# It frightens me that people don't know these things **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207 "2003-06-25T03:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/221 "2003-07-01T16:40:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > **Maybe it would be useful for someone who used Celcius (or Fahrenheit) all the time, and was suddenly confronted with a temperature measurement in the other scale.** One day last December my wife’s aunt in Rio told her on the phone that it had been over 45 degrees there for several days. That temperature is totally meaningless to me: water won’t freeze or boil, but that’s about all I can tell. I did the 9/5 and add 32 business and got quite a surprise: 113F :eek:. That’s why I don’t go there in their summer. ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/222 "2003-07-01T17:07:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bafaa \* > \*\* > > My girlfriend, who has TWO college degrees and is very smart (or so I thought! :)), did not know what a tome was. I guess it’s not a big deal but I was shocked she’d never even heard the word. \*\* Which reminds me of the gentleman I met who was working on a PhD in philosophy. During the course of the conversation I used the word “juxtaposition” and recieved a “huh?” and a puzzled expression in return. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it except that I sort of expect a certain level of vocabulary from a grad student in a field like philosophy. And later, the friend who’d introduced me to this guy told me she’d caught him short with the word “surly.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/223 "2003-07-01T17:36:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheFunkySpaceCowboy \* > \*\*What people don’t know about Alaska often astounds and frightens me. > > 1)\*\* People don’ t know that Alaska is part of the US \*\* - While I was living in Anchorage I have heard tourists ask if stores “take American money” , while travelling in the lower 48 (slang for the 48 contiguous states) I’ve had people ask me if I needed a passport to visit the US and if they would need one to visit Alaska. > > 1. \*\* The size and location of the state \*\* I’ve met many people, including one very well educated young woman I know didn’t realize that Alaska is mucho larger than Texas, though she did know Alaska was part of the US and even that Juneau is the capital so I cut her some slack. > > 2. \*\* Basic knowledge of climate in general \*\* I’ve also met a fair number of people who didn’t understand the bit about extreme northern and southern regions of the planet getting wild seasonal flucuations in daylight hours. I can’t even begin to keep track of how many times I’ve been asked “does it really stay dark all winter and light all summer up there?” More than once I’ve met people who were shocked and amazed to learn that it isn’t snowing in Alaska all year round. > > 3. \*\* That Alaska has earthquakes \*\* It really suprises me that most people outside of the state have never heard of the '64 earthquake, it’s only the largest US earthquake (9.2) ever recorded. In fact the four largest earthquakes in US history took place in Alaska, but most people seem to think that all seismic activity in the US happens in California. > > There’s a whole lot more but those four are the ones I’ve encountered the most and are the things that I consider to be very basic bits of knowledge most American adults should know. Everything on that list I knew ('cept the bit about the '64 quake being the largest, I knew AK had earthquakes though) before my family moved up there 11 years ago, and I was only 14! Ack. \*\* Pay no attention to Funky. We’re not part of the US and the monetary system is incomprehensible. We serve blubber in all the restaurants and have gigantic earthquakes on a daily basis and there is **no** , repeat **no** reason to move here for any sort of permanent residency and no, we don’t get a check every year from the oil revenues and yes it’s dark all the time so if you live in Cracker Holler, USA just STAY there, okay? Unless you just want to come for a few days to spend some tourist dollars, then we welcome you with open arms. Damn you, Funky, for spilling the goddamn beans. ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/224 "2003-07-07T03:15:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nicky \* > \*\*I’m baffled - why insist on cursive instead of printing? > > The only reason I can think of is graphology - which is, of course, total horsehit. \*\* There’s a statement on the SATs that you must write out and sign as though it were a legal document–which means cursive. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/225 "2003-07-07T04:49:00Z")
Many applications for employment require that the applicant print their information as opposed to cursive. When an application says print, I print. And when this happens, the interviewer always asks me why I printed this information. I never have gotten a job from one of these companies, because the manager/interviewer (whatever) thinks I am being a smart-ass when I show him it is on the application. Things like this amaze me too. I know that octopi & squids have beaks… ---
**Author:** ![suezeekay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@suezeekay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suezeekay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/226 "2003-07-07T15:56:38Z")
I once mentioned to a friend in the context of some conversation about the gravitational pull of the moon causing ocean tides, and he was astounded and didn’t believe me. I graduated from high school in 1960 and I have found that I know a lot of things younger people don’t know, like the boiling point of water, and how to find the length of one side of an equilateral triangle or how much pi is. I write notes to myself all the time and they are in cursive; I never even through that some people might print everything. Maybe this is because I didn’t grow up with computers. Also, for most of my life only women knew how to type. The older men I worked with were in trouble when our agency became computerized and finally had to be threatened with their jobs if they didn’t learn how to type instead of bullying the women into doing it for them. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/227 "2003-07-07T16:43:24Z")
