Someone was wrong on the Internet just now, and it’s DEFCON 1 for me. 
This person (on the IMDB forums) first claimed “I don’t actually know who Adam Sandler is”, and then when I called that a “preposterous lie”, came back with:
:smack: This is total bullshit, amirite?
I can imagine it.
I don’t think your correspondent is missing much.
I wish I’d never heard of Adam Sandler. Does that count?
My mother, who has lived in the US her entire life, recently didn’t know what ESPN was.
She might have heard of Adam Sandler. She might not.
Sandler has been in a couple good films, amidst all the dross. But I just think it’s not a question of quality here. I don’t understand how one could be totally unaware of the guy. As I responded on the IMDB thread:
ETA:
LOL, no…sorry.
Would she know how to post on IMDB? (I admit, though, that’s a good one.)
I doubt she’s ever looked at IMDB, and has likely never heard of it.
One time we were discussing what movie to go to, and I mentioned that one potential choice was at 97% on the Tomatometer (which is INSANELY high), and her response was “hmm, is there anything playing with a higher rating than that?”.
Let’s put it another way. It is obviously true that there really are human beings who don’t know who Adam Sandler is. There are young children being born every day, there are adults in assisted living situations, there are people who don’t speak English, and so on.
But a better question would be: “Is it plausible that a person culturally literate enough to be posting on the IMDB forums to not know who Adam Sandler is?”
And that strikes me as total bullshit. It’s like when you mention you saw something on the TV news, and the guys says he doesn’t have TV and so didn’t know you could get the news on TV. Yes, there are people who don’t watch TV, who don’t own a TV, who hate TV, and so on. But these people obviously know of the existence of TV, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to brag about how they don’t own at TV, and instead would ask, “What is TV? Never heard of it. Is it like the internet?” like a character in a Chick tract who’s never heard of Jesus.
Obviously this person on the IMDB forum is trolling you. He knows that Adam Sandler exists, even if he’s never seen a movie by Adam Sandler. In order to dismiss Adam Sandler as not worth knowing about you’d first have to know about him, otherwise you wouldn’t know that he’s dismissible.
Agreed. What’s weird is we had been having a debate about a movie before that in which he didn’t seem the type to just make outrageous trollish statements (though he did seem like a dick).
Well, I have now! There’s ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back! What a horrible excuse for a comedian! Thanks so much, OP!
[/joke]
Seriously, if someone didn’t watch SNL during his heyday, and doesn’t pay attention to Hollywood comedies, why would they know Adam Sandler? I of course remember him from SNL, and I liked Mr. Deeds. But someone less interested in 1990’s USA pop culture might simply not care enough to notice him.
…its perfectly possible. I know people who don’t read newspapers or watch TV. There are millions of people world: it should be freaking obvious that there are some people who have never heard of someone else.
And I think calling someone a liar is a pretty bold move when the only evidence you have that person is lying is your incredulity.
That’s not the question, though. Those people who don’t watch TV or read newspapers aren’t active on NY Times or CBS forums. Do you actually think there are people out there who are active on IMDB message boards who have never heard of Adam Sandler? I seriously doubt it.
If you were born in 1996 you’d be 18 now and would have missed his run on SNL and would have been too young for any of his movies until he started making movies aimed more at adults, in which case you wouldn’t care.
But you’d be plenty old enough to argue with a guy on IMDB 
OK, guys. I know that there’s a person named Adam Sandler, and I’m pretty sure he’s an actor, though I couldn’t come up with a movie he was in. I think I have a mental picture of him: He has short dark hair, and kinda bland looking. Right? That’s about all I can say about him.
I can definitely understand that someone has never heard of him.
We were arguing about The Lady Eve though.
…what you doubt and what you can prove are two different things. Sandler has been in a string of movies I’ve never heard of since 2008. And if I haven’t heard of those movies, then it is very plausible that someone under the age of 20 has never heard of those movies either. Calling someone a liar based on an assumption is pretty silly. Unlikely things actually happen all the time: and not knowing who Adam Sandler is is unlikely, but absolutely possible.
I can imagine someone like my parents not knowing who he is - they’re pushing 60, and don’t really keep up with the latest pop culture trends or movies.
I mean, if they saw him, they might recognize him as that guy who used to be on SNL way back when. But if you asked them outright if they knew who Adam Sandler was, there’s a good chance they’d just draw a blank.
Mine didn’t know about Hi-C (the drink) until only a few months ago. We couldn’t believe she had never heard of Hi-C before. She, too, has lived her whole life in the US.
So, I’m never really surprised anymore about what some people don’t know.
I have no idea what Hi-C is. I’ve never heard of it.
I do know who Adam Sandler is though, however I have never seen any of his movies. He was NOT on SNL during its heyday as foolsguinea suggests. I see that as more of the Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman years.
I have heard the name. I know he is a famous person. I have no idea what movies he’s been in or what he looks like. I wouldn’t recognize him if he sat down beside me on a bus.
It’s not sold in Canada.