How do you know she’s wrong?
No, but she did take advanced placement biology with me and had 3 brothers. I would think that at 16 years old, with brothers in the house one would know what a urinal was! 
Tell her to visit this place.
Or just thought about how male biology works for a second.
Actually, the taste bud map has been discredited. All taste buds work equally. I wish I could cite this for you - I know it was in Scientific American in 2001 or thereabouts. I photocopied the article and gave it to my anatomy teacher, who used it as a replacement page for our (brand-new, up-to-date) anatomy textbooks, which still showed the map. Any scientists want to back me up here?
This explains why I got that C on the taste bud test in elementary school… take THAT, stupid elementary science teacher! I was right when I said I couldn’t tell the difference!
And of course, five minutes of searching gets me the article. Here it is.
Hey, I know where NZ is! And I even knew BEFORE I watched all those Lord of the Rings DVD extras. Granted, all I could have told you then was “I think it’s kind of near Australia.” and “It’s an island. Possibly multiple islands.” But I still don’t think that’s too much to ask of the population at large.
I’m still amazed how bad the general public seems to be a geography. You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard to at least know which the general regions where various nations are.
Though verious antipodeans have shouted at me for thinking that. IMHO 2000 miles counts as ‘near’ Australia for a place in the middle of an empty ocean on the other side of the world, but OTOH, they probably do get fed up of people thinking it’s 20 miles offshore 
England has the opposite problem - even people who live here can’t believe you can really see France from the south-east coast, but sometimes you can.
No, I’m not surprised. I watch Jaywalking on the Tonight Show all the time. Some of those people are so damn dumb that it is absolutely painful.
What part of Houston do you live in? I’m out on the west side, near Westheimer and Beltway 8.
Then what do they prefer? “New Zealand, not actually near anything at all, really”?
Then the children’s rhyme is true?
I see England,
I see France.
I see Teacher’s
Underpants!
Here goes my story of ignorance:
'Twas my freshman year in college. I was in the kitchen area, sitting at the “table”, which had about one square foot of surface area. Hardly enough room for my bowl of Ramen noodles! There are two girls in the living room, referred from now on as Girl #1 and Girl #Stoo-pid. I overhear them say this
Girl #1: (jokingly) I’ve got a full tank of gas, Girl #Stoo-pid, let’s drive to Alaska!
Girl #Stoo-pid: You can’t *drive * to Alaska, it’s an island!
:eek:
Well, you did say she was from Queensland.
Duckster you stole my line.
Seriously though I’m quite surprised at this, generally I’ve found Aussies and Kiwis to be very well travelled and quite knowledgeable about other countries.
It’s amazing how strongly some people will stick to their ignorance.
Last summer, my wife, her cousin, my neice and I were outside at night. I was showing my neice the stars. I showed her the Big Dipper and showed her how to find the North Star.
My wife chimes in, “That’s not the North Star, the North Star is the brightest star in the sky”
I start laughing because I had just read an article on Space.com that detailed this as one of the most common astronomical misconceptions. I explained as much to her.
Her cousin speaks up, “No, everybody always says it’s the brightest star”
“Well that’s why it’s a COMMONLY held misconeption.”
Neither beleived me until I showed them on Space.com.
I’ve not read all the replies so apologies if this has already been pointed out.
There are only 8 planets.
Pluto is no longer classified as one.
Stones and glass houses??
Funny, the International Astronomical Union says it is. And since they’re the ones who make the classifications, I’d tend to trust them. Whether Pluto OUGHT to be considered a planet is a subject about which reasonable people can disagree, but the IAU still has what most people consider to be the final say. It currently has dual classification as a planet AND as a transneptunian object.
What was that you were saying about glass houses?
You’re right. I’ve been led astray by a TV show which will remain nameless.
I can’t believe I didn’t know there were 9 planets!
[QUOTE=Erika]
My best friend’s roommate freshman year calmly informed Beth that she was reading a great book that “takes place in the time of the knights and pilgrims.” [This at least conjures the amusing mental image of armor clad men riding steeds off the Mayflower, but still . . .]
QUOTE]
Am I missing something here?
The image that springs to my mind in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
30 people who travel as pilgrims to Caterbury.
One of the tales is a Knights Tale.
Maybe she was reading that.
If so and she was reading the original version (not the translated one) then that’s pretty good going.