# I'm surprised EVERYONE can't... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231 "2019-10-24T12:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/and_his_buzzer_goes/32/377_2.png) [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_his_buzzer_goes)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/141 "2019-10-29T13:34:53Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > As someone who was forced to learn that “writing” system back in the 70s and has always struggled with reading it, I gotta ask why it surprises you? It’s a terrible writing system even when done neatly and “legibly” as a font on a machine. Half the letters don’t look anything like the print version which has always (during my lifetime) been far more prevalent. It’s the exact opposite around here. Kids in kindergarden write in print, once you go to a “real” school you’re expected to use “curly” letters. I was really surpised to learn writing cursive is uncommon in the US. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/142 "2019-10-29T14:03:09Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Spell. I am a voracious reader so I’m very good when it comes to spelling. Probably not last-round-spelling-bee good, but spelling errors leap off the page to me. > > I’ve run across people who can’t seem to figure out that that June is the sixth month, July is the seventh month, etc. They have to do that knuckle-counting thing. I also know how many days each month has but some people don’t. I’m one of those who do the knuckle-counting things. It is not to figure out that July is the 7th month, but to figure out that July has 31 days. I’m surprised everyone can’t turn a computer, or computer ran device, off and back on again before calling tech support. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/143 "2019-10-30T02:58:47Z")
I can’t believe everyone can’t read Roman numerals! So much information is lost to those who can’t. How does one go through life not being able to read the dates on old Looney Tunes and Three Stooges shorts? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/144 "2019-10-30T03:16:37Z")
> [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](#): > > I was really surpised to learn writing cursive is uncommon in the US. As far as I can tell, cursive writing was pretty close to universally taught in U.S. schools when I was a kid, in the 1970s, but seemed to have been dropped by a lot of schools in the decades that followed, especially as kids began learning keyboard skills during grade school, with the apparent supposition among educators that cursive writing was becoming unneeded. But, a few articles I found suggest that [teaching of cursive is starting to come back](https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/12/us/cursive-is-coming-back-trnd/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/145 "2019-10-30T10:26:43Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > …I’m surprised everyone can’t… roll their R’s. When my kids were little, my older son asked me how to do that, so I made the sound and told him you just do it. What’s the problem with that? Then my wife informed me that she can’t do it either. I said “you just say ‘dddddd’” (or however you transcribe the sound). My wife and son made some pathetic sound like “luh luh luh luh luh.” > > My wife grew up in El Paso. She took Spanish as a foreign language. And when they played guns as kids, how did they make the machine gun sound? My mind was boggled. I’m pretty sure this is a genetic thing. Like rolling one’s tongue. Or the hitchhiker’s thumb. Some people can, and some people cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/146 "2019-10-30T11:03:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Ah, the difference between pilotage and ded reckoning. > > “Pilotage” is the landmark thing: go down the road until you get to the big maple tree, turn towards the red barn, drive until you see the Wal-Mart. > > “Ded reckoning” is by cardinal directions and distances: go 20 miles east, turn south, drive 5 miles and make a right into the parking lot of Wal-Mart > > As a VERY broad generalization - women _tend_ to favor pilotage. Men _tend_ to favor ded reckoning. There are all sorts of theories why that may be, but your wife is an example of that generalization. There’s also cultural differences: people who grew up with cardinal-oriented grids and with roads that are labeled with cardinal points (whether actually going in that direction or not) are likely to use cardinal directions (“turn east”); people who didn’t are more likely to use relative directions (“turn left”). Now add laterality problems, and you get “turn towards the red barn”. > [@CurtC](#): > > My wife grew up in El Paso. She took Spanish as a foreign language. And when they played guns as kids, how did they make the machine gun sound? My mind was boggled. We write it _ratatatá_, it’s mostly /t/s. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/147 "2019-10-30T11:11:46Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > My wife grew up in El Paso. She took Spanish as a foreign language. And when they played guns as kids, how did they make the machine gun sound? My mind was boggled. We write it _ratatatá_, it’s mostly /t/s. But from what you say, your wife happens to have a _defecto de frenillo_ (apparently the English for it is frenulum defect or [ankyloglossia](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tongue-tie/symptoms-causes/syc-20378452)). I had a teacher who pronounced his own name as Doctod Idudde (his son eventually became Doctod Idudde as well); naming a child Roberto, Ricardo or similar in that family should count as cruelty. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/148 "2019-10-30T14:22:22Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As far as I can tell, cursive writing was pretty close to universally taught in U.S. schools when I was a kid, in the 1970s, but seemed to have been dropped by a lot of schools in the decades that followed, especially as kids began learning keyboard skills during grade school, with the apparent supposition among educators that cursive writing was becoming unneeded. > > But, a few articles I found suggest that [teaching of cursive is starting to come back](https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/12/us/cursive-is-coming-back-trnd/index.html). Whenever schools try to get rid of it, a bunch of old curmudgeons stamp their feet and demand that it be retained. There are a bunch of hilariously bogus arguments for why it needs to be taught (like that we’ll forget what the Declaration of Independence says, or business will grind to a halt once nobody knows how to sign their name, if children aren’t forced to learn D’Nealian Cursive), but the reasons aren’t important, because it’s actually just another reactionary backlash to change in education. