie not very] In USA this is invariably used for very, but use is more varied in UK.
He is not very intelligent He lacks intelligence
You can use other words like clever, smart, brainy, quick witted, savvy [often used for someone who is practical]
Opposite include, dim, stupid, thick and slow.
It depends who you are talking to and what you want to convey.. Eg some bright people are lazy so will not achieve much. Even if a parent knows their child struggles, it is better to say he puts in a lot of effort and is practical, but finds some of the more intellectual work challenging rather than just say he is thick!
He's kind of intelligent.
He's somewhat intelligent.
He's fairly intelligent.
He's moderately intelligent.
All these mean the same to me.
By the way, using "so-so" as an adverb (modifying an adjective, as in "He's so-so intelligent") seems kind of somewhat fairly rare to me. It's more often an adjective,
So so = más o menos. - His Spanish is so so.
A so and so = persona desagradable. She is a nasty so and so.
A few watts ahort of a lightbulb.
A small sample of options:
Not pulling a full wagon.
Not the brightest star in the sky.
The light’s on but no one’s home.
Not the brightest bulb in the box.
A few screws short of a hardware store.
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
A few cards short of a full deck.
A few fries short of a Happy Meal.
About as sharp as a marble.
Only has one oar in the water.
Smart as a bag of rocks.
A hamburger short of picnic.
The elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor.
A few peas short of a casserole.
A few keys short of a piano.
Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
The gates are down and the lights are flashing, but the train isn’t coming.
As smart as a stick.
Fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.
An intellect rivaled only by garden tools.
Has an IQ of room temperature.
Couldn’t pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
Not the sharpest crayon in the box
I think the technical answers are all very good. I just wanted to add that there are instances when "más o menos" and so-so match, and can be used interchangeably, and others where they do not.
Generally, if the sentence ends with "más o menos", you can translate directly into English:
¿Cómo estuvo la obra? Más o menos. How was the play? So-so.
¿Es un tipo inteligente/guapo/capaz/ameno? Y, más o menos.
Is he an intelligent, handsome, capable, pleasant, guy? Meh, so-so.
But, thrown in the middle, as ably explained by Jtaniel, it does not work:
Es un tipo más o menos inteligente (?). He's a so-so intelligent guy (X)
Much more fun to use the various alternatives offered in the others responses!
Ok, ok: He's marginally intelligent. He's imperceptibly intelligent. He's arguably intelligent He's potentially intelligent ...
A slice short of a sandwich. or A sandwich sort of a picnic :
While we are at it , y siguiendo la idea de gekko, pero en español 
:
Le falta un hervor.
le falta un tornillo.
Le faltan tuercas.
le faltan jugadores.
Le chifla el moño.
No tiene todos los patitos en la fila.
No le sube / llega el agua al tanque.
Le faltan un par de caramelos en el frasco.
Más bruto que un caballo de palo.
Lo único que tiene en la cabeza es el pelo.
Es más corto que las mangas de un chaleco
Más cerrado que una caja fuerte.
I am with jtaniel. While the dictionary shows so-so can be an adverb, in practice it is more commonly an adjective.
He's reasonably intelligent.
He's adequately intelligent.
A bit lower on the scale of faint praise:
He's barely intelligent.
He's minimally intelligent.
Hitting rock-bottom:
He's laughably intelligent.
Somewhere a village is missing an idiot.
Gekkosan's list
so-so in Spanish is "así, así" if someone were to ask you how you are feeling
I was speaking about words like jtaniel wrote
Somewhat, kind of, fairly I have also thought of pretty, rather or quite.
Are there more? And do they all. mean the same or you feel there are nuances?
