: Is my character an intellectual or detective or both? My character has a habit (or running gag) of pointing out plot holes in conversations with her friends who lie a lot.

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Sherlock Holmes is famous for deducing answers to puzzles from observation. He was widely and deeply read, although he also deliberately forgot information which he felt wasn't important. He was a detective because the matters brought to him were problems which needed investigating — often crimes, but not always.

An intellectual is someone who is intelligent and studied, but not necessarily someone who is greatly observant or someone who can deduce facts given those observations.

So if your character knows that Bill is lactose intolerant but he says he was drinking milkshakes with Suzy, she can call him out on that lie. That's being a detective. If Bill starts going on about the benefits of supply-side economics and she counters with examples of Kansas's distastrous budget, that's being intellectual.

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