# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/101 "2012-03-11T20:02:30Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > The ignorance at geography really blows my mind. I don’t expect people to be able to point out every single small country in a region, but I just assume people have at least a rough idea of where things are! I knew someone in high school who thought Alaska was “somewhere out in the ocean.” I measured my globe. It is about the same 3’’ from the Aleutian Islands to Hawaii as from Seattle to Anchorage. I must admit Alaska stretches a ways south of Anchorage. ---
**Author:** ![JohnWhite1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JohnWhite1974](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnWhite1974)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/102 "2012-03-11T20:07:01Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > As an adjunct professor, I teach a number of math courses at a local private college. > > Most of the students do not know their times tables. > > When I write (8)(4) = on the board, I am met with stares. They do not know (8)(4) = 32. They have never memorized their times tables. that’s pretty bad…😕😕😕 * * * [Huntington Beach Florist](http://www.hbflowers.com) ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/103 "2012-03-11T20:10:24Z")
Or it would be if that was the form that most people associate with multiplication, which, as mentioned several times the the thread it’s not. I’m pretty sure that if Crafter\_Man had expressed it as “8x4=” he’d have gotten considerably fewer blank stares. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/104 "2012-03-11T20:28:38Z")
I get a lot of customers who own pets they can’t identify. That drives me crazy. “I have a lizard.” “What kind?” “Oh, I don’t know. It’s brownish green.” Seriously? You can’t be bothered to remember what type of pet you own? ---
**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, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/105 "2012-03-11T20:29:16Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Why is this? Aren’t bananas higher in sugar than apples? Beats me why it is. I just know that, in my body, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/106 "2012-03-11T20:36:43Z")
I had a friend in college who thought velvet was a color, and another acquaintance who thought french fries were cooked by dropping them in boiling water. I also knew a teacher who was the adviser of a high school Model United Nations club, which was going to be the Soviet Union (yes, this was back in the day) at a Model UN conference. Jokingly, I told her, “Be sure they don’t bang their shoes on the table.” She didn’t have the faintest idea what I was talking about. (Nikita Khruschev, one time leader of the Soviet Union, was famous for banging his shoe on the table while he was lecturing the U.N.) ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/107 "2012-03-11T20:50:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > 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. I never got it until just now. :o I did have a friend at work once ask me (prefacing with "You should know this, you’re really smart…) “What’s further away from the earth, the sun or the moon?” ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/108 "2012-03-11T20:54:37Z")
I work at an animal shelter and am constantly astounded by the public’s ignorance. I don’t expect everybody to know a lot about animals, but I used to expect pet owners to at least know some basic stuff. (on the phone) Me: “Is your dog altered?” He: “Is it what?” Me: “Is it spayed or neutered?” He: “What’s that?” Me: “Is it **fixed?** ” He: “I don’t know what you mean.” Me: “Can it make puppies?” He: “I think it’s a boy.” She: “When you neuter a male dog, do you remove his penis?” She: “We have to return this cat we adopted; it doesn’t get along with our other cat.” Me: “How much time did you give them?” She: “Oh, at least 2 hours!” One caller was upset that we don’t handle wildlife problems. Her complaint? She was afraid to leave her house because in her front yard there were some birds in a tree. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/109 "2012-03-11T20:55:52Z")
I know a girl who thought that Africa was a country in South America, and that India was in Europe. In a grade eleven biology class. She also said that the Illuminati and the Jews control the world and that the government puts dangerous chemicals in airplane contrails. ---
**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, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/110 "2012-03-11T20:57:13Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > I know a girl who thought that Africa was a country in South America, and that India was in Europe. In a grade eleven biology class. She also said that the Illuminati and the Jews control the world and that the government puts dangerous chemicals in airplane contrails. I’ve never understood the one about Jews controlling the world. If they do, they’re demonstrating a remarkable lack of self-interest. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/111 "2012-03-11T20:58:34Z")
That’s what they WANT you to think. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/112 "2012-03-11T21:21:33Z")
