Is there a single word in English (or borrowed) that describes someone or some action as being clever or smart on the surface, but is actually quite foolish or unproductive?
I used to think "disingenuous" meant this (which of course it doesn't). The closest word I'd use would be something like "dis-ingenious".
If somebody says things that seem sensible, but are actually foolish or wrong, you can call their words specious.
I realise this is too late to help the original poster, but there is another great word with a similar meaning: Meretricious: seeming good but no so, or 'apparently attractive but having no real value'. This word is often used in the phrase 'a meretricious argument'. It is used a lot by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Affluent Society to mean exactly what the OP suggested. Etymologically it is interesting coming apparently from the Latin word for prostitute.
Among single words for "someone... clever or smart on the surface, but... actually quite foolish or unproductive" is wiseacre, "One who feigns knowledge or cleverness; an insolent upstart." Some related terms: smart aleck and cleverclogs, the latter meaning "An intellectual who is ostentatiously and irritatingly knowledgeable". [edit: I now see clever-clogs got mentioned in an earlier comment.]
Another term to consider is Trojan horse, of which Wikipedia notes:
Metaphorically a "Trojan Horse" has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or space.
Good question. Another approximation might be sciolism, which is defined as superficial or pretentious knowledgeability.
See also: Sophistry
- a. a method of argument that is seemingly plausible though actually invalid and misleading b. the art of using such arguments
- subtle but unsound or fallacious reasoning
- an instance of this; sophism
I am not sure of a single word, but would a two-word phrase be OK, such as ostensibly clever, or seemingly clever?
Glib or superficial could be used to describe "smart on the surface" but lacking depth.
Not a single word, but consider: 'too clever by half':
(idiomatic, of a person, plan, theory, etc.) Shrewd but flawed by overthinking or excessive complexity, with a resulting tendency to be unreliable or unsuccessful.
Century Dictionary and Cylopedia has this note under synonyms for adroit:
Clever implies notable quickness, readiness, resource in practical affairs, and sometimes the lack of the larger powers of mind: ...A clever statesman may or may not be an able one; a man may be clever in evil.
So clever itself, in the right context, may contain the meaning you seek.
One term sometimes used for this is "mental giant."
It's common to use a word meaning clever smart satirically, such as, "The brilliant mechanic ruined three nuts and a bolt before he realized the threads were incompatible."
Pseudo-intellectual is used for someone who uses big words to look intelligent when they are actually not.
