# 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:** 16
**Author:** ![anyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@anyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/301 "2003-07-17T19:12:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheFunkySpaceCowboy \* > **didn’t realize that Alaska is mucho larger than Texas** In all fairness, this is the result of brainwashing from maps. Alaska is always shrunk down on US maps and placed in a box. Here’s another example of map brainwashing: Until the age of twenty, I believed that _Boston was SOUTH of New York_. A college roommate from Pennsylvania set me straight. Not only did I believe this, I checked around, and most of my friends from high school believed this. (I’m from central Illinois.) Now, granted, my school system sucked, but after some analysis, I realized that there was a reason for the misconception. Since the age of six, we’re forced to look at a huge blown-up map of New England. It looks gigantic. Spend years in the Midwest staring at that thing and you believe somehow that New England takes up the same amount of space as Maine all the way down to South Carolina. And history is always New England this, New England that, the thirteen original colonies are the shit, Philly’s the bomb, etc. We always ran out of time right after World War II and right before the Korean War too. Imagine my shock when I learned that New England was a puny l’il blob as compared to the rest of the country. Of course, maps have a messy history of their own (racism, e.g., the graphical shrinking of Africa and the swelling of America, etc.). I knew squids had beaks, but I didn’t know octupus/octopi/octopuses did. And I’ve eaten both. Must not have eaten their faces. In conclusion, New York is south of Boston. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/302 "2003-07-17T19:13:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jillzy \* > \*\*Must chime in with my own list… > 2. I once spent a very painful hour trying to explain to an otherwise very intelligent friend that the “dark side of the moon” actually exists. I even used a grapefruit and a golf ball to demonstrate, but she just couldn’t/wouldn’t wrap her brain around the idea. \*\* Uh Oh.😉 Are you saying that there is a side to the moon that the sun never shines on? The earth always sees the same side of the moon. But, think about a new moon, vs. a full moon. The sun shines on oposite sides of the moon during these two events, so, no dark side of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/303 "2003-07-17T19:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Southerner \* > \*\*Here is a true story, about people not knowing something you thought everyone knew, that totally threw me for a loop. > > I knew a lady that had won a trip to London (she lives in Oklahoma) . We got to talking about the trip and I learned that she didn’t know what ocean she had to cross to get to the UK. She even admitted that she wasn’t sure she would be crossing a body of water at all. :eek: \*\* London, Texas? Well HOT DAWG! That’s a trip in and of itself. 😉 [http://www.geocities.com/london\_tx/](http://www.geocities.com/london_tx/) Or maybe London, Kentucky? Or was she actually thinking about London, England the whole time? ---
**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 17, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/304 "2003-07-17T20:09:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hoopy Frood \* > \*\* > > While I don’t know how the Passover is calculated. Easter was set by Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. as being the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21st. However, I hadn’t heard that Orthodox churches use a different method. I’m not doubting you, I just haven’t heard it.\*\* The method set by the Council of Nicea was not followed by the entire church. In the British Isles they used a different method. Pagans converted by Celtic missionaries used that one. Those converted by Augustine of Canterbury’s cohorts used Rome’s. It was a matter of some conflict, finally settled by the Council of Whitby in 664. [http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/earlychurch/whitby.html](http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/earlychurch/whitby.html) I’d always heard that Orthodox Easter dating was different–I recall a “human interest” story in the paper a few years ago about local Orthodox families buying Easter candy at a discount, because theirs was a week later, for instance–but didn’t know much more than that. A quick websearch turned this up: [http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ortheast.html](http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ortheast.html) > [@](#): > > Between AD326 and AD1582, Christianity determined Easter using an algorithm approved by a Church Council in AD325, with the equinox defined as March 21. From AD1054 (when the Orthodox and Catholic Churches split) through AD1582 both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches celebrated Easter on the same date, still using the algorithm from AD325. The Julian Calendar was used by the European (and Christan) communities until the Gregorian reform of 1582. > Since AD1582 October (when the Gregorian Calendar was adopted by much of Catholic Europe), the Orthodox Easter usually falls on dates different than the Western Christian Easter, although apparently the Churches are discussing using the same formula to determine Easter - probably a formula different than that currently used by either Church. ---
**Author:** ![jillzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@jillzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jillzy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/305 "2003-07-17T20:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Are you saying that there is a side to the moon that the sun never shines on? Silly me. That’s what I get for adding passe cultural references in a desperate attempt to sound “hipper.” I should have just stuck to what I origanally wrote (and was explaining to my friend), which was “back side of the moon.” But, IIRC, when NASA first sent astronauts back there, didn’t they refer to it as the dark side? Or is that just a hollywood fiction? