Ever called someone out on obvious bs?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I love that sort of reference book! Maybe I need to buy myself one.

When my daughter was a tween, I bought a new copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves and gave it to her. She thought that this was extremely cruel and unusual embarrassment. However, I knew that Sex Ed was NOT going to tell her everything she needed to know. Despite her embarrassment, I noticed that that book developed the signs of frequent reading. I could have sat down with her and pointed stuff out, but then she really might have died of embarrassment on the spot.

42

This might be one of my favorite stories.

Back in 1996, I was working and living in Greenville, SC at a BMW factory. The Atlanta summer Olympics were about to start and BMW staff were all abuzz with the idea that the flaming dildo, I mean, the Olympic Torch was about to be run through the town and would make a special detour through the BMW parking lot for a special peek. It was pretty anticlimactic.

Anyway, I was outside on a smoke break with a security guard who wasn’t terribly bright, but knew everything, especially more than any woman, and there were probably 5-6 guys standing around. We were chatting about the Olympics, your basic mundane smoke break small talk. I mentioned that I’d heard that the next summer Olympics would be held in Sydney. Then, I made the mistake of wondering aloud,

“If Sydney is in the Southern Hemisphere, that means the seasons are reversed, right? So won’t that mean that the Summer Olympics will actually be held in December?” Of course, no one knew the answer to this offhand, but the ever knowledgeable security guard pipes up…

“Australia is in the Northern Hemisphere.” He rocked back on his heels, satisfied with himself that he’d taken another uppity woman down a peg or two. (The misogyny I encountered in that part of the world was shocking.)

I looked at him to check if he was serious. He was. Gravely serious. “Um, no, I’m pretty sure that Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere.” I tried to be gentle because the worst sin a woman can commit in the Deep South (with that kind of crowd) is to correct a man in front of other men. I might as well have lopped off his penis, smothered it with ketchup, and eaten it right in front of him. (I’d deep fry it first, of course. This is the South after all.)

Well. Women aren’t supposed to argue with very important, knowledgeable security guards. Mr. Knowledgeable puffed himself up and informed me, “I was in the Navy for 12 years. I went to England, the Mediterranean, all over the world, and I am telling you-- Australia is in the Northern Hemisphere!”

I briefly wondered if he was confusing Austria with Australia, but quickly rejected that idea because Austria is a landlocked country, so how would the U.S. Navy get there on a sub or aircraft carrier, and why would the U.S. Navy to to Austria even if it was on the ocean? Mr. Knowledgeable was red-faced, agitated, and clearly delighted to humiliate me in front of all my male coworkers.

I blinked at him a couple of times and said, “Well. I certainly hope you weren’t the navigator,” and looked him straight in the eye while my male coworkers laughed their asses off. Mr. Knowledgeable got really red in the face – 'cause all the men laughed at him – and stalked off. The best part was he never spoke to me again. Had I known it would have been that easy, I’d have engaged him in a discussion about geography on Day 1. :smiley:

43

Please don’t take potshots at other posters like this.

44

Most people do call the vulva the vagina. And the urethra is located inside the vulva, along with the actual vagina.
It’s still hilarious that he thought he knew more about female anatomy than an actual female, though.

45

If you were here right now I would so give you a high five for that.

46

Noted - apologies to all.

47

Thanks. That was my one shining moment, being the only female professional in a sausage fest of about 2000 guys. IIRC, I earned a lot of “one of the guys” cred that day. :cool:

48

It’s good that you went up in their estimation rather than down. At least they were that evolved.

Nothing like taking a jackass down a few pegs.

49

You were right to let it drop.
It’s the water.

50

The correct response here is to point out that they’ve actually given their horse a dangerously low dose by using two droppers instead of one… :wink:

51

I was talking to a security guard (wow, they have a lot of smart ones), because he asked me where I had been for a week. I was in Niagra falls. He said the falls were great but too bad that all the great lakes were salt water because it would be nice if they could be used for drinking water.

Uh, dude, they Are Fresh water, the largest bodies of fresh water anywhere as far as I knew.

This small exchange ended with him screaming at me, that if I was so damn smart just try taking a drink from the falls and he hoped I liked Salt!

52

Interesting!

53

So really, she DOES have special powers.

54

Maybe not. If there were some het female there, she may have called her. Or, some gay male. Otherwise, yep.

55

Well, she was coming onto you, and you totally missed the op, so that was what the attitude was about.

56

I had a GF that pretty much believed everything anyone told her, from Y2k nonsense to people being “owned” by the government (the all caps name thing) to fake photos… It got to where every time she started a sentence with “I got this ----- in an email” I would sit down at my computer and call up Snopes. I could usually begin debunking her concerns before she was finished telling me what the subject was.

Savvy people will note that I started this post with “I had”. :wink:

57

I’m at an anniversary party for old friends, and at the table where my husband and I have been seated is a classic right-wing know-it-all. After explaining his brand of politics for ten minutes, he tells us that he’s furious at Europe for failing to fully support the U.S. in our “war against Muslims” – A/K/A the war on terrorism.

He proposes that we show Europe who’s boss. The plan: we should block the Gulf Stream. (!!!) Once it gets really cold in Europe, he says, they’ll come to their senses.

I muse out loud–“Let’s see, a cubic foot of water weighs about 60+ pounds, and the Gulf Stream is about 60 miles wide and at least half a mile deep–that’s over 2500 feet, essentially the height of a 250 story building --so somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we’re going to build a WALL that will divert that?”

He turned bright red, and his wife glared at me. "You don’t have to be sarcastic, " she hissed.

"Just mentioning the facts, " I answered pleasantly. I changed the subject.

58

You see, THAT’S why I usually try not to get into arguments with idiots – I never have the snappy comeback. Instead, I usually just end up sputtering and fuming.

59

A few months ago, some friends of my parents were having lunch with us. The discussion turned to politics, and why they hated Barack Obama. (You can see where this is going, can’t you…)
Now there are legitimate reasons for disliking Obama. “He’s really a secret Muslim terrorist” is not one of them. Guest Husband was going on about how Barack Hussein Obama was going to sell us to his fellow Muslims, etc. The conversation went something like this:
“He’s not a Muslim”, I said.
The Great Pontificator was not dissuaded. “How do you know?”
“He’s a Christian. He was born a Christian and raised a Christian.”
“But his father was a Muslim.”
“I don’t know what religion his father is, but he was raised by his mother and he’s a Christian.”
“That’s what he says.”
“Yes, that’s what he says. He’s not some Islamic Muncharian Candidate.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. It’s a ridiculous idea.” Unfortunately, I think I was less than eloquent on detailing why it was so ridiculous.
Then came what was perhaps the single stupidest statement I’ve heard all year.
“I’m telling you, I wouldn’t be suprised if they found out that he was actually funded by the Saudis.” :smack: :smack: :smack:

Then the conversation turned to how there’s no point in peaceful negotiation because Islam is the most violent religion ever. I pointed out that Christianity used to be all about violent holy wars, and now they’re as peaceful as anyone else. They wouldn’t believe me- Islam was the worst, period.

I think there was steam coming out of my ears by the end of lunch.

60

“Islamic Manchurian Candidate” is pretty good under the circumstances. If you’d been really eloquent they would have said you were being like that untrustworthy Obama fellow.

I had a few of those arguments last year, for all the good it did me.