# How gullible was the most gullible person you knew? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071 "2001-09-06T17:28:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/1 "2001-09-06T17:28:58Z")
I once worked with someone who was pretty gullible. This was back in the days of 5.25" floppy disks. I persuaded her that she always had to carry the disks flat, because if she carried them vertically the bits would fall off and the data would be gone. She belived me for quite some time, and it was funny to see her carrying the disks so carefully for several weeks. Tell me about some of the most gullible people you know. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/2 "2001-09-06T18:13:06Z")
I once worked with a person from Iowa who was a tad naive. I _almost_ had her convinced that ponds and lakes were formed when clouds froze in the atmosphere and then fell from the sky. Later, at ground temperature they would thaw out and the resulting water would fill the crater left from the falling cloud. That’s why there are more lakes in Minnesota than other states, its colder there. Luckily most lakes and ponds land out in farm country where it’s less likely that someone would get hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/3 "2001-09-06T18:15:35Z")
I knew someone in High School who was pretty bad, but I don’t remember who or how. lol The most gullible person I know currently is my wife. I’ve done the same tricks for years and she still falls for’em. Stupid things like; Walking down a sidewalk side to side, I bang my other hand on the edge of a “Stop” sign and she freaks out … “Oh! Are you Ok???” A person can tell her just about anything witha streight face, and you can see her trying to figure out if that person is joking or not. I love that goofy woman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/4 "2001-09-06T18:17:55Z")
I’m actually just about the most gullible person I know. Really. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/5 "2001-09-06T18:22:58Z")
I know a guy whose ninth grade classmates convinced him that they were going to make a _golem_ (artificial person). THey convinced him that he needed to take a leading part, as he was a _cohen_ (of priestly lineage). They had him marching around the “body” (pile of rags) that they had wrapped in a _talis_ (prayer shawl), and chanting all sorts of nonsensical things. The cruelty of youth…(I’m happy to say that I had no connection to this dastardly deed). ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/6 "2001-09-06T18:23:41Z")
Well, I wouldn’t say this person is the _most_ gullible person I know, but he was for a small time this past summer. I was visiting a college buddy in Maine, because he’s in a band and had a gig I wanted to see. Anyways, another member of the band (the bass player) was also there, but he was from NH, so I figured I try and have some fun with him. We were in his (the bass players) car stopped at a red light, and I, jokingly, said, “You know, you can turn left on red in Maine,” “Really?” “Yup.” So he started off. Everyone on the car (myself and another couple band members) were all yelling for him to stop, lest we get into an accident. We were laughing aobut that for the rest of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/7 "2001-09-06T18:28:00Z")
I once convinced a friend that the ketchup dispenser in the local Arby’s was hooked up directly to the ketchup factory. ---
**Author:** ![Briminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/8 "2001-09-06T18:33:56Z")
I convinced a girl at a party that the M C Escher shirt that I was wearing was drawn by me and I could send one to her if she wanted. She was upset that she never got the shirt ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/9 "2001-09-06T18:41:41Z")
Not to hijack too much, but you really _can_ turn left on red in Massachusetts. (Well, only if you’re going from a one-way street to another one-way street, but it _is_ legal.) Even people from here don’t know that this is legal–you can watch them freak out when you (legally) turn left on red after stopping. Back to the original topic, I’m with Gorgon Heap (btw, isn’t it “Joplin,” not “Joplan”? I’m not sure…). My wife is easy to trick on things like that. When she opens a door and I’m on the other side (or behind her), I hit it loudly with my hand, pretending that she hit me in the head. Man, that’s funny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/10 "2001-09-06T18:56:24Z")
She moved to a small California town from Brooklyn when she was 15. I had her convinced that marshmallows grew on trees and were a local cash crop. She may still believe this. Countless things like this. She was always forgetting where she parked and I told her in California malls, if you were parked too long, Security would move your car. They had a master key. God, to hear her curse the security guards!!! ---
**Author:** ![tempest2\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@tempest2\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tempest2_2)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/11 "2001-09-06T19:07:35Z")
When I was in the third grade I convinced my little sister, who is two years younger, that she had a middle name. I think I told her it was Victoria or something. Everything was fine until she came home with a test paper one day. And she had written what she thought was her FULL name across the top! I can’t even remember how long I was grounded. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/12 "2001-09-06T19:13:13Z")
**LoverBoy** tells me how he had convinced this one girl that fleas built the Panama Canal. I’m not sure if someone would be so stupid to believe that. Now **LoverBoy** is probably going to come in here and say that I’m the most gullible person for believing his stupid story. The irony of it all… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/13 "2001-09-06T19:20:16Z")
While in missile school for the Marines at Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX, a bunch of friends and I (at a bar in town) had a poor young lass convinced we were a Space Shuttle crew training at White Sands Missile Range, and one guy was the Tailgunner! We said it was purely defensive, and used to fight off those Russian attack satellites that sent laser beams into our equipment to blind it. Gosh the Cold War was fun! ---
