# In what subjects is your ignorance profound? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231 "2016-07-18T18:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/1 "2016-07-18T18:19:56Z")
> [@Will Rogers](#): > > “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” > [@Confucius](#): > > “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” > [@Anonymous](#): > > “In order to know that one knows nothing one must first know quite a bit.” Okay, so we’re all ignorant. But in what subjects do you have no clue whatsoever? I’ll start: - 7th Century Vietnamese history - how to calibrate a Fischer isoscope - conversational swahili ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/2 "2016-07-18T18:25:12Z")
I have no idea how to play Bridge. I can’t read sheet music at all. I couldn’t tell you the name of even one politician in Latvia. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/3 "2016-07-18T18:31:32Z")
Maths. Remembering peoples’ names. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/4 "2016-07-18T18:53:09Z")
Printing and lithography ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/5 "2016-07-18T19:22:36Z")
Um…tons? ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/6 "2016-07-18T19:24:53Z")
Chemistry, I don’t get it at all. I can not wrap my head around it and never have been able to. I passed my classes but just, don’t, get, it. I was married to a woman who had a Ph. D in chemistry and she thought I was stupid because I didn’t get it. I’ve come to terms that I will never get it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/7 "2016-07-18T19:27:29Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > Chemistry, I don’t get it at all. I can not wrap my head around it and never have been able to. I passed my classes but just, don’t, get, it. I was married to a woman who had a Ph. D in chemistry and she thought I was stupid because I didn’t get it. I’ve come to terms that I will never get it. Ooo, chemistry was fine, it was _organic_ chemistry that kicked my ass. Trying to make sense out of all of those chemical constructs, and worse yet, trying to care, I hated that. I still don’t fully understand why I have to know the exact molecular layout of atoms and molecules to be a ophthalmologist, or some other 9-to-5 type of doctor. I doubt my ophthalmologist ever has to know those things from memory! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/8 "2016-07-18T19:43:11Z")
Many of the arts, like architecture or sculpture. I couldn’t fix a car to save my life. Most history that isn’t US or European. And most pop culture that is newer than, say, twenty years or so. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/9 "2016-07-18T19:48:16Z")
How to fix a car. How to fix most things. Music theory (ironic since I’m a musician) Stocks, bonds and investments. Parliamentary government. Most world religions. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/10 "2016-07-18T19:49:19Z")
Higher level math. I understand how to plug numbers into a formula and all the things normal people need to do on a daily basis. Those that can think of math like another language may as well be aliens to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/11 "2016-07-18T19:54:17Z")
Electromagnetism. Physics was always my lousiest subject, and there’s something about equations for electricity and magnetism that just doesn’t flippin’ make sense to me. Circuits usually don’t make sense, either, and that’s a crying shame, because my “day job” is stuffing circuit boards for my husband, who designs audio equipment. Fortunately I don’t have to understand what I’m doing, I just have to put the right resistor in the right spot. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/12 "2016-07-18T20:13:38Z")
Women. Bulgarian Literature. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/13 "2016-07-18T20:15:13Z")
The inner workings of the internet, the code involved, how hackers exploit that, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/14 "2016-07-18T20:27:27Z")
Most everything as I am not very smart. However, more specifically: - Geography. I couldn’t tell you where Latvia was on a map and can barely tell you where things are in my own state. - Math. Just hell no. - Health Stuff. This is actually an interesting one to me because I don’t know if it’s me being ignorant because I’m not a health nut, or me thinking I’m ignorant because the health nuts I know are so pushy about things that I don’t know if what they’re quoting me is actually fact or just “the internet says…” - Cooking. I hate cooking with a passion (I don’t even really like eating), so I have no idea what a reduction is, or the point of charring etc, etc. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/15 "2016-07-18T20:39:28Z")
The things that people sit and do for hours on their phones. What the hell are they doing? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/16 "2016-07-18T20:40:38Z")
I couldn’t possibly recite the full list, as I am surely ignorant of things I don’t even know enough about to know I’m ignorant of them. I’m ignorant of my level of ignorance. I do, however, know that I am ignorant of the rules of pinochle. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/17 "2016-07-18T21:39:39Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Women. Yeah. I didn’t find any cliff-notes either. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/18 "2016-07-18T22:38:52Z")
Team sports. I know the basic aim of most sports: get the ball in here, throw the ball, kick the ball, stop someone else from doing something. That’s about as far as I go. I can follow a baseball game, but am useless with other sports. Not that I care, either. Oh, and Potent Potables for $800, Alex. (I don’t drink.) ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/19 "2016-07-19T00:58:22Z")
> [@](#): > > The things that people sit and do for hours on their phones. What the hell are they doing? Ditto. ??? i also can’t clean things. I try but they always end up stained and smeared or covered with dust or something. I can put on clean clothes and end up magically dirty within .02 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231/20 "2016-07-19T01:17:15Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The things that people sit and do for hours on their phones. What the hell are they doing? Their favorite message board? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-subjects-is-your-ignorance-profound/760231.md?page=2)