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/306 "2003-07-17T21:16:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zazie \* > \*\*It is also the same guy who yelled at his mom because he couldn’t find the elbow grease under the sink, his mom had asked him to use some to do the dishes… 😉 \*\* Okay, extreme embarrassment time. I read your post and got a sinking feeling, so I looked up “elbow grease” in the dictionary and found out it meant “hard work.” I didn’t know that! I thought it was a kind of grease! :eek: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/307 "2003-07-17T21:22:44Z")
Things that people do not know about Canada: 1. That not all of Canada is really far north. I had a well-educated, fellow university student who was studying Arabic and trying to get into the American Peace Corps, if I remember. Being from Los Angeles, she was interested in the Northern Lights. She asked if she could see them from Quebec City. I said, Hmm, maybe you could, though it would be better to go somewhere darker and further north still for your best chance. Further north? she asked. Isn’t Quebec City near the Arctic Circle? :eek: No, Quebec City is more than a thousand kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. _Yellowknife and Iqaluit_ are south of the Arctic Circle, for pity’s sake. 1. People who are unaware it ever gets hot in Canada. When I was in Spain, people kept asking me, You’re from Canada? You must be burning up! Um, actually, today it’s hotter in Montreal than in Madrid, but thanks for your concern. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/308 "2003-07-17T21:25:56Z")
matt\_mcl, you’re too cute! ---
**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 17, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/309 "2003-07-17T21:47:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Things that people do not know about Canada: > > 1. That not all of Canada is really far north. I had a well-educated, fellow university student who was studying Arabic and trying to get into the American Peace Corps, if I remember. Being from Los Angeles, she was interested in the Northern Lights. She asked if she could see them from Quebec City. I said, Hmm, maybe you could, though it would be better to go somewhere darker and further north still for your best chance. > > Further north? she asked. Isn’t Quebec City near the Arctic Circle? > \*\* Reminds me of a woman i was speaking to in Wisconsin once. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but i made a casual comment about the fact that we were north of certain parts of Ontario. This woman refused point blank to believe me, stating with absolute certainty: “North of Canada? There’s nothing north of Canada.” > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by anyi_ > **Spend years in the Midwest staring at that thing and you believe somehow that New England takes up the same amount of space as Maine all the way down to South Carolina. And history is always New England this, New England that, the thirteen original colonies are the shit, Philly’s the bomb, etc.** You do realise that Philly isn’t in New England, right? ---
**Author:** ![anyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@anyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/310 "2003-07-17T22:15:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*You do realise that Philly isn’t in New England, right? \*\* Yes. It’s a thirteen original colony. Poor sentence structure. ---
**Author:** ![anyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@anyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/311 "2003-07-17T22:17:17Z")
Or rather, _in_ one of the thirteen original colonies. “Shout 'em, scout 'em, tell all about 'em . . .” ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/312 "2003-07-17T23:46:54Z")
One of my primary school teachers (when I was about 10) told us in all seriousness that the death toll of World War One was so great in comparison with other wars that every day of World War One as many soldiers died as died in the whole of World War Two. Teaching young children does not require a great deal of knowledge. ---
**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 18, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/313 "2003-07-18T00:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by refusal \* > \*\*One of my primary school teachers (when I was about 10) told us in all seriousness that the death toll of World War One was so great in comparison with other wars that every day of World War One as many soldiers died as died in the whole of World War Two. Teaching young children does not require a great deal of knowledge. \*\* [nitpick] _Teaching_ young children does require knowledge. Feeding them bullshit, however, does not. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/314 "2003-07-18T00:51:43Z")
I almost forgot. First class, first day of college. Econ 101 (or equiv). TA reads the roster and asks if my parents are so-and-so from my home town, where she just moved from as well for her first Grad School year. (I also look a LOT like my mom and am often mistaken for her). I agree, she asks me to say hi for her, and proceeds on with her opening lecture. She proceeds to give the usual “why fire engines are red” schpeil (sp?) and when she’s done, the class is quiet. Finally I raised my hand and said “what about places where fire engines _aren’t_ red?”. She asked, “Where _aren’t_ they red.” All I could think of to say (though I didn’t answer) was, “Sesame Street” (did I mention I was not necessarily well travelled then?). Someone else who had been in town longer piped in “well, here for one”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/315 "2003-07-18T01:12:55Z")
