I once sat down with a cousin to watch a Beatles video, and she asked, “All right, which one’s Ringo?”
I also went to college with someone who managed to confuse Paul Simon with GENE SIMMONS. (“Well, who was the guy with the tongue and the make-up, then?”)
I remember watching an Andy Rooney monologue on 60 Minutes where he was talking about fame. He said that while Michael Jackson was apparently one of the most famous people in America, he had never heard of him before that week. (This was when Jackson was at the height of his career.) Rooney seemed to feel this proved that Jackson wasn’t really famous. In my opinion, it said more about how out of touch Rooney was with the popular culture of his own society.
Of course, on the opposite side, there was the infamous 1960’s interview with British supermodel Twiggy in which she admitted she had never heard of the atom-bombing of Hiroshima.
Watch those stones, okay.
Who’s Marlene Dietrich anyway? 
``Beware of elaborate telescopic meat; it will find its way back to the forest.’’
– William S. Burroughs, Tom Waits
A classmate in navy tech school thought that David Bowie fought at the Alamo.
While watching “Saving Private Ryan”, a friend said how the troops were throwing ‘Palmolive Cocktails’ as in the dish soap. We couldn’t convince him that it was in fact called a ‘Malatov Cocktail’. We ribbed him for months about it though.
“The idea of a walk-in closet sounds frightening. If I’m ever sittin’ at home and a closet walks in, I’m gettin’ outta there.” ~George Carlin
Your friend may have been thinking of napalm which according to one reference I’ve seen can be made from naptha and palm kernel oil. Talk about dangerous, that stuff is just loaded with cholesterol.
How about Jerry Lewis’ comments that women are baby-producing machines? I know it doesn’t really fit this thread but I just thought I’d mention it. Shit, when’s the last time that guy was even remotely funny?
“I thought: opera, how hard can it be? Songs. Pretty girls dancing. Nice scenery. Lots of people handing over cash. Got to be better than the cut-throat world of yoghurt, I thought.” - Seldom Bucket
Stop…stop…you’re making these up…David Bowie…at the Alamo!..can’t write…still laughing.
I haven’t read through all these yet because I don’t want to get sidetracked and forget the few that make my jaw drop.
Example numero uno: A friend could not understand why it was so expensive to fly to Hawaii. After asking her to point to it on a
(old) map, she pointed to a nameless island in the Caribbean called Cuba.
#2 - A neighbor of mine who was pregnant never knew that pregnant women pee alot. She actually had her doctor test her bladder for some kind of godknowswhat because she thought something was wrong with her. JesusFChrist, what is the number one complaint from Pregnant women?
#3 - crap, I just forgot it…
No, he wasn’t. He knew what it was, just he thought the name was wrong. Oh well.
“The idea of a walk-in closet sounds frightening. If I’m ever sittin’ at home and a closet walks in, I’m gettin’ outta there.” ~George Carlin
I just remembered it. Sorry, brain farts are common lately.
Same person as in #2, it’s a bit involved, but she was painting a ceramic piece with 14kt gold. The bottle the paint came in was really expensive for such a small vial. I made the comment, " Gee, if gold costs this much, I can only wonder how much Myrrh costs."
“What’s myrrh?”
“You know, m-y-r-r-h. Gold, frankinsense (sp?) and …”
I get a blank look from my neighbor and I have to go deeper,trying to prompt her. " You know, The three wise men…"
Still nothing.
“Manger, Christmas, Baby Jesus. Three guys bearing gifts…”
STILL NOTHING ( I poop you not and thank god there were other people in the room laughing at me trying to get this thru to her because I thought I was going insane.)
Finally I asked her if she had heard of the three wise men and told the story and she was just blank in the eyes. I looked at her and said, “Now wait a second. You are a catholic and go to church every week, right?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck are you doing in church then, smoking crack or what? This is a story that every person knows.” ( I was very patient until the last line and she still had no idea of what I was talking about.)
And *I * failed religion class for years…sheesh!
This woman at work is kind of not in the “pop-culture” loop. When I told her that Frank Sinatra died, I told her. She said that she thought that he had dies years ago, and used to like his music until she heard he was gay, then she didn’t like him because she is “against that kind of thing.” (She is VERY religious and conservative). I said that Frank Sinatra was about as straight as you could get. After some conversation, I realized that she had him confused with Liberace.
