# Amazingly stupid things overheard **URL:** \ **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:** 19
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/361 "2012-01-15T03:20:33Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Paris Ontario as well. Kitchener Ontario used to be Berlin. And it’s near places like Breslau and [New Hamburg](http://maps.google.ca/?ll=43.363004,-80.705652&spn=0.047549,0.074329&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6). Which is right near Punkeydoodles Corners. (I am not making that up.) ---
**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/362 "2012-01-15T03:52:33Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > And it’s near places like Breslau and [New Hamburg](http://maps.google.ca/?ll=43.363004,-80.705652&spn=0.047549,0.074329&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6). Which is right near Punkeydoodles Corners. (I am not making that up.) I used to work right outside of Squirrels Corners, NY. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/363 "2012-01-15T03:59:39Z")
> [@RoeCocoa](#): > > “When I was growing up, we couldn’t be prejudiced, because there weren’t any black people.” > > Do I win? A small business owner once told me on the phone, “I don’t have to worry about a sex discrimination suit, 'cause I just don’t hire women.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/364 "2012-01-15T04:33:41Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Ha! You think you’re the only one with a fancy-pants Paris. Texas has one. I hear France has one. France? Surrender monkey copy cats! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/365 "2012-01-16T15:03:46Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Sorry, my mistake. Ohio is in New Jersey. > > But what state is New England in? [New South Wales](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_%28New_South_Wales%29), of course! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/366 "2012-01-16T15:23:22Z")
Whales have their own country now? Good for them! Though really, they need to work on their spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/367 "2012-01-16T15:37:42Z")
> [@YoDoc](#): > > Indiana has a Mexico, a Peru, a Mecca, and an Annapolis… and those are just ones I’ve been to! Don’t forget Milan, Versailles, and Kokomo. Alexandria, Angola, Berne, Brazil, Delphi, Lebanon, Monticello, Montpelier, Portland, Princeton, and Washington! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/368 "2012-01-16T15:45:55Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > [New South Wales](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_%28New_South_Wales%29), of course! _ahem_ See post #346. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/369 "2012-01-16T15:46:59Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > Don’t forget Milan, Versailles, and Kokomo. Alexandria, Angola, Berne, Brazil, Delphi, Lebanon, Monticello, Montpelier, Portland, Princeton, and Washington! And then there are Toronto, Australia, and Sydney, Canada! ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/370 "2012-01-16T22:01:15Z")
I once knew a guy who was flabbergasted when told that if you adopted a Chinese baby and raised it elsewhere, it would speak whatever language its parents taught it and not magically speak Chinese. He also thought that you couldn’t get a blood transfusion from a donor of another race; he thought hospitals had to keep seperate supplies of blood for for whites, blacks and Asians. He was a college graduate and a moderately-successful businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/371 "2012-01-16T22:34:38Z")
Did he sell Nazi memorabilia? ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/372 "2012-01-16T22:36:41Z")
Ha! Close! And I wouldn’t have been at all surprised. He sold sports memorabilia. ---
**Author:** ![SpinyNorma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SpinyNorma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinyNorma)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/373 "2012-01-16T23:27:01Z")
I used to go to Vegas with a good friend of mine. One year, against my better judgement, I agreed to let another friend of hers join us. I had briefly met this friend before and had strong misgivings about how well that was going to work out. These misgivings were confirmed by the time we reached the airport and had this conversation: Her: Oh, what was his name? He was on The Andy Griffith Show. We tossed out the names of several people from the show, only to get an annoyed “No, why would you think it was HIM?” sort of reaction. After several long minutes, she said, “No, no, no! The main guy!” There was a long pause as I blinked rapidly. Surely she couldn’t mean…Finally I said, “The main guy on The Andy Griffith Show? You mean…Andy Griffith?” Her (triumphantly): Yes! That’s him! Now, if she had laughed at herself for having such a brain fart, I wouldn’t have thought much about it but no, she thought this was a perfectly reasonable question. In case you’re wondering, it was a looooooooooong week. It didn’t go well. ---
**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/374 "2012-01-17T00:14:19Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > Don’t forget Milan, Versailles, and Kokomo. Alexandria, Angola, Berne, Brazil, Delphi, Lebanon, Monticello, Montpelier, Portland, Princeton, and Washington! Are you a hoosier? I went to high school in Delphi! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/375 "2012-02-20T22:41:27Z")
Bump to share a snippet heard as Asimovian and I were looking at an exhibit of Egyptian funerary art: “How did the Egyptians know there was an afterlife? Jesus wasn’t born yet.” ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/376 "2012-02-21T00:30:59Z")
There aren’t enough :eek::eek::eek: for that. The lamest thing I ever overheard was someone telling another person that wearing a helmet while riding was a waste of money because if you drop your helmet, you need to get a new one. Helmets are designed for the first impact, not repeated damage. ---
**Author:** ![Molesworth\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Molesworth\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molesworth_2)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/377 "2012-02-21T13:43:02Z")
Guy: (relates tale of how he’d - allegedly - seen a snuff film in which a woman had been decapitated and then the killers had had sex with her windpipe) His outraged girlfriend: “That’s _dreadful_!!! Did she _consent_ to this??!!” ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/378 "2012-02-21T18:25:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I actually can still recall the days when you could leave a few cents in your mailbox for the mailman to pick up a letter if you don’t have the stamp. At that time, I was very small child but recall my mother doing that. That stopped a long time ago though. I still do this. I rarely need stamps, so I just leave money in my mailbox (when I leave letters and have the flag raised). My mail carrier puts the postage on for me. And if I just want to buy stamps, I leave the money and she leaves the stamps in my box. And if I get a package too big to put in my mailbox, she used to put them on my front porch. Now that the gate is latched to keep the dogs in the yard, she puts them in an old truck box I have by my side gate and puts a note in my mailbox. If I have to go to the post office, she recognzes me and gets my big packages without me having to tell her my name or address. And when I got lost in the further-out boondocks trying to find an auction, I stopped her and she pointed me in the right direction. StG ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/379 "2012-02-21T19:40:44Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > I once overheard two Americans asking a German guy they were with, “Do you have July 4th in Germany?” That makes perfect sense. I guess they wanted to know if Germans celebrated any kind of holiday similar to the one Americans celebrate on the 4th of July. Or if they celebrated any holiday close to that date. > [@jsgoddess](#): > > Bump to share a snippet heard as Asimovian and I were looking at an exhibit of Egyptian funerary art: “How did the Egyptians know there was an afterlife? Jesus wasn’t born yet.” … I got nothing. That truly is both ignorant and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/380 "2012-02-21T22:00:44Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > That makes perfect sense. I guess they wanted to know if Germans celebrated any kind of holiday similar to the one Americans celebrate on the 4th of July. Or if they celebrated any holiday close to that date. Kristallnacht. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599.md?page=20)