3 ms·

"Thinking man's detective" is a very unusual phrase. It's like "rich man's Rolls Royce" or "tall man's basketball player."

• AdleyEskridge 15y ago
  For anyone curious about this expression, especially those who didn't grow up speaking English: "A thinking man's [noun]" is an expression meaning, "A [noun] that thoughtful, intelligent people will likely appreciate".
• JadeNB 15y ago
  > "Thinking man's detective" is a very unusual phrase. It's like "rich man's Rolls Royce" or "tall man's basketball player." I think that your two sentences point up exactly why it is not such an unexpected phrase (the which, or something close to it, is I guess what you meant). "Rich man's Rolls Royce" is redundant: you have to be rich to have a Rolls Royce (more or less). "Tall man's basketball player" is not redundant: you don't have to be tall to have a basketball player (in the sense of preferring, rather than owning, I mean); you have to be a tall man to be a basketball player (more or less). "Errol Morris: the detective who's a thinking man" would have been redundant; but "Errol Morris: the thinking man's detective" is not, as (one presumes) many stupid men through history have had detectives (in the sense now of employing them, or of reading about them, or … whatever). P.S. And let me just take this chance to say: I love Errol Morris. Thanks to the other poster who mentioned 'Mr. Death'; it was the first film of his I saw, and remains probably my favourite. (Also high up there is 'Fog of War'.)
• isleyaardvark 15y ago
  I assumed it was a description about how his detective work involves more intellectual subjects than the stereotypical detective work of, say, catching a cheating spouse.