# Ever been shocked at what some people don't know? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416 "2012-03-10T22:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/321 "2012-03-15T14:49:28Z")
It’s only Americans that feel the need to celebrate wars they lost. And that reminds me, I’m shocked by the number of Americans who think they won the war of 1812. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/322 "2012-03-15T14:52:31Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It’s only Americans that feel the need to celebrate wars they lost. > > And that reminds me, I’m shocked by the number of Americans who think they won the war of 1812. In our defence, that’s what we’re taught in school. I learned different from Cecil’s column. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/323 "2012-03-15T15:01:33Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Well, you could always celebrate the anniversary of getting rid of America. I’ve said it before, but when I lived in the US, every time I was asked if we celebrated Thanksgiving in the UK, I replied “yes, we give thanks that we got rid of those fucking pilgrims”. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/324 "2012-03-15T15:15:30Z")
> [@](#): > > In our defence, that’s what we’re taught in school. speaking of which: At school I learned all about the circulation of blood. They gave me diagrams [like this](http://cardiohealthresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/circ1.jpg)to help me understand. I thought for many years that blood really is blue, until it absorbs oxygen, then it turns red. I must have been about 30 when I discovered my error. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/325 "2012-03-15T15:35:48Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I’ve said it before, but when I lived in the US, every time I was asked if we celebrated Thanksgiving in the UK, I replied “yes, we give thanks that we got rid of those fucking pilgrims”. 😛 I may love you. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/326 "2012-03-15T16:16:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Fuck. The first lunar eclipse I saw there were people taking pictures of it: with the flash on! Which doesn’t make any sense in many ways. I’ve had to yell at people who were taking flash pictures at a _movie_. I’m not sure I was ever able to convince them that it wasn’t going to work… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/327 "2012-03-15T16:38:27Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’ve had to yell at people who were taking flash pictures at a _movie_. > I’m not sure I was ever able to convince them that it wasn’t going to work… Yeah, or in stadiums from 500 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/328 "2012-03-15T16:40:50Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > And that reminds me, I’m shocked by the number of Americans who think they won the war of 1812. We thought so at the time, too. Andrew Jackson was a war hero! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/329 "2012-03-15T16:41:54Z")
I could go on and on about my former roommate. He’s in his sixties (a bit younger than my parents) and has a Masters degree in psychology. You’d think this would a guy who knows stuff right? I mean, getting a post-graduate degree generally involves learning a wide range of stuff, right? I really got the impression that he didn’t feel the need to actually “learn” anything beyond what was directly related to his primary field of study and intended career path (the career being “professional counselor”; he worked as a counselor for various government and private agencies, and eventually set up private practice as a marriage counselor). His general ignorance often floored me. Most “impressive” example: Some years back he was having digestion problems, and his doctor determined he had low stomach acid. To counter this, the doctor prescribed some kind of acid tablet to boost his stomach acid to the proper levels. Alas, he was unable to swallow the pills for some reason, and so … he _chewed_ them. And almost completely destroyed his teeth. Um, dude? It’s _acid_. Surely you took at least a rudimentary chemistry class in college? Heck, I only have a high-school level “science class” smattering of chemistry, and I know acids tend to dissolve things. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/330 "2012-03-15T16:42:11Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > speaking of which: > > At school I learned all about the circulation of blood. They gave me diagrams [like this](http://cardiohealthresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/circ1.jpg)to help me understand. I thought for many years that blood really is blue, until it absorbs oxygen, then it turns red. I must have been about 30 when I discovered my error. What am I missing here? Venous blood and arterial blood are clearly different colors. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/331 "2012-03-15T16:42:19Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’ve had to yell at people who were taking flash pictures at a _movie_. > I’m not sure I was ever able to convince them that it wasn’t going to work… I’ve seen people do that. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Yeah, or in stadiums from 500 feet away. I think someone mentioned this, but they mightn’t have known how to turn off the autoflash. But yeah, I’ve seen this as well. