# Aren't you shocked by what some people DON'T know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2000, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431 "2000-11-30T20:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/121 "2000-12-01T20:54:20Z")
**Danimal** said: > [@](#): > > Somebody else referred to the distance from the Earth to the Sun, I have heard the figures 93 and 98 million miles used… The **mean** distance is 93 million miles. That answer won a guy a million bucks on “Millionaire.” > [@](#): > > …and don’t know which is correct (perhaps both, one at apogee and one at perigee?). Perigee refers to the distance of closest approach to **Earth** , hence the suffix gee, derived from geo. Correspondingly, apogee indicates the farthest that any Earth-orbiting object gets during its orbit about it. When talking about a Sun-orbiting object, replace perigee and apogee for perihelion and aphelion, to unequivocally indicate that the object in question revolves around the Sun. **My contributions** As of last year, my sister (20 years old at the time) didn’t now the difference between a comet and an asteroid. And yes, she had already seen **Armageddon** and **Deep Impact**. A friend of mine didn’t know whether **Sherlock Holmes** was a fictional or a real detective. Heck, he didn’t even know who Sherlock Holmes was! While in the Yahoo! Mail page my mom decided to jump to another site. What did she do? Instead of typing the desired url in the browser’s address bar, she introduced it in the username box used to access her e-mail account. After trying this several times, she gave up and asked for help. After rolling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter I proceeded to explain her the correct procedure. When I told her, even she was laughing her ass off. Needless to say, she hasn’t had any problems accessing a web site since. ## More as I think of them… Yes, of course I know that France is the capital of Paris. ---
**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/122 "2000-12-01T21:17:34Z")
> [@](#): > > **My clique in college included a Filipino girl who was badly confused about basic sexual information: she thought an orgasm was when the egg leaves the ovary. I can understand if your family or culture is squeamish about the facts of life, but wouldn’t you pick up on the stuff that doesn’t match (both men and women can have orgasms but only women have eggs and ovaries)?** Sounds like she read that the man reaches orgasm when the sperm is released from the testes, and just put two and two together: man has orgasm when sperm is released, therefore woman must have orgasm when egg is released. Since this is about as much as most public school health books say about orgasm (god forbid they let on to the idea that sex is enjoyable!), this really isn’t that outlandish. ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/123 "2000-12-01T21:24:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LazarusLong42 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by AETBOND417 \* > > **Forte is pronounced “fort” (Yes, it _can_ be “for-tay” also, but that just shows the power of the masses of idiots to popularize and legitimize a mispronunciation.)** > > It is pronounced “for-tay” when written on a sheet of music and referring to dynamic level; it is pronounced “fort” when referring to a strength that a person has. > > LL \*\* I forgot to mention that I was using it to mean a strong point. They were using the same definition of the word that I was, not the musical definition. Two of the four I talked to never have played music, and wouldn’t likely know the term. ---
**Author:** ![Telly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Telly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telly)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/124 "2000-12-01T21:24:45Z")
I’ve meet several people (all adults) over the past few years that thought the north pole was in Alaska. Also, I met a girl (about 20) who didn’t know the moon went through phases. Another girl I met(same age)thought an eclipse was when the sun comes between the moon and the Earth! Unbelievable! ---
**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/125 "2000-12-01T21:40:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quasar \* > **While in the Yahoo! Mail page my mom decided to jump to another site. What did she do? Instead of typing the desired url in the browser’s address bar, she introduced it in the username box used to access her e-mail account. After trying this several times, she gave up and asked for help. After rolling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter I proceeded to explain her the correct procedure. When I told her, even she was laughing her ass off. Needless to say, she hasn’t had any problems accessing a web site since.** In a similar vein, after Thanksgiving dinner my 69-year-old father and I were talking about computers. He goes to the library and has the librarian help him find his stock quotes. He wondered why he got an error message when he typed “cars” in the address bar in order to find sites about automobiles. When I explained that he’d want to use a search engine (and explained what that was and where he could find one) instead, he said “well, would it have worked if I’d typed [cars.com](http://cars.com)?” An hour later and I still don’t think I’d gotten through to him on the difference between an address bar and a search engine. Not really on topic, I guess, since I’m not surprised he doesn’t know this stuff. He was almost retirement age by the time the whole thing caught on. I’m pleased he does as much online as he does. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/126 "2000-12-01T21:40:58Z")
A woman who is employed by my present employer absolutely refuses to believe that people are animals. The combined influence of every college graduate in the firm will not cause her to even consider the possibility. “People are not animals” is her last word on the subject. And the confession? I haven’t the faintest idea of what is meant by “Duck Duck Goose.” ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/127 "2000-12-01T21:51:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LouisB \* > I haven’t the faintest idea of what is meant by “Duck Duck Goose.” It’s a children’s game. The way we played it in Vacation Bible School was, a bunch of kids sits in a circle. One of them walks around the circle, tapping each child on the back. Each time the kid taps, he or she says “Duck.” However, during one tap the child yells “Goose!” and starts running like crazy around the outside of the circle. The tapped child has to get up and try to catch the other before they reach the spot vacated by the tapped child. If the tapped child catches the tapper, then the tapper is “it” again. If the tapper makes it back to the spot before being caught, though, then the tapped child becomes “it” and starts the process over again. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/128 "2000-12-01T21:51:54Z")
We had a kid in high school who was convinced he could draw a triangle that had two sides that were 2 inches long each, and one side that was 4 inches long. He tried and tried, but couldn’t quite do it. He couldn’t understand that it couldn’t be done. He was reasonably smart, got decent grades, and was the JV quarterback (for what that’s worth). ---
