# Amazingly stupid things overheard
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 28, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599 "2011-12-28T04:33:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/1 "2011-12-28T04:33:38Z")
Two women behind me in a supermarket line:
\*“Ain’t it something that the baby Jesus was born right on Christmas?”
“Praise.”\*
That’s all I heard, because I had shoved ice picks into my ears.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/2 "2011-12-28T04:35:36Z")
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there!
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/3 "2011-12-28T05:01:31Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Two women behind me in a supermarket line:
>
> \*“Ain’t it something that the baby Jesus was born right on Christmas?”
>
> “Praise.”\*
>
> That’s all I heard, because I had shoved ice picks into my ears.
And they’re not even right.
---
### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/4 "2011-12-28T11:09:58Z")
Asked by a child of an adult:
“Where do pickles come from?”
“Well there are related to cucumbers right so they must grow kind of like them”
:dubious:
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/5 "2011-12-28T11:30:56Z")
“We can’t make mashed potatoes because we only have real potatoes.”
“I drove over my iPhone. I’d like a warranty replacement please.”
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### Author:  [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/6 "2011-12-28T13:37:58Z")
They were doing a similar thing on the radio this morning, asking listeners to text or email examples of otherwise smart people doing or believing dumb thngs.
One was a woman in her 20’s who until recently thought that unicorns were real.
Another was a guy also in his 20’s who thought the ‘i before e’ rule was absolute so had been spelling his middle name “Kieth”.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/7 "2011-12-28T13:42:00Z")
Years ago, I was in a nice department store in Paris and was mortified to hear a whiny, nasal voice of a woman saying “I don’t want to know how much it costs in French - I want to know what it costs in _American_!!” Shame on that store for not pricing their merchandise in dollars and cents… :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/8 "2011-12-28T13:58:27Z")
I saw a show on tornadoes and there was a man who said “They say tornadoes sound like freight trains, but this sounded like no freight train I’ve ever seen. There was no…” (and he makes a pull-down motion with his hand) “… ‘choo-choo’!”
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/9 "2011-12-28T14:15:29Z")
> [@grude](#):
>
> Asked by a child of an adult:
>
> “Where do pickles come from?”
>
> “Well there are related to cucumbers right so they must grow kind of like them”
>
> :dubious:
I’m not really seeing the amazing stupidity here. Doesn’t “pickles” in the US usually refer to pickled gherkins, which are closely related to cucumbers?
Certainly, the question could be interpreted in other ways, but the answer as given isn’t wrong.
---
### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/10 "2011-12-28T14:20:20Z")
At the bear enclosure in the zoo. A elderly woman tells her grandchild that the little white animal with the long tail is a bear cub and that it will turn brown when it grows old.
In case you wonder it was an arctic fox.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/11 "2011-12-28T14:21:14Z")
> [@WotNot](#):
>
> I’m not really seeing the amazing stupidity here. Doesn’t “pickles” in the US usually refer to pickled gherkins, which are closely related to cucumbers?
>
> Certainly, the question could be interpreted in other ways, but the answer as given isn’t wrong.
Yeah, most of what we Americans call “pickles” aren’t made from the same variety of cucumber as the type one usually finds sliced up in a salad. I guess it depends on context, whether it was somehow apparent that perhaps the person didn’t understand pickling or something like that.
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/12 "2011-12-28T14:24:26Z")
> [@WotNot](#):
>
> … gherkins, which are closely related to cucumbers?
Gherkins are cucumbers, although a different [cultivar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar).
---
### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/13 "2011-12-28T14:27:14Z")
> [@WotNot](#):
>
> I’m not really seeing the amazing stupidity here. Doesn’t “pickles” in the US usually refer to pickled gherkins, which are closely related to cucumbers?
>
> Certainly, the question could be interpreted in other ways, but the answer as given isn’t wrong.
The most popular US pickles are dill, which is a cucumber pickle.
Is someone in the US says “pickle” they generally mean a dill cucumber pickle and will qualify the word “pickle” if they mean something else. Like a sweet gherkin, or bread & butter, or pickled beets, or pickled okra, or etc.
---
### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/14 "2011-12-28T15:01:39Z")
> [@kferr](#):
>
> They were doing a similar thing on the radio this morning, asking listeners to text or email examples of otherwise smart people doing or believing dumb thngs.
>
> One was a woman in her 20’s who until recently thought that unicorns were real.
>
> Another was a guy also in his 20’s who thought the ‘i before e’ rule was absolute so had been spelling his middle name “Kieth”.
I’ve heard a similar unicorn story on This American Life (I believe) but it was awhile ago. Wonder if it’s the same idiot.
---
### Author:  [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/15 "2011-12-28T16:15:19Z")
Hmmm, something “stupid” I overheard was while I was out shopping and this woman goes up to one of the sales associates and asks: “what store is this?” how do you not no what store you are shopping at:confused:?
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/16 "2011-12-28T16:23:44Z")
“If it weren’t for my horse…”
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### Author:  [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/17 "2011-12-28T16:25:26Z")
“If they’re so interested in stars, why don’t they grab one in the space shuttle and bring it back so they can study it closer?”
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/18 "2011-12-28T16:41:57Z")
## “Is a cherry pit a hole in the ground where cherry trees are planted?”
“What happens when water reaches 100 degrees Celsius?”
## “It explodes!”
“When did the war of 1812 take place?”
“…Is that a trick question?”
## I can’t really blame the response but the question was pretty dumb.
## “Benjamin Franklin is my favorite president.” When pressed, this person insisted he was once president, otherwise he would not be on the 100 dollar bill.
“If you put food up your butt, will poop really come out of your mouth?” This was in reference to the south park episode.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/19 "2011-12-28T17:19:42Z")
> [@Floater](#):
>
> At the bear enclosure in the zoo. A elderly woman tells her grandchild that the little white animal with the long tail is a bear cub and that it will turn brown when it grows old.
>
> In case you wonder it was an arctic fox.
Why was an arctic fox in the bear enclosure?
---
### Author:  [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/20 "2011-12-28T17:54:40Z")
My favorite , years ago
I was on the subway. Sitting near me was a middle-aged women and a child about 10 years old. The child seemed physically unwell in a serious way.
The woman put her arms around the child and says – " It’s going to be Ok, honey. They say when this lady prays for you her hands bleed like Jesus’s."
It wasn’t funny though, it was incredibly sad.
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