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/332 "2012-03-15T16:49:59Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > What am I missing here? Venous blood and arterial blood are clearly different colors. oxygen-depleted blood isn’t actually blue, though; it’s very dark red. they just _look_ bluish through the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/333 "2012-03-15T16:52:35Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > What am I missing here? Venous blood and arterial blood are clearly different colors. Well, venous blood and arterial blood are different shades of RED. Same color, different shade. And I’ve come across a lot of adults who sincerely believe that venous blood is bright blue until oxygen hits it, both because of diagrams that show it in blue, and because in some people, the veins look blue under the skin. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/334 "2012-03-15T16:55:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve seen people do that. > > I think someone mentioned this, but they mightn’t have known how to turn off the autoflash. But yeah, I’ve seen this as well. Now, thanks to SD cards, they never run out of film. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/335 "2012-03-15T17:56:48Z")
When I first started at a company, I got a call from someone who had been there 6 years. She needed the toner in a printer replaced. I do not work in IT, and yet I managed to figure out this simple skill, on a printer I’d never used before, that she had not learned in 6 years of using that printer. That’s just willful ignorance there. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/336 "2012-03-15T18:12:56Z")
> [@bup](#): > > We thought so at the time, too. Andrew Jackson was a war hero! It was the “Second War of Independence” and the description on Wikipedia doesn’t sound much different than what we learned in school. It’s not too much of a stretch to say the U.S. won. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/337 "2012-03-15T19:06:34Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > The point is that if GW Bush made the same mistake, you’d be repeating it endlessly and laughing at how stupid he was, ignoring a reasonable explanation. It’s like you seem to think that the Tea Party is composed of religious young-earthers. It’s also like lots of people think Sarah Palin really said “I can see Russia from my house”, or even if they don’t, they think she’s that stupid anyway. No I wouldn’t. Bush did \*actually stupid \*things all the time. You’re completely delusional if you think Obama makes as many malapropisms and marble-mouth nonsense as W did. Shit, by necessity you need to let Bush slide on minor misspeaks. There aren’t enough hours in the day. 😃 As for the Tea Party, I don’t know about Young Earthers among them, but fully half don’t believe in evolution: [http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/22/poll-tea-party-opinions-of-global-warming-evolution-problematic-for-gop/](http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/22/poll-tea-party-opinions-of-global-warming-evolution-problematic-for-gop/) So the Tea Party is full of morons, to be sure. As for Sarah, she’s demonstrably ignorant of just about every national issue. She didn’t say she could see Russia from her house, but she did say that because you can see Russia from remote Alaskan islands, that gave her national security bona fides. Bitch is an idiot. No question at all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/338 "2012-03-15T19:07:49Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > And that reminds me, I’m shocked by the number of Americans who think they won the war of 1812. The official reasons for declaring war were British restrictions on American trade, British impressment of sailors off American ships, Britain’s refusal to withdraw its military from the Northwest Territory and the Great Lakes, and Britain giving support to various Indian tribes that were attacking American settlements. And at the end of the war, Britain agreed to stop doing all of these things. Hard to see how you can’t call it an American victory when the United States got everything it asked for. Granted, some of these things were due to other factors: the trade restrictions and impressment were part of Britain’s war against France and when that war ended, Britain no longer had a need for those policies. (And when Napoleon returned from Elba and Britain rebuilt its fleet, it pointedly did not attempt to impress any American sailors this time.) But there’s no reason to think Britain would have withdrawn from the disputed territory in North America as a result of winning the war in Europe - that was a result of the American military effort. The main result of the War of 1812 was that Britain accepted that the United States was a real country and it couldn’t just ignore American rights. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/339 "2012-03-15T19:28:08Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > It was the “Second War of Independence” and the description on Wikipedia doesn’t sound much different than what we learned in school. It’s not too much of a stretch to say the U.S. won. [Staff report](http://web.archive.org/web/20080126223552/http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwar1812.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/340 "2012-03-15T19:35:18Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > As for Sarah, she’s demonstrably ignorant of just about every national issue. She didn’t say she could see Russia from her house, but she did say that because you can see Russia from remote Alaskan islands, that gave her national security bona fides. We were very fortunate to have her when Putin reared his head and flew into Alaskan airspace… :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=18)