# How stupid are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082 "2018-08-04T05:10:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/21 "2018-08-04T22:39:46Z")
I knew all along that Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, but it took me about ten years to figure out that his stage name is derived from his initials. ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/22 "2018-08-04T23:24:17Z")
Today at the grocery store, I bought the week’s groceries, went to pay, put my card in the chip reader, kinda looked around…wow, that lady is seriously pretty…shoot, I forgot Twizzlers, oh, well, next week…those freaking kids are brats, that father needs to control them…man, that steak’s gonna be good…(slowly looks back at cashier who is glaring at me…) “Sir, can you please sign?” Um, yeah, um, sorry, I’m an idiot… ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/23 "2018-08-04T23:27:29Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I once honestly answered the question “Do these pants make my butt look big?” One of my best friends is just a hilarious, straight-forward person, he and his wife are very happily married, he likes to tell the story about the one time she asked him that, he answered, “Your ass looks big in everything you wear”, he lived on the couch for a week, but she’s never asked him that ever again… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/24 "2018-08-04T23:38:50Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > About two years ago someone pointed out to me that there is an arrow by the gas tank indicator showing the side of the care the gas tank is on. I have no idea how long this has been a thing, but I never noticed it util it was pointed out to me. I, too never knew that. I learned it here on, the dope. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/25 "2018-08-05T02:06:29Z")
I was aware of everything posted so far in this thread, but I’ve got a doozy of my own: At work one day I wanted to verify my outgoing message, so I called my desk phone from my cell phone to hear my message, then hung up. Not 5 seconds later I noticed the red light blinking on my desk phone. I said to myself, “Huh, I wonder who called?” mmm ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/26 "2018-08-05T03:08:43Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I, too never knew that. I learned it here on, the dope. > Ignorance fought. Me too. I had no idea… I didn’t know that the ring pull on cans is a straw holder, until I found out. (I once spoke to a tourist, in Sydney, Australia. He had just arrived for a holiday and had never heard of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/27 "2018-08-05T03:22:00Z")
Something something FedEx arrow. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/28 "2018-08-05T03:23:07Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I knew all along that Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, but it took me about ten years to figure out that his stage name is derived from his initials. It took me about the same time to figure out that Flo Rida is from Florida. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/29 "2018-08-05T03:29:25Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It took me about the same time to figure out that Flo Rida is from Florida. I thought he was a woman, until I saw him singing on tv. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/30 "2018-08-05T04:35:14Z")
I am sometimes stupid, but fortunately I can fall back on my rugged good looks and sexy body. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/31 "2018-08-05T05:34:12Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > One of my best friends is just a hilarious, straight-forward person, he and his wife are very happily married, he likes to tell the story about the one time she asked him that, he answered, “Your ass looks big in everything you wear”, he lived on the couch for a week, but she’s never asked him that ever again… Well, that’s probably better than mine: “No, your ass makes your ass look big.” I never noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo until someone pointed it out to me. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/32 "2018-08-05T06:40:57Z")
I have had periods of inexcusable stupidity all my life… such as the one time I registered myself for the nation’s toughest, most competitive engineering entrance exams - with zero preparation (Grade A stupidity right there). But there’s more: After leaving most of the answer sheets empty, I actually went back to check on the results. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/33 "2018-08-05T09:03:48Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It was a very long time before I realised the [mask](http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-06-29-1435561240-9161444-ScreamGhostfacemask.jpg) the killer uses in the _Scream_ movies is based on Munch’s [The Scream](https://www.edvardmunch.org/images/paintings/the-scream.jpg). It isn’t, though. It wasn’t even designed for the movie - it was a mask they found while location scouting. ([Which apparently was a pirate copy of one made by a different company.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-real-secret-origin-of-screams-ghostface-mask_us_57c68838e4b07addc40fe118)) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/34 "2018-08-05T09:39:08Z")
Oh. Well now I’m stupid for a different reason. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/35 "2018-08-05T10:27:11Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > It isn’t, though. It wasn’t even designed for the movie - it was a mask they found while location scouting. ([Which apparently was a pirate copy of one made by a different company.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-real-secret-origin-of-screams-ghostface-mask_us_57c68838e4b07addc40fe118)) I saw masks like that on people back in 1987 (11 years before the first movie came out), when I was at Gallaudet, and I spent Halloween in DC’s Georgetown district. Not exactly the same, but damned close enough that it was obvious they were modeled on the same thing. The first thing they made me think of was the cartoon _A Christmas Carol_ when Marley’s ghost takes off the cloth holding his chin up, but later, I did think of _The Scream_. I saw them on a couple of different people, but I don’t think I saw them again for a few years, although I’m pretty sure I saw them in New York before the movie came out. So they were either making it into the sort of specialty shops that you find in big cities, but not into any place you’d find in Indiana, or else they were in some catalogue like Hammacher Schlemmer, that was much better known in the east than the rest of the country. Of course, after the movie came out, you could buy them at Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/36 "2018-08-05T15:30:39Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It was 20 years before it dawned on me why ABBA is called ABBA. The full explanation is a bit more complicated. In 1973, Stig Anderson, tired of unwieldy names, started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA. At first, this was a play on words, as Abba is also the name of a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden, and itself an acronym. However, since the fish-canners were unknown outside Sweden, Anderson came to believe the name would work in international markets. A competition to find a suitable name for the group was held in a Gothenburg newspaper and it was officially announced in the summer that the group were to be known as “ABBA.” The group negotiated with the canners for the rights to the name.[33] “ABBA” is an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member’s first name: Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid. > **[ABBA | Official naming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA#Official_naming)** > > In 1973, Stig Anderson, tired of unwieldy names, started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA (a palindrome). At first, this was a play on words, as Abba is also the name of a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden, and itself an abbreviation. However, since the fish-canners were unknown outside Sweden, Anderson came to believe the name would work in international markets. A competition to find a suitable name for the group was held in a Gothenburg newspaper and it was official... j ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/37 "2018-08-05T18:41:30Z")
I was well grown before I learned that the word bedraggled has nothing to do with your sleeping furniture. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/38 "2018-08-05T18:54:21Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I was aware of everything posted so far in this thread, but I’ve got a doozy of my own: > > At work one day I wanted to verify my outgoing message, so I called my desk phone from my cell phone to hear my message, then hung up. > > Not 5 seconds later I noticed the red light blinking on my desk phone. I said to myself, “Huh, I wonder who called?” > mmm I’ve forwarded emails back to myself so they didn’t get lost in my inbox. Same thing: hey, I just got an email from someone! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/39 "2018-08-05T19:20:29Z")
I have locked myself out of stuff A LOT. It’s the family primo joke. I have out done myself a few times by locking myself in my laundry room. I know, I know, why is there a lock on the wrong side? Inside my house. Stupid. I think my contractor hated me. The last time I spent 3 hours in there. My son just came by, luckily. Mr.Wrekker disabled the lock. So I will have to find another stupid thing to do as comedy relief at family dinners. I have a feeling my recent dive off the deck will be discussed at the next event. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082/40 "2018-08-05T20:36:17Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > About two years ago someone pointed out to me that there is an arrow by the gas tank indicator showing the side of the care the gas tank is on. I have no idea how long this has been a thing, but I never noticed it util it was pointed out to me. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I, too never knew that. I learned it here on, the dope. > Ignorance fought. Maybe because it is a recent thing. My 2002 Avalanche does not have the arrow at all and the handle does not point to the side of the truck with the gas cap. My 2007 Ion does have the arrow so it became a thing maybe 12-15 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stupid-are-you/819082.md?page=3)