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/149 "2019-10-30T14:56:56Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Were you traveling across a time zone while cooking? Did it take you exactly 24 hours to make it? Or did you already cook that, and she just happened to ask you for a specific meal which you had just placed on the table? I’m really not sure which of these you did. > I’m surprised everyone can’t… roll their R’s. When my kids were little, my older son asked me how to do that, so I made the sound and told him you just do it. What’s the problem with that? Then my wife informed me that she can’t do it either. I said “you just say ‘dddddd’” (or however you transcribe the sound). My wife and son made some pathetic sound like “luh luh luh luh luh.” > > My wife grew up in El Paso. She took Spanish as a foreign language. And when they played guns as kids, how did they make the machine gun sound? My mind was boggled. Imitating accents of languages not your native one seems to me to be somewhat innate, sort of an auditory permeability that some folks just do not have. I seem to have inherited the ability from my Dad. It’s like that neural pathway closes off for many people but not everyone. Different than actually learning a language. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/150 "2019-10-30T17:38:38Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Also, why do so many people accept that drilling through the center of the earth from my mid-Atlantic US location would bring you to China? It’s more like northwestern Australia. Why would our opposite point be in the northern hemisphere, if we’re already in the northern hemisphere? A person who doesn’t understand the “drilling through the center of the Earth” thing also probably doesn’t have a grasp of hemispheres and basic geography. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/151 "2019-10-30T19:02:49Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Half the letters don’t look anything like the print version which has always (during my lifetime) been far more prevalent. Glad it’s going away. This comment confuses me. All the letters look like what would happen if you printed the letters, but didn’t pick up your pen. That said, North could be anywhere. The thing that I’m frequently surprised about is IKEA furniture. They’re easy. They’re step-by-step. They don’t even use words, but pictures that very clearly indicate what to do and how and in what order. It doesn’t seem like there should be confusion, but clearly there is. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/152 "2019-10-30T19:31:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t believe everyone can’t read Roman numerals! So much information is lost to those who can’t. How does one go through life not being able to read the dates on old Looney Tunes and Three Stooges shorts? You must love the fact that some watch/clock makers have resorted to using “IIII” for “IV”. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/153 "2019-10-30T23:56:52Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > You must love the fact that some watch/clock makers have resorted to using “IIII” for “IV”. On “77 Sunset Strip” I can manage to tell if the episode were made in 1958, 1959, or 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/154 "2019-10-31T05:40:35Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > You must love the fact that some watch/clock makers have resorted to using “IIII” for “IV”. That’s [normal for clocks.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/public-clocks-do-a-number-on-roman-numerals/2011/11/04/gIQAenKllM_blog.html) ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/155 "2019-10-31T14:10:27Z")
Recognize obvious scams. There’s no Nigerian prince who needs help. A banker doesn’t need your help moving 10 million in gold out of the country. And that phone call from the Feds who want your banking info or they’ll press charges against you for drug trafficking? Yeah, that’s a scam, too. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/156 "2019-10-31T15:34:08Z")
I’m surprised not everyone knows how to check in for a flight online. This is primarily directed at my husband, who is a software architect. He actually builds these systems himself. Yet I still have to walk him through the online check in process anytime he boards a flight. I’m also surprised by people who reach adulthood without being able to cook a meal. I guess in larger cities that’s not always required, but I’ve met a surprising number of people who have no idea how to cook something so they don’t have to order out, even scrambled eggs. Similarly I don’t understand how someone could also reach adulthood without learning basic cleaning skills. If you had servants maybe, but even just watching your parents clean should give you enough information you could figure it out. Right?! ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/157 "2019-10-31T19:03:00Z")
My husband is amazed that I can convert fractions to decimals and back with ease. To 32nds. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/158 "2019-10-31T23:19:10Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Recognize obvious scams. > > There’s no Nigerian prince who needs help. A banker doesn’t need your help moving 10 million in gold out of the country. And that phone call from the Feds who want your banking info or they’ll press charges against you for drug trafficking? Yeah, that’s a scam, too. I once saw an interview with a guy who said he knew it probably was a scam, but maybe it was real so it was worth a shot. He compared it to buying a lottery ticket–most times you lose, but sometimes you win big. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/159 "2019-10-31T23:31:51Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > I’m also surprised by people who reach adulthood without being able to cook a meal. I guess in larger cities that’s not always required, but I’ve met a surprising number of people who have no idea how to cook something so they don’t have to order out, even scrambled eggs. > > Similarly I don’t understand how someone could also reach adulthood without learning basic cleaning skills. If you had servants maybe, but even just watching your parents clean should give you enough information you could figure it out. Right?! Ok, ok, #NotAllMen and all that, but I am constantly surprised at the number of men who at this late date are still raised in households where cooking and cleaning and laundry and dishes, etc., is still considered “women’s work” and make it to adulthood without developing not only the skills, but the sense that these are things they can and should do. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231/160 "2019-10-31T23:38:25Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > My husband is amazed that I can convert fractions to decimals and back with ease. To 32nds. 😃 In your head? I mean it’s dead easy to work out on paper, but I couldn’t tell you what 3/32 is in decimal, for example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-surprised-everyone-cant/842231.md?page=9)