# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/81 "2012-03-11T17:08:19Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Maybe I just have supervision, but the world doesn’t turn to 2D if I close one eye. I can even pick up pencils that are the table in front of me. > > I’ve heard the 2D/3D thing a ton of times and the person/article explaining it always uses the “close one eye” example. But there has to be more to it because closing one eye doesn’t hamper the vision in my remaining open eye. Is your name Gail? In seriousness, the world _does_ turn 2D when you close one eye. However, you might be someone who doesn’t normally experience stereoscopic vision, in which case you wouldn’t notice the difference. Like I said, parallax helps to work out what’s going on. If this is so, like trying to explain colour to a colourblind person, it it quite difficult, but I can assure you that there is a massive difference. Do you see the difference between 3D and 2D movies? I know there are people who don’t. Either that or like my ex friend, you’re not perceiving consciously what you actually perceive unconsciously. Could you walk around with one eye covered all day long and function normally? [Further reading](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereopsis). ---
**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 11, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/82 "2012-03-11T17:13:08Z")
> [@BadAtSports](#): > > When I had gestational diabetes, my sister told me I could eat apples. > > Me: “Actually, apples are loaded with sugar… I can’t really eat any fruits.” > Her: “Apples have sugar in them?” > Me: “Yeah, what did you think makes them sweet?” > Her: “I don’t know, I just thought they were filled with vitamins…” Diabetics CAN eat fruit, and sugar. An apple is a perfectly cromulent choice for a diabetic. It’s got lots of fiber, which means that the sugar will be more slowly released into your blood stream. Diabetics are urged to include whole, fresh fruits into their diets, along with vegetables. What we can’t do is eat a lot of sugar all at once. For instance, it’s one thing to eat half a banana (which is the serving size). It’s quite another thing to eat the banana plus ice cream plus syrup plus whipped cream (banana split). A lot of people think that having diabetes means NEVER eating any form of sugar or starch. This idea is quite outdated, from the days when diabetics had to test their sugar by dipping a test stick in their urine. Sugar doesn’t spill into the urine until it’s dangerously high, so naturally diabetics tried to keep their blood sugar as low as possible. With today’s home blood testing kits, though, we can easily see if we’ve eaten a little too much sugar. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/83 "2012-03-11T17:19:42Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Could you walk around with one eye covered all day long and function normally? Yes. And when I’m working (I’m a photographer), I’m running around most of the time framing and composing an image with one eye closed. I don’t find myself bumping into things and being otherwise confused. Now, I don’t disagree that “true” 3D isn’t possible without binocularity, but your brain is pretty good at forming a three-dimensional picture of the world with a lot of other depth perception clues. Like, as you said, parallax, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/84 "2012-03-11T17:22:43Z")
People who asked me when my pony was going to grow up to be a horse. A past boss who told me certain items were 40% off and to calculate the price I needed to multiply the price by .40 and subtract that from the price. When I suggested just multiplying by .60 to get the price she told me it doesn’t work that way. She pulled out her calculator to show me I was wrong and several calculations later said well you do it your way then but I still think you’re wrong. The woman who worked at Vital Records who told my then bf that he couldn’t get a copy of his birth certificate there because they didn’t handle certificates for foreign countries. He was born in Hawaii. People who can’t tell even common dog breeds apart. They wouldn’t know a German Shepherd from a Golden Retriever or a Beagle from a Pug. Another ex-bf who had several young women convinced that not only did he serve in Viet Nam (he did at 18) but that he had also served in WWI and WWII. I asked what about Korea he said oh yeah I forgot I was there too. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/85 "2012-03-11T17:23:42Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I knew a “technical” guy who wrote date-arithmetic software but didn’t know about the Gregorian calendar. To confirm this I asked “Was 1900 a leap year?” He answered “I don’t know; is 1900 a multiple of 4?” My surprise that he wrote date-arithmetic software without knowing of the Gregorian reform changed to astonishment that he didn’t know multiples of 100 were also multiples of 4. Actually, 1900 was _not_ a leap year. The rule is: If the year is evenly divisible by four it is a leap year. UNLESS it is divisible by 100 in which case it is not a leap year. UNLESS it is divisible by 400 in which case it is a leap year. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/86 "2012-03-11T17:24:43Z")
As to the OP, I’ve mentioned this one in another thread, but during freshman new student week, we were walking around with some of our fellow students and discovered that one of the girls, who had something like a 1500 SAT (out of 1600 at the time, and pre-1994 rebalancing), thought the compass points were a relative concept. That is, she was confused as to how Lake Michigan was always to the east when you’re in Chicago. “But isn’t east always to your right?” she asked? We looked at her quizically, and after a few more questions, realized she thought north meant “in front,” south meant “in back,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![FrillyNettles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@FrillyNettles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrillyNettles)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/87 "2012-03-11T17:56:11Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Diabetics CAN eat fruit, and sugar. An apple is a perfectly cromulent choice for a diabetic. It’s got lots of fiber, which means that the sugar will be more slowly released into your blood stream. Perhaps some diabetics can, but this diabetic cannot eat apples. One small apple sends my blood sugar sky high. I can, however, eat bananas and other fruits. But apples…nope. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/88 "2012-03-11T18:02:56Z")
To answer the OP, no. I am never shocked at what some people don’t know. I have my own vast areas of ignorance (Asian history, most languages, art history, professional sports, current celebrities as examples just off the top of my head) that I am never surprised at finding a similar area of ignorance in someone else, even if that person is unaware of something I had understood to be trivially obvious or general knowledge. ---
