And White House aides cringe, for example, when other leaders are asked whether the president is uninterested or unintelligent, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair was after the NATO summit.
There was no suggestion that the jury in that case was unintelligent, far from it, it was suggested that the 13-month trial was so fiendishly complex that even Mensa members would have struggled.
Nor is it the chancellor's fault if the unintelligent application of the euro zone's crude rules have, for now, reduced any chance of winning round the sceptical (and very constant) two-thirds majority in Britain who oppose euro entry although Mr Balls bullishly claimed a referendum could still be won if the economic tests were met.