**Author:** ![Acco40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Acco40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acco40)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/14 "2001-09-06T19:46:27Z")
**"Hey Tim…"** “Yeah, Acco?” **"Watch this."** _Acco pushes his thumb against the inside of the windshield and simultaneously turns on the windsheild wiper._ **"Tim, I just had motion detectors installed in my windshield wipers. Now, when it rains, my windshield wipers know it, and they automatically come on."** "Wow that’s cool!!! Let me try it. _Over and over again, Tim tries to “outsmart” the “motion detector” and “test” its precision. After 30 minutes, Acco tires of teasing Tim. The fun is only just beginning._ “I beat it that time, Acco! I think it’s broke… I think you got ripped off!” **Yeah Tim, that _motion detector_ is really stupid…** Yeah, that was good times. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/15 "2001-09-06T19:58:18Z")
Those of you posting to this thread, especially **Cranky** , may be interested to know the word “gullible” doesn’t appear in the dictionary. I once had a girlfriend who asked me why I’d joined the Navy. My face lost all expression as I said quietly, “Well…it was that, or go to prison.” There was a long pause, after which she said “If there’s something you need to talk about, I’m right here.” Then I burst into laughter. It was worth the multiple beatings about the head and shoulders. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/16 "2001-09-06T20:15:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FireUnderpantsBoobs \* > \*\ ***LoverBoy** tells me how he had convinced this one girl that fleas built the Panama Canal. I’m not sure if someone would be so stupid to believe that. Now **LoverBoy** is probably going to come in here and say that I’m the most gullible person for believing his stupid story. The irony of it all… \*\* I’ve just been informed that it was mosquitos who supposedly built the Panama Canal. **LoverBoy** also told her that Vladimir Lenin and John Lennon were direct relatives and she believed him on that, too. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/17 "2001-09-06T20:33:45Z")
In high school, drama club, we convinced a fellow clubmember that she was being shocked periodically from a large number of electrical cables that ran below the stage to power the lighting. (One of us would stand near her with an uncoiled coat hanger and tap the top of her shoe, hence the “shock” she felt.) Upon inspection of her shoes, offstage of course, we determined that her shoes had not been fitted with a “broadway cleat”. Of course, OUR shoes had the broadway cleat installed (in reality, a short sewing pin pushed into the heel of our shoe) which grounded us against being shocked. We convinced her that, while walking onstage, she should hold in her hand a short length of chain and always ensure that it made contact with the floor to ground herself, until such time that a proper cleat could be installed into her shoes. The chain was actually a dog’s “choke” collar with the large rings at the ends taken off. It was short enough so that she had to walk while bent at the waist to insure that it made contact with the floor. Our sponsor was quite tickled when she saw the poor girl walking along the stage whilst dragging a short length of chain jingling behind. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/18 "2001-09-06T20:38:27Z")
Convinced a girl named Carrie, who was a freshman in high school when I was a senior, of all sorts of things. I convinced a lot of her friends of the same things, but they all eventually figured it out… she still believes them, unless they’ve told her otherwise. Examples: [ul][li] I’m majoring in Prostitutional Business Management - informally known as Pimpology. It’s a hard business, you know. You have to take Economics so you can understand business, and Accounting so you know how to keep track of your money, Interpersonal Communications because really, that’s what it is, and all kinds of health classes because it’s important to keep your workers healthy. I’m getting all kinds of scholarships because I’m a female working in a traditionally male-dominated field.[/li][li] New York is actually the only state in which prostitution is illegal. That’s why she’d never heard of PBM as a major before.[/li][li] Texas has always been its own country, except for a brief period in the early 19th century when East Texas was part of Arkansas, and West Texas belonged to Puerto Rico, which was in turn owned by Mexico, which was owned by Spain, which was owned by the Pope.[/li][li] Ducks’ bites are deadly poison.[/ul][/li] She is so gullible. I could tell her anything with a straight face and she’d believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/19 "2001-09-06T20:39:04Z")
I told my sister that ‘gulliable’ was not in the dictionary. She believed me. Mother fell for it, too. ---
**Author:** ![okielady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/fbc32d/32.png) [@okielady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okielady)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071/20 "2001-09-06T20:55:15Z")
Not to condone this but… My cousin, playing a trick on a guy in high school, took the hubcaps off his car. They were hanging out in my cousin’s garage one day when the gullible guy noticed the hubcaps. “Hey! Those look exactly like the ones that were stolen off my car!” My cousin says…“Well, I don’t have a use for them, really. If you want them, I’ll sell them to you for 50 bucks.” “Deal!” :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-gullible-was-the-most-gullible-person-you-knew/80071.md?page=2)