**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 11, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/89 "2012-03-11T18:05:29Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > The woman who worked at Vital Records who told my then bf that he couldn’t get a copy of his birth certificate there because they didn’t handle certificates for foreign countries. He was born in Hawaii. I _ **knew** _ he wasn’t born in The US! ---
**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 11, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/90 "2012-03-11T18:10:32Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > A friend of mine - studying to be a teacher - thinks that Homo sapiens are extinct. > > She’s pretty smart and was making a very lame joke, but still… Maybe she was whooshing you. Quote from Friends : Joey: I have a question. If the homo sapiens were in fact homo sapiens is that why they’re extinct. Ross: Joey, homo sapiens are people. Joey: Hey, I’m not judging. ---
**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 11, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/91 "2012-03-11T18:19:27Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > Eeyore is an anteater or something. (Edit : maybe an Aardvark? I get them mixed up.) Donkey, hence the name. Or were you kidding? ---
**Author:** ![crookedteeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@crookedteeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crookedteeth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/92 "2012-03-11T18:21:21Z")
My boyfriend is awful with directions. Just awful. We live in North Carolina, and he travels a lot. I don’t always keep up with where he’s going anymore. A while back I asked him where he was going (he was driving). He said “Atlanta. No, wait, Richmond.” I said “Are you going to Georgia or Virginia?” “I can’t remember.” “Okay, are you traveling north or south?” “Ummmm, I don’t know. Let me check the GPS.” I’ve given up all hope. He’s an otherwise intelligent person, just doesn’t know how to navigate without GPS assistance. A girl I worked with thought limes were lemons that weren’t ripe yet. I tried not to laugh. ---
**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 11, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/93 "2012-03-11T18:34:46Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Donkey, hence the name. Or were you kidding? “Hence the name” only works for British people because of the R. Growing up, it never occurred to me that Eeyore was supposed to represent the donkey’s sound (hee-haw). ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/94 "2012-03-11T18:56:50Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Maybe she was whooshing you. Quote from Friends : > > Joey: I have a question. If the homo sapiens were in fact homo sapiens is that why they’re extinct. > Ross: Joey, homo sapiens are people. > Joey: Hey, I’m not judging. Yep, I’m the idiot on this one - that was the joke she was making and I missed it entirely. There was no _Friends_ context, in my defence - it kind of flowed into a separate conversation I was thinking of and made me go :dubious:! I know I’ve seen that episode, probably many times over the years, but I’m terrible with TV show quotes. How about this, then - my sister, a veterinarian, was just telling us a story about a client who thought that his intact male cat couldn’t possibly impregnate his intact female cat because the male wasn’t spraying the house. Seems in his mind, no cat pee all over means no cat sex. > [@crookedteeth](#): > > I’ve given up all hope. He’s an otherwise intelligent person, just doesn’t know how to navigate without GPS assistance.. My friend is like this - she can barely navigate around her own town without her GPS. Whenever she comes to Montreal to visit, her GPS sends her down one of the more frustrating routes in the city, because it’s technically less mileage and she bitches and complains about it every time (_driving in Montreal is so stupid, all those zigzags!_). I keep telling her that if she’d just follow the 20 and 720 (same road, really - you never notice the transition) until the end of the highway, then did five turns through 3 lights (three of which just get you around a park in front of the house, you can see the house the whole time) you can get to my house much more easily. She then tells me that she just follows her GPS, and isn’t comfortable doing anything else. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/95 "2012-03-11T19:10:52Z")
An old guy at the fish counter was blown away at the name and just the existence of Mahi Mahi. It’s cool if you can’t id the whole fish or haven’t even heard of it, but you could have convinced this rube it was from the moon. This dead fish on ice was clearly the most exotic thing he’d encountered in 65 years of living. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/96 "2012-03-11T19:16:15Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Donkey, hence the name. Or were you kidding? No. What do you mean, “hence the name?” Edit : Is that supposed to be the name for a donkey bleating? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/97 "2012-03-11T19:17:37Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > “Hence the name” only works for British people because of the R. Growing up, it never occurred to me that Eeyore was supposed to represent the donkey’s sound (hee-haw). Yes, this. Thanks. Joe ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/98 "2012-03-11T19:41:20Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > My Mom felt that the power cord for her laptop should be more than sufficient to connect to the internet. The fact that she had to plug in the ethernet cable was quite ridiculous to her. I gave up explaining to my mom that the computer monitor was just a monitor, and the “real computer” was that big thing under the table. Of course this was the same mom who thought she needed to have the car inspected to renew her drivers license . . . and she needed to pass a vision test to get the registration renewed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/99 "2012-03-11T19:57:17Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > “Hence the name” only works for British people because of the R. Growing up, it never occurred to me that Eeyore was supposed to represent the donkey’s sound (hee-haw). Even though we read all the Pooh books as kids (I was almost named Christopher Robin), I never understood Eeyore’s name 'til I was an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/100 "2012-03-11T19:58:06Z")
> [@FrillyNettles](#): > > Perhaps some diabetics can, but this diabetic cannot eat apples. One small apple sends my blood sugar sky high. I can, however, eat bananas and other fruits. But apples…nope. Why is this? Aren’t bananas higher in sugar than apples? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=6)