I’ve got the TV news on behind me, and they’re talking about an operation being done on a pair of adult Siamese twins and how the same vein supplies both their brains with blood. IANAD, but isn’t blood normally supplied by _arteries_? ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/228 "2003-07-07T18:00:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\*I’ve got the TV news on behind me, and they’re talking about an operation being done on a pair of adult Siamese twins and how the same vein supplies both their brains with blood. > > IANAD, but isn’t blood normally supplied by _arteries_? \*\* IANAD either, but you are correct. You may have misheard; I believe they said the rerouted the vein that _drains_ the brain’s blood. Although if you want to get terribly specific, blood is supplied originally from the bone marrow… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/229 "2003-07-07T18:13:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fishbicycle \* > **My cousin Joe used to work on the US-Canada border crossing. It is absolutely true that every summer, a surprisingly large number of ignoramus Americans from the south (-east or -west) drive up to the border with skiis on the roof, asking how far they have to drive to find snow.** Not only is this a ridiculous urban myth, but it doesn’t even make sense on the face of it. An American **who was enough of a skiier to invest hundreds and hundreds of dollars into ski equipment** would know about the climate of the place he was going, because he would be looking for MOUNTAINS, not ski hills. Skiiers do not randomly drive around in the hopes of running into a mountain. This is the oldest and dumbest urban myth in Canada Either you made this up or your cousin did. > [@](#): > > (I just checked, it was 40 degrees in Alert today.) I assume you mean 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the usual temperature in Alert in July. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/230 "2003-07-07T18:26:34Z")
Excuse me… he’d be looking for mountains OR ski hills, not just countries. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/231 "2003-07-07T18:33:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \* > **IANAD either, but you are correct. You may have misheard; I believe they said the rerouted the vein that _drains_ the brain’s blood.** The newsperson did say “vein” and “supplies”, although it’s not unreasonable to assume they misspoke. ---
**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 7, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/232 "2003-07-07T19:07:28Z")
1. Way back when I was in college, a roommate laughed at me for wearing a black t-shirt to bed on a hot night with no AC. He thought dark clothing made you hotter, even in total darkness. 2, I’m one of the millions of Americans without health insurance. On a recent visit to the opthalmologist, he wondered why it said “self-pay” on the top of my chart. He couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t have insurance. 1. My mother can’t understand the difference between a driver’s licence and car registration. She thinks you have to have the car inspected to renew your license, and you have to take an eye test to renew the registration. 2. At work, we were discussing the difference between a low-calorie diet (in which you’re allowed a certain amount of carbohydrates) and the Atkins diet (in which you’re allowed a certain amount of fat). One co-worker surmised that if you eat lots of carbs and lots of fat, you’d lose weight twice as fast. 3. I know someone who thinks the TV remote has to be pointed at the TV whenever it’s on - that the signal actually passes through the remote. 4. When I moved from a 2-bedroom New York apartment to a house in Ohio, my new neighbors were amazed that I needed a moving van, that I couldn’t carry everything I owned in a few suitcases. 5. It’s amazing how many people think that: a) all gay men enjoy anal sex; b) all lesbians enjoy oral sex; c) in a gay relationship, one is the “man” and the other is the “woman;” and d) if you’re celebate you can’t be gay. 6. I know someone who swears that ocean waves travel toward the shore while the tide is rising, and away from the shore while the tide is falling - otherwise the water would accumulate on all the continents and we’d all drown. 7. A friend of mine thought that each of the state quarters is legal tender only in that particular state. 8. I used to work for someone who, when he got his first computer, thought the mouse was a foot pedal. But I have to admit it was a long time before I found out how women urinate, and how birds’ eggs are fertilized. And I still don’t know about chick tracts (but from what I’ve heard here, I’m better off). ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/233 "2003-07-07T19:08:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > **Not only is this a ridiculous urban myth, but it doesn’t even make sense on the face of it…This is the oldest and dumbest urban myth in Canada. Either you made this up or your cousin did.** You crawled out of the woodwork to attempt to publicly embarrass me (a total stranger) by stating unequivocally that events which I have personally witnessed are fiction? And to imply that I would invent a lie and post it in a public forum? For what gain? To piss you off? How dare you? Not only do you require remedial tutoring in social intercourse, some manners might help as well. If all else fails, there is a good quote that has served many for a very long time: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/234 "2003-07-07T19:20:15Z")
