# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/61 "2003-06-25T15:59:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\* Pssst! Shavuot _is_ Pentecost – just different languages ie/ “Pesach” = “Passover” . It’s also known as the “Feast of Weeks.” Pentecost is, IIRC, the Greek name for the same holiday. \*\* No, Shavuot is a Jewish holiday. It celebrates the giving of the Torah. Pentecost is a Christian holiday. I’m not sure exactly what it celebrates, but its origin is described in the New Testament, as mentioned earlier in the thread. I guess they occur at the same time, but they’re different holidays. Passover and Easter occur at the same time too, but they aren’t the same holiday. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/62 "2003-06-25T16:14:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*And nearly as many voted for Gore. Obviously stupidity causes Democratism. \*\* [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] ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/63 "2003-06-25T16:51:59Z")
Unlike some, there are very very few facts that I expect _everyone_ to know, and it doesn’t frighten me to find people who don’t know stuff. In another similar thread, somebody met a woman who didn’t know that it only snows where it’s cold (and I know I simplify). Also, someone who thought the sun and the moon were the same thing, but you called it something different depending on if it was day or night. _Those_ would really surprise me. I had a similar experience recently, though; it didn’t frighten me, but it did enlighten me. I explained to a science-minded friend of mine that you can see the Milky Way from his house, but not from mine, because I live in a city. He said, “Wait a minute. I thought we were in the Milky Way galaxy. How can we see what we’re inside of?” For those who don’t know, the Milky Way is a white smeared band across the sky, comprised of stars in the disk of our galaxy. Our galaxy itself is named after this. If you go outside at night far from a city, it’s really hard to miss. I look up every time I go outside, so to me it was like not knowing of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/64 "2003-06-25T18:38:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*No, Shavuot is a Jewish holiday. It celebrates the giving of the Torah. Pentecost is a Christian holiday. I’m not sure exactly what it celebrates, but its origin is described in the New Testament, as mentioned earlier in the thread. I guess they occur at the same time, but they’re different holidays. Passover and Easter occur at the same time too, but they aren’t the same holiday. \*\* Perhaps them I’ve been misunderstanding sources. Although “Pentecost” first appeared in Greek in a New Testament, I understood that is was still referring to the closing festival of the Passover season as described [here](http://biblicalholidays.com/Pentecost/pentecost-overview.htm). The Shavuot is the first Pentecost as I described above when the Torah was given on Mount Sinia, and Christians celebrate the “new” Pentecost, but the festival predated the Christian connotation. > [@](#): > > \*\*Pentecost is a major festival and has a dual significance: historical and agricultural, just as Passover and Tabernacles. Unlike Passover and Tabernacles, it is observed for only two days (only one in the Reform Movement). Pentecost marks the end of the barley harvest and beginning of the wheat harvest. Counting the days from the second day of Passover to Pentecost is called the “Counting of the Omer” (see previous chapter). The cutting of the omer of the new barley marked the beginning of the counting period; on the fiftieth day, Pentecost is observed. Pentecost is a Greek word meaning fiftieth. \*\* This is how I’ve always understood it. Perhaps I’m just used to hearing in a more scholarly context of history rather than faith. I can’t imagine anyone of the Jewish faith ever using the word “Pentecost” to refer to the Feast of Weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/65 "2003-06-25T19:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scout1222 \* > I’m with you, **Evil Captor**. Because otherwise, some of you ( **Zenster** most assuredly) would think I’m a big fucking moron! Imputing impolite or rude behavior to someone whom you have never met _just might_ make you appear to be the sort of moron you’re referring to, **scout1222**. I do not instantly and unjustifiably adjudge unknowledgeable people as being ignorant. If they are unaware of information, I cheerfully share it with them. I they exhibit no interest at all in correcting their lack of learning, it is only then that I begin to feel that they may be ignorant. For you to assume otherwise is both ill informed and just plain wrong. Continue to maintain such a position and I may well begin to agree with your own self assessment. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ponder Stibbons \* > … But this leads me to a slight hijack: The difference between ignorance and stupidity. > > We should _never_ make fun of someone due to ignorance. After all, with the exception of Cecil Adams, we are all ignorant on some subject and always will be. It is impossible to know everything. So when we run across someone who doesn’t know something, seek to enlighten them. > > If someone refuses to accept new information and doubts your facts (and you are sure of your facts), then you are dealing with stupidity (i.e., “militant ignorance”), as in the case of the “Christian” in the OP. Personally, when I discover a case of stupidity, rather than simply ignorance, I just try to change the subject or ignore the person altogether. It isn’t worth the effort to pursue the subject further. But that’s just me … Well said, **Ponder** , and may I say that this is not a hijack in the least? There is a vast difference between the two. Speaking for myself, it is\* willful \*ignorance that I find repulsive. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/66 "2003-06-25T19:18:35Z")
I didn’t intend my remark to seem as snarky as it came across. When I reread it, I can see that it is offputting. Just when I was scanning the list of things I should know, yours seemed (to me) to be the most obscure. No harm, no foul? ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/67 "2003-06-25T19:24:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \* > \*\*A few weeks ago, Airman and I were talking about something, and the subject of how chicken eggs get fertilized came up. (I swear, I don’t remember how it came up, just that it did.) He had no idea of how that process worked. I mean, I learned it at the old baby-chicks exhibit at the California Museum of Science and Industry, and in the context of “where do babies come from”. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just part of what you learn as a child. > > I guess Airman gets to come with Aaron and me when we go visit a farm this summer. 😉 > > Robin \*\* Take it easy on poor **Airman**. [It can happen to anyone](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=143373). Interesting how we have the same conversations though… ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/68 "2003-06-25T19:27:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\* Perhaps I’m just used to hearing in a more scholarly context of history rather than faith. I can’t imagine anyone of the Jewish faith ever using the word “Pentecost” to refer to the Feast of Weeks. \*\* I think that must be it. I can’t imagine a Christian celebrating Pentecost the way Jews celebrate Shavuot. Christians don’t count the Omer, they don’t have Lag b’Omer, they don’t study Torah all night, and they don’t have sunrise services. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/69 "2003-06-25T19:50:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Parallax \* > \*\*\ but I can type pretty well. 😃 > > \ signiture \ \*\* 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Parallax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Parallax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parallax)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/70 "2003-06-25T20:06:04Z")