Once, I was in a lecture of mixed francophone and anglophone students. A handful, like me, were bilingual. It was a lecture on Space Law, as a subset of International Law. The lecturer, a young french-speaker, lecturing in English, kept talking about how important to the discussion the city of “La Haye” was. All sorts of agreements were signed there, and there was an international dispute-resolving body there. No one seemed to recognize the city, and I figured it must be because they were used to hearing the name it’s usually called in their own language. I put my hand up, trying to be helpful (and also, secretly, fearing I’d lose marks on the test if I spelled it right). “Sir,” I said, trying to sound polite and not stuck-up, “just so people know, the English name for La Haye is ‘The Hague’.” The instructor disagreed, people muttered to themselves, and one guy yelled out “Names don’t change with language, _somethingsomething_” I was about to respond, but was laughed down, and the instructor made it clear it was time to move on. I wrote “The Hague” on the English version of the test. I believe it was the only question I got wrong. :mad: _Mutters to himself about how far London is from Londres, Allemagne from Deutschland from Germany, and whether John Paul the second will have dinner with Jean-Paul deux._ ---
**Author:** ![ravnostic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@ravnostic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravnostic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/316 "2003-07-18T01:38:17Z")
Boy what a great read this has been! I knew about beaks and Luther and most of the other stuff; had heard of Jack but didn’t know the name. I work at a college store, and get a few god ones from our students of higher learning. I’ve sold a new shrunkwrapped book and was asked if it would have any highlighting. I’ve said ‘I’m sorry, I only have new books in stock’ and have immediately been asked ‘do you have any used copies’ (helloooo!) One particular school we serve has somehow cornered the worst of the bunch, they come in to buy their books but never bring a schedule of what they’re taking. ‘I’ll know it if I see it,’ sez they. I point to the 4000 sq. foot store and say ‘get started’. Then I give them a course schedule to find what they’re taking. And it happens over and over with the same students–I use to think they’d get a clue, but perhaps not (7 years, no clue yet.) I forget his tag name, but the guy/gal with the sig. of “God…co-pilot…ate him” cracked me up with that one. I’ll have to visit more often. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/317 "2003-07-18T01:39:21Z")
When I was in grade 12, my Social Studies teacher was lecturing us on the evils of the United States (this is in Canada). She said, “The United States is the only country to drop an atomic bomb on an innocent country.” I said, “Well, they were at war with Japan…” Teacher: “No they were not!” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I said, “Remember Pearl Harbor?” She thought for a moment, and said, “Okay, technically they were at war, but it was just a tiny part of World War II, and Japan was no threat to anyone.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor again, I said, “Do you have any idea how many Americans were killed taking Okinawa? How about Iwo Jima?” Her answer to that was to throw me out of her class. ---
**Author:** ![ravnostic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@ravnostic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravnostic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/318 "2003-07-18T01:39:23Z")
Pardon my mispellings! ---
**Author:** ![ravnostic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@ravnostic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravnostic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/319 "2003-07-18T01:40:26Z")
That one, two! Oh, hell! ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/320 "2003-07-18T01:54:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*Out of curiosity, where would one find such instructions? I don’t recall seeing any document that required you to write in cursive. \*\* Fill out a form at your local hospital. They’ll ask ou to print your name (on the left of the form, say) and on the right, to write your name. I can well appreciate the fact that folks know from nothing about ‘cursive’ but in general, people are rather stupid.I have seen on-the-street interviews (The Learning Channel or The Discovery Channel) in which people in their 20’s and seemingly bright were asked no-brainer questions. Not a friggin’ clue. My daughter, in Spfld Mass enroute to UMASS asked a gas station attendant if “…this was the right route to Amherst”? The attendant asked, “Is Amherst another state?” Honest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=17)