In my massage therapy class, one of the newer students was causing me horrific pain by going really rough on the outside of my thighs (I have terrible sciatica). I repeatedly told her, " go easy on my sciatic nerve, it’s really sensitive. Go easy on my sciatic nerve, you’re hurting me, go easy on my sciatic nerve…" Finally the instructor came over to find out why, after repeated requests, she wasn’t taking any care to be gentle around my sciatic nerve. Turns out she didn’t know what a sciatic nerve was. Huh? I learned this in health class in high school-the teacher was giving us the lecture about you shouldn’t wear tight jeans because it can put pressure on the sciatic nerve and cause pain… Just about everybody I know who has ever had to do any kind of physical work for a living knows what it is because low-back problems that cause sciatic pain are so common that most folks know someone who suffers from it. The worst part, though, was that this ignorant bitch continued to torture me rather than ask what I meant by “sciatic nerve” so she could use a lighter stroke on the area or avoid it altogether. This goes beyond ingnorance into willful stupidity. 'Course, this girl was also a walking hostility pit- mad at the world, and everyone in it. Great material for someone going into a healing profession. Fortunately for her potential victims, she didn’t make it past the second week of school. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/235 "2003-07-07T19:22:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > \*\* > > 1. At work, we were discussing the difference between a low-calorie diet (in which you’re allowed a certain amount of carbohydrates) and the Atkins diet (in which you’re allowed a certain amount of fat). One co-worker surmised that if you eat lots of carbs and lots of fat, you’d lose weight twice as fast. > > 2. I know someone who thinks the TV remote has to be pointed at the TV whenever it’s on - that the signal actually passes through the remote. > > 3. I know someone who swears that ocean waves travel toward the shore while the tide is rising, and away from the shore while the tide is falling - otherwise the water would accumulate on all the continents and we’d all drown. > > 4. A friend of mine thought that each of the state quarters is legal tender only in that particular state. > \*\* I found these to be particularly amazing. The winner is the remote one though. Or maybe the carbs/fat one. Or the quarter one. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![sweet\_contradiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sweet\_contradiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweet_contradiction)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/236 "2003-07-07T20:39:31Z")
“…anyone who claims to be a Christian after about 1500 or so not to know who Martin Luther was. Hell, it’s pretty scary to know that anyone in the Western world after about 1500 or so not to know who Martin Luther was, his little revolt having such a massive effect on the subsequent history of the world.” Shoot…he even has his own bobble head!! $11.99 at Target ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/237 "2003-07-07T20:55:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*It’s good to see you back in this thread anyway, **Dogface** ; i was beginning to miss you. I notice you abandoned your argument about the popular vote in the 2000 Presidential election very quickly and very quietly. It’s a bit depressing to march into a thread all self-righteous and belligerent, and then find out you were wrong, isn’t it? Once again, the OP’s thread title demonstrates its relevance. > \*\* Yes, and it’s quit something to be the sort of jackass you are and reduce everything to a personal slam. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/238 "2003-07-07T21:15:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Yes, and it’s quite something to be the sort of jackass you are and reduce everything to a personal slam. \*\* Well, let’s review the evidence, shall we? **Evil Captor** sort of got the ball rolling. > [@](#): > > _Evil Captor_ > \*\*I once was talking with two administrative assistants who had been using computers to do word processing for several years. When in the course of our conversation I mentioned the “Save As” button, they asked me, “Yeah, I’ve never used it. What’s it for?” > > I mean, there’s a REASON so many people voted for Bush.\*\* Admittedly, this was a rather gratuitous injection of politics into the thread, but it’s something you could have chosen to ignore. Instead, you went on the attack: > [@](#): > > _Dogface_ > **And nearly as many voted for Gore. Obviously stupidity causes Democratism.** Not only were you belligerent, but you were wrong. I tried to point this out: > [@](#): > > _mhendo_ > \*\*[nitpick] > > Actually, more people voted for Gore. > > (And no, this is not some sort of whine about the 2000 election. It’s simply a fact that Gore won the popular vote.) > > [/nitpcik]\*\* Note that i was not in any way insulting or personal here. I just wanted to make the point that, while Bush might have won the electoral college, Gore actually won the popular vote. This post was perfectly appropriate to the thread, because i was indeed rather surprised that anyone in the United States (are you in the US? I may be wrong about this) would not know this, given the amount of publicity generated by the 2000 presidential election. You then marched in with a bald-faced assertion, backed up by no evidence. > [@](#): > > _Dogface_ > \*\*Rubbish. Gore lost the popular vote. Bush won it. It all depends on which count you use. > > If you don’t want to get into the matter, then you shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.\*\* Not only are you apparently ignorant of the facts of the election, you also had the gall to say that if i didn’t want to get into the matter, i shouldn’t have brought it up. This last sentence is rather rich, given your subsequent refusal to argue your case or concede your own ignorance on the matter. I then posted a long piece, with citations from seven different sources, including the Federal Election Commission, showing that Gore did indeed win the popular vote. And no more was heard from you on the matter. Having been arrogant and rude, you then lacked the courage to either argue your case intelligently or concede that you were wrong. And then, to top it all off, you call me a jackass in a forum where personal abuse i prohibited. You’re doing well, there, reactionary boy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/239 "2003-07-08T19:30:39Z")
Now, look, if’n y’all are gonna fuss, go do it in another thread. ---
**Author:** ![Moeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@Moeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moeman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/240 "2003-07-09T14:22:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thea Logica \* > \*\*Sooo, the Squid Mafia “tags” the corpes of the people the beaked for Witnessing by leaving Chick Tracts on them, and littering their graves with seashells that tiny sea creatures carved from stone on February 29th of every year? > > How does Martin Luther fit into all of this? \*\* Doncha know he is the One. The one meat handler that is running the Squid Mafia from an unsanitary fast food joint. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=13)