# Are people really that dumb? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738 "2003-08-31T02:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/21 "2003-08-31T18:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I think it was George Carlin who said that imagine how smart the average Joe is, and realise that half the popilation is dumber then that. Except that half the population is below the median, not the average, so maybe George isn’t as high as he thought. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lurker\_anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@lurker\_anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurker_anonymous)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/22 "2003-08-31T19:45:57Z")
Yes, yes, a thousand times YES. The blow dryer that I bought last week came with instructions that include “do not use while sleeping”. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/23 "2003-09-01T04:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurker anonymous \* > \*\*The blow dryer that I bought last week came with instructions that include “do not use while sleeping”. \*\* I think that’s a throw-back to the days when the bubble-bonnet hair dryers were popular. My grandmother still has one, and yes, actually uses it while sleeping. In the morning, she puts her hair in rollers, puts on the bonnet, and crawls back into bed until her hair is dry. She tells me that lots of people used to do the same thing. I guess the manufacturers were concerned that folks that did that would just lay the dryer on a pillow pointed at their heads. ---
**Author:** ![wakimika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@wakimika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakimika)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/24 "2003-09-01T05:21:51Z")
Yesterday I was reading the manual for a Sony Handycam that included this helpful instruction: "Take pictures of the sun in low light **coditions** such as **duck**. I realize those are typos and not examples of stupidity, but I was tickled nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![wakimika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@wakimika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakimika)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/25 "2003-09-01T05:24:00Z")
And I included my own typo just to tickle others. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738/26 "2003-09-01T11:38:45Z")
I’m so dumb that I brought a Walkman back to the store as defective- almost twice- because of dead batteries. I got the walkman, used it for about a day, then a message came up on the L.E.D. screen with like a backwards E and some number (maybe a 3). And it was dead- dead as a doornail. I looked in the book- no dice. No code listed, no nothing. I looked on the web- no code listed, no nothing. I assume it’s the player since: 1- they were brand new batteries 2- the display still was working 3 if it were a low battery issue it probably would have said “batt” or somesuch So I exchanged it, told them I wanted my batteries since they were new, put the batteries in the new one. Same error. I get a bad, bad feeliing. I buy new batteries. It works great. Apparently I had 1 dead one among the living. So my point is that I’m pretty smart and I should have tried new batteries, but it never occured to me that it was the issue. I felt like a real idiot and was glad I discovered it outside in my car rather then in front of the exchange clerk. So sometimes people ARE that dumb, and sometimes it would be good to have a few lines that say “Getting an error message? Try changing the batteries!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-that-dumb/198738.md?page=1)