Ignorance of basic math just kills me. In my previous life, I trained (or tried to train) lots of people on how to work a hotel front desk. Some guests prefer to pay cash, which means that the clerk collects a payment equal to room rate x expected length of stay plus taxes. Many trainees got that bit just fine, but when I tried to show them rate + (rate)(sales tax@7%+lodging tax@6%) = (rate)(1.13)? Minds were blown. Seriously, I finally learned not to try to explain that one, just that it works. And let’s not get started on the folks who thought I could just exempt them from either tax because they said “pretty please” or claimed that Competitor X never charged them. Honey, I’ve been through a state audit before, and watched the company CEO nearly stroke out when one of his properties owed back taxes plus $10,000 in fines due to improper documentation of exemptions. No single guest is worth that headache. Please go harass Competitor X! I currently live in a college town, and often get questions at the grocery store (apparently I look helpful and competent,) on very, very basic domestic stuff - how to make spaghetti or hamburgers, the difference between bleach and detergent, whether one can substitute Dawn for Cascade in the dishwasher. These questions are usually from basic middle class American kids, not foreign students. In my opinion, if you’ve sent your kid off to university without teaching him to feed himself and do basic cleaning, you’ve failed at an important part of parenting! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/113 "2012-03-11T21:22:48Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > I know a girl who thought that Africa was a country in South America, and that India was in Europe. In a grade eleven biology class. She also said that the Illuminati and the Jews control the world and that the government puts dangerous chemicals in airplane contrails. Oh! You just reminded me–a very Christian commuter friend, from Hong Kong, thinks that all Jews come from Israel! She asked me if I was going to visit my family in Israel over the holidays, and was shocked when I told her that most Jews she’ll meet in the US hail from Eastern Europe and have never been anywhere near the Mideast. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/114 "2012-03-11T21:30:05Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Actually, 1900 was _not_ a leap year. As an exercise reread my post and decide whether I thought 1900 was a leap year. 🆒 ---
**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 11, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/115 "2012-03-11T21:31:37Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Some guests prefer to pay cash, which means that the clerk collects a payment equal to room rate x expected length of stay plus taxes. Many trainees got that bit just fine, but when I tried to show them rate + (rate)(sales tax@7%+lodging tax@6%) = (rate)(1.13)? Minds were blown. And then you check the rules and find out you can’t charge more than $25 for a room, so you send the bell boy up with five dollars… ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/116 "2012-03-11T21:39:35Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > I’ve come to realise that people who possess the kind of intelligence I admire don’t tend to expend any effort or energy “remembering” details of things that are painfully, painfully easy to reference check. I’ve come to realize that people who possess the kind of intelligence I admire don’t tend to expend any effort or energy “remembering” details of things - they just remember them. No effort involved, things just stick in their brains. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/117 "2012-03-11T21:40:20Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > As an exercise reread my post and decide whether I thought 1900 was a leap year. 🆒 After the incident with “technical” guy, for a few days I asked many of my acquaintances and none knew of the Gregorian reform. :dubious: (I probably first learned of it at about age 9 when I browsed through all the appendices in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/118 "2012-03-11T22:27:34Z")
This isn’t a specific example. But it really galls me when in a discussion, I cite a well-known event or figure from recent history, and the person responds by saying they don’t know who/what I’m talking about, “because it was before my time”. Gee, somebody should invent something, maybe call it, I dunno, a “history book”, to deal with this perplexing problem I once was discussing current events with an otherwise bright, politically engaged 20-something college grad who used this defense to explain why she didn’t understand my reference to “Goldwater’s presidential candidacy”. I replied that I followed the campaign closely as a grizzled, politically-savvy five-year old. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/119 "2012-03-11T23:02:21Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > She also said that the Illuminati and the Jews control the world and that the government puts dangerous chemicals in airplane contrails. Actually, we had a falling-out with the Illuminati a few years back. Now it’s mostly the Jews and the Methodists. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416/120 "2012-03-11T23:24:47Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > I once had a man with a masters in chemical engineering ask why cars needed antifreeze. My uncle has a masters in chemical engineering AND a VW bug. I doubt he could be could be convinced it “needs” antifreeze. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-dont-know/615416.md?page=7)