**Author:** ![deb2world](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@deb2world](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deb2world)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/129 "2000-12-01T21:56:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Telly \* > \*\*I’ve meet several people (all adults) over the past few years that thought the north pole was in Alaska. > \*\* There is a North Pole, Alaska. I have been there. It is between Eielson AFB and Fairbanks. It has Christmas stuff all year round. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/130 "2000-12-01T21:59:56Z")
This one isn’t really so bad, but it amazed me at the time. My parents were in the habit of buying the cheapest possible version of a car, and the one I was about to get handed down to me had no radio in it. I mentioned to my dad that I’d like to get a radio for it with a tape player and he said “You mean an 8-track?” and I said, “NO the kind that plays regular cassettes.” and he said “Oh, they make those for cars now?!” This was like 1988, after they’d been making them for AGES. ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/131 "2000-12-01T22:12:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*I’ve met Americans unaware that we pronounce it “zed”. > \*\* I’ll go to school Monday and ask people what the last letter of the “Canadian alphabet” is. I’ll wager that no more than 1 in 30 knows it’s “zed.” Nota Bene: I’m in high school. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanShocker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/eb9ed0/32.png) [@UrbanShocker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanShocker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/132 "2000-12-01T22:24:12Z")
This one is really tragic. I might have mentioned it before, but I don’t think so. I was talking to a girl a few weeks ago, and the subject of dreams came up. So, she thought of an interesting True Fact she had heard: that if you die in a dream, you die in real life. Makes sense to me. Now, I wasn’t quite sure if she was serious, so I asked her how they know what the person was dreaming if they died in their sleep. Her answer? _From the autopsy._ Holy shit. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/133 "2000-12-01T22:37:10Z")
And then there was the girl who, when I told her I was a lesbian, said that she didn’t know I was a foreigner. While watching (well…making fun of) Titanic, there were two girls behind me who were talking. I overheard, “What do you mean that the ship sinks?” Once a guy tried to convince me that Jesus was white, had Aryan features, and spoke English. IIRC, he also hinted that he was American. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.One-L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Dr.One-L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.One-L)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/134 "2000-12-01T23:05:18Z")
I suppose this is just a function of me being really interested in animals growing up, but I was shocked when some of my college friends refused to believe I was being serious when I happened to mention the fact that stags shed their antlers every season. They didn’t believe me about narwhals (whales with a horn [actually a tooth that grows out of their heads]), either. And then there was my eighth grade history professor who told me I was incorrect in saying that the term “Jewish” is not only a religious designation but also an ethnic one (in response to a classmate who asked how the Nazis could tell that a person was Jewish). Michele ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/135 "2000-12-01T23:23:29Z")
> [@](#): > > So, she thought of an interesting True Fact she had heard: that if you die in a dream, you die in real life. I hope it’s not true because then I would most definately be dead. I distinctly recall dying in a dream once I remember the feel of the bullet in my chest and the blood in my mouth and everything going completely black before waking up gasping and heart pounding. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/136 "2000-12-01T23:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*Things I have had to explain to people over the age of 20: > > … > > The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is NOT a true story! > \*\* Well, [not entirely](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_253.html). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2000, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/137 "2000-12-01T23:58:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by deb2world \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Telly \* > > \*\*I’ve meet several people (all adults) over the past few years that thought the north pole was in Alaska. > > \*\* > > There is a North Pole, Alaska. I have been there. It is between Eielson AFB and Fairbanks. It has Christmas stuff all year round. > \*\* Everyone knows the North Pole is in Nunavut. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/138 "2000-12-02T00:06:06Z")
Me first: Was well in to my teens before I realized that sticky silver stuff was NOT called ‘duck tape’. As for others: Once had a discussion with a chick who SWORE that all rivers flowed south. I said, “Well, what about the Nile?” “That’s different - it’s **south of the equator**.” Discussion ended when she couldn’t come up with a good reason for why Minnesota’s Red River was an exception :rolleyes: Another woman had been bitten by a dog and was given some pre-natal vitamins to combat the scarring. She took me aside one day and asked me if they’d make her pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/139 "2000-12-02T01:24:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Palandine \* > \*\*In a similar vein, after Thanksgiving dinner my 69-year-old father and I were talking about computers. He goes to the library and has the librarian help him find his stock quotes. He wondered why he got an error message when he typed “cars” in the address bar in order to find sites about automobiles. When I explained that he’d want to use a search engine (and explained what that was and where he could find one) instead, he said “well, would it have worked if I’d typed [cars.com](http://cars.com)?” > > An hour later and I still don’t think I’d gotten through to him on the difference between an address bar and a search engine. > > Not really on topic, I guess, since I’m not surprised he doesn’t know this stuff. He was almost retirement age by the time the whole thing caught on. I’m pleased he does as much online as he does. \*\* Oh that’s so adorable- he actually typed in [cars.com](http://cars.com)? 🙂 Sorry, that just seems so sweet…patronizing of me, I know, but it’s just so cute. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431/140 "2000-12-02T02:06:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chique \* > **Me first: Was well in to my teens before I realized that sticky silver stuff was NOT called ‘duck tape’.** Well, while that genre of tape is not called “duck tape” (it is, of course, ducked tape), there is a specific brand called Duck Tape. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arent-you-shocked-by-what-some-people-dont-know/43431.md?page=8)