I was telling the same woman about looking stuff up on the internet, chatting on the net, shopping on the net, etc. She had no idea that you could do that stuff on the internet. I don’t know WHAT she thought people did here.
I have SO MANY stories about her, but those are my favorites.
Frankie boy, gay? Madam,bite your tongue!
I am holding in my hands a copy of the July 20, 1999 edition of the Flint Journal. I saved it for one reason–the picture on the front page, and the stunningly stupid cutline underneath it.
July 20, 1999 was the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Like every other newspaper in America, the Journal ran a big commemorative story. There’s a picture on the front page of an astronaut on the moon, looking at the flag that was planted there. Here’s the cutline:
“Thirty years ago today, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin was the first man to walk on the moon (italics mine) during the Apollo 11 mission.”
This was on the front page. Of a newspaper. The general consensus is that the Journal does, in fact, suck camel weenie, but most people thought so even before this monster mistake.
Oh, I almost forgot. I was showing this article to a woman in my office, pointing and laughing at the picture. She said “What’s wrong with it?” When I told her, she proceeded to argue with me, telling me the cutline was correct. She’s 45 years old, and told me that she stayed up with her family to watch this event. So she knew she was right. I was 2 years old at the time, and didn’t actually see it as it happened, so I, of course, was wrong. I don’t know if I ever convinced her.
Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.
Remembering this now because he’s been in the news… and in one of my quiz questions… I remember reading someone ask in Parade Magazine’s Q&A column how Secretary of State Schultz had time to draw the Peanuts cartoon every day when he had such an important job.
Parade’s editors calmly explained that the Peanuts author was Charles Schultz, and the man at the helm of our foreign policy was George Schultz.
Apartheid, BTW, is the only word which is the same in every language on the planet. DAMN, us Dutchies can be proud… 
As to the OP: I met an American guy in South Africa, whilst on holiday there. He asked me where I was from. So I replied, “I’m from the Netherlands, I live in Amsterdam”. So he goes, “Cool! My cousin lives in Milan, maybe you know him?”.
Errrmmmm… probably not.
I know this is the obligatory stereotype and all, just had to share.
Coldfire
"You know how complex women are"
Coldfire’s comment reminds me of the Peace Corp worker who went deep in the bush in Africa and met her assigned tribal village. As they were introducing themselves, a tribal member asked where she came from. When she replied, “America,” the local said, “Oh, do you know Ann?”
I’m probably guilty of much pop social ignorance. It’s not like I look askance at the social doings and commercial entertainment - I just haven’t had much to do with it of late. I haven’t listened to pop radio in about 10 years and my television viewing ceased about 8 years ago (the tv croaked toward the end of the infamous Oilers/Bills playoff game in, I think, 1992 - I was so PO’d that I just decided I didn’t need a tv in my life anymore - I know this is one of Drain’s fonder memories so I draw solace in that some gained succor from the event). So I never saw Seinfeldt (SP?) or South Park or Beavis and pal, but I know who they are. And I was in the rock music business (as performer and partner in two production companies) and am as about as out of sync on that front as it’s possible to be. Maybe I’ll study a bit.
All of the above notwithstanding, I’ve had several moments where I’ve had pause to wonder what the common knowledge might be. Not everyone’s read of Agincourt or Zoroaster, so a lack of appreciation on that score is no big deal. Recent history is of course subject to revisionist interpretation, but at least the revisionists are (after a fashion) paying attention.
When I began my association with my business partner (11 years ago), she had a very pleasant and capable gal working as office manager. She had graduated from a local public ISD and was a junior at the University of Houston. Conversations came to pass where I realized that she did not know of WWII (or WWI, for that matter). She was quite amazed to learn that the U.S. and its allies had fought a bloody war with Japan, and won! She had never heard about Korea and later, after some months of discussion, asked me about the chronology of WWII, Korea and Vietnam (she lived through the last one)!
A guy can’t even hijack a thread around here. Maybe my reference was too obscure. In the forties Palmolive soap was made with palm and olive oil.
When my wife worked in a salon, their 20 year old receptionist came in once with a new do, to which my my wife said, “that looks like a Farrah Fawcett cut”, to which 20 year old said “who?”