I never said I could spell. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/71 "2003-06-25T20:12:07Z")
OK, OK, everyone, let’s settle down here. Pentecost is simply an event that occurs 50 days after some other event (based on the meaning of the word). _Shavuos_ occurs 50 days after Passover. While I have seen secular works use the term “Pentecost” for _Shavuos_, it is never used conversationally as such. If you mentioned “Pentecost” to 100 Jews, at least 90 of them wouldn’t have any inkling that you were referring to _Shavuos_. However, the Christian Pentecost is not _Shavuos_ any more than Easter is Passover or Christmas is _Channukah_. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/72 "2003-06-25T20:25:23Z")
Canine Octopi use beaks at Pentecost??? Hmm…I have met two adult human beings who were unable to tel the time on a standard clockface - if it was not digitial they did not understand it. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/73 "2003-06-25T20:38:20Z")
OK 3 things: Easter is not the same day as Passover, Good Friday is the same day as passover. Good Friday does not just “happen” to be at the same time as Passover, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. Likewise, it appears to me that the disciples dod not just “happen” to be together on Pentecost, they presumably were celebrating Shavout. The disciples were not hiding from Jews - they WERE Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/74 "2003-06-25T20:38:48Z")
Silly UN. Not beaks. Chopsticks. I have met people who were unaware that a fever is the body’s attempt to kill a bacterial or viral infection. They just thought it was how you tell you’re sick. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/75 "2003-06-25T20:47:41Z")
Completely unrelated to pentecosts or beaks: I am constantly amazed at people who don’t know that when stoplights are out, the intersection should be treated as a four way stop. Wouldn’t common sense and the need for self preservation dictate that it be treated as such? Nature attempts to weed out the stupid, and the engineers at Chrysler, Volvo, et. al. step in and foil it’s valiant attempts. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/76 "2003-06-25T20:51:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maureen \* > \*\*Silly UN. Not beaks. Chopsticks. > > I have met people who were unaware that a fever is the body’s attempt to kill a bacterial or viral infection. They just thought it was how you tell you’re sick. \*\* Chopsticks…that makes so much more sense, thank you 🙂 On the other: it amazes me how many people (some doctors included) still try to fight a viral infection wth antibiotics ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/77 "2003-06-25T20:53:43Z")
You know why that is, tho…people are so insistent. They think they know what antibiotics do (if they thought about the word, ANTI BIOTIC, says it all, really), and it will make it better. And are then amazed when, 10 days later, their stripped immune system allows them to catch the same damn flu! ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/78 "2003-06-25T20:53:50Z")
Hope I didn’t come off as snarky with my cursive comments. I just find it surprising that these people didn’t know there was a difference between writing and printing–they thought printing was writing and cursive was, apparently, only for signing their names and passing the third grade. And I don’t mean to offend anyone with poor handwriting–I suck, too, and I know that. I also realize that there are few instances when you need to actually use cursive–but I’ve also seen people whose printing and signature of their names are exactly the same. Those people either don’t know cursive or refuse to use it. ---
**Author:** ![CalvinHobbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CalvinHobbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalvinHobbes)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/79 "2003-06-25T21:06:42Z")
This doesn’t apply to the Pentecost Debate, but… I used to have a snapshot of the Eiffel Tower hanging on my bulletin board at work. A young guy I worked with, when seeing the photo, asked about my trip to King’s Island (an amusement park outside of Cincinnati that has a much smaller replica of the Eiffel Tower). When I said that the picture was taken in Paris and was of the _real one_, he was dumbfounded - “You mean there’s two of 'em?” ---
**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:** [June 25, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207/80 "2003-06-25T21:25:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lachesis \* > \*\*um, i’m Catholic too. and your Pentacostal friend is correct, not you. > > Pentacost is indeed the feast day celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit, which occurred 50 days after EASTER (which originally happened to have fallen shortly after the end of Passover, about 2000 years ago). in fact, the reason that the Holy Spirit was able to find the disciples all together there at one time is because they were hiding out _ **for fear of the Jews** _. (direct quote from the Gospels, as i recall). Jews of that time would never have heard of any such observance – for that matter, neither would present-day ones who don’t interest themselves in Christian observances. Pentacost is considered pretty much on the order of the “birthday” of the whole Christian movement. > > but i’ll agree with you that his lack of knowledge regarding Martin Luther is fairly astounding. \*\* Um, actually, he was only partly right. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Co. on the Feast of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks, which occurred seven weeks (fifty days- it was the day after the seventh week ended) after the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover). Thus, the Jewish Feast of Pentecost is celebrated as the Birthday of the Church. It frightens me that a Catholic wouldn’t know this. Actually, it frightens me how much a lot of Catholics don’t know about our own faith, but that would be a whole 'nother thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-frightens-me-that-people-dont-know-these-things/184207.md?page=5)