I was explaining to a friend of mine how birds are archosaurs, and she said “But aren’t birds mammals?”
Back when I was in college, I hated the “general education” requirements. These days, I’m of the opposite opinion; I think every educated person should have at least a passing familiarity with a wide variety of knowledge.
Four, counting King’s Dominion outside Richmond, VA!
I’m still pretty shocked about the Martin Luther thing - I mean, he’s the one who (ultimately) made Pentacostalism possible. But I too have had the “protestant” v. “Christian” debate, and it’s truly appalling - I mean, if a Catholic wanted to argue that protestants weren’t Christian I would understand (I’d disagree, and probably move a few paces away from the person, but at least there’s logic to it). Please, know something other than the Bible itself.
Personally, what’s even more annoying is when you can’t get someone to accept a simple, non-controversial fact. I live in New York. I live, in fact, very close to 6th Avenue, which also has the name “Avenue of the Americas,” a relic of a misbegotten renaming attempt from the 40s. After a few decades, the city finally gave up and now both names appear on each signpost along its entire length.
So I’m with friends at a Cosi sandwich shop in Virginia. The waitress starts getting chatty, finds out I’m from New York - and says she’s moving there.
“I’m so excited! I’m gonna be working at the Cosi on Avenue of the Americas in Greenwich Village*, you know where that is?”
“Yeah, I live on 15th about a block from 6th Ave.”
“Oh, it’s not on 6th Ave. It’s on Avenue of the Americas.”
“Same thing, actually, the avenue has two names - everyone just says ‘Sixth.’”
“But they said it was Avenue of the Americas.”
“Yeah…I mean, that’s one of the names. Avenue of the Americas, Sixth Avenue, same thing. I’m just saying most people say ‘Sixth.’”
“But it’s Avenue of the Americas.”
“Right, and - It’s The. Same. Place.”
“No, it’s different, it’s Avenue of the Americas.”
This went on for at least a few more rounds.
Ever since, I’ve stayed the hell away from the Cosi on 6th and 13th. Hate to run into her again.
*At least she pronounced that right. I did have a guy say to me, “Where’s ‘Green-witch’ Village at?” I didn’t correct his pronunciation, but I did point out that he was in the Village already. I asked if he was looking for an address or something, and he said no…
They’re mammals that have lost their baby teeth! Either that, or they’re squids, because they have beaks…
Ice Queen ; sorry to take so long getting back. No, the doctor in question was not ESL. He IS, on the other hand, a pompous arrogant ass of a surgeon. Like there’s any other kind.
This reminds me of the time I was watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and this guy uses up all his three lifelines before the $500 question. I don’t remember what the questions were, but I recall thinking that I could have answered them easily.
However, there was this other time that my sister was watching the same show… some woman lost on the $100 question (the first one)! :eek: Those $100 questions were very basic stuff, too…
F_X
I mentioned this once before in another thread, but I once knew a woman who was a chemist, and was the valedictorian of her high school, who asked me if there were 3 square feet in a square yard! :eek: She tried to justify her lack of knowlege by saying “Well, we didn’t really cover conversions much.” Um, like she couldn’t just picture a square 3 feet on each side and come up with 9 square feet? (She did, at least, know that there were 3 feet in a yard.)
I bet those are the same ones that can’t find the “any” key!!! 
But seriously, I don’t think that’s such a “shocking” thing, there are many people who are intelligent, but just haven’t gotten into computers or technology that much.
My mom once seemed puzzled as to why I would care about whether a street had white or yellow lines painted down it. I pointed out that the line color indicates a one or two-way street, and hoped she was merely having a spacy moment.
Another time, she asked why I was slowing down while approaching a green light to make a right-hand turn. I explained that I didn’t feel comfortable whipping my Explorer into a sharp turn at 60 miles an hour. Just call me cautious.
Two contributions on topics that have come up in this thread, both of which I find enlightening personally, yet frustrating to know that other people don’t know. (Follow that?)
One of the major causes of the Cold War was the United States military involvement in the Russian Civil War in the 1910’s. Simply put – we supported the losing side, and the winners never forgave us.
The electoral college (not that I want to be political) gives an individual voter more power to swing a large election than a direct popular vote. IE: Your single vote is more likely to be a swing vote among a group of 9 than it is among a group of 900,000. I’m oversimplifying the numbers for emphasis. If anyone’s curious, I’ll look up again where I read that. The electoral college prevents candidates from campaigning in the large cities only… because the rural areas become just as important. …but I’m about to go off on a rant, so I’ll stop now.
I’ve managed to get over my tendency to say “You didn’t know that?!?!?!” If you want to watch a scary game show, watch Stree Smarts. One person was asked how many stars on the U.S. Flag, they answered 37. 37 because it’s one for every state and there are 37 states.
Same question, someone else answered “50, no wait, there’s Alaska and Hawaii so it’s 52.”
In case anyone wants to know, a person who collects unimportant bits of information is called a spermologist. I read that in a trivia book once.
They had been using Mac computers for YEARS. Whenever you save a file, the “save as” command is right there. We’re not talking zapping the PRAM or recovering “lost” files here. We’re talking “Save As.” Sorry, you don’t have to be “into” computers and technology to know what “save as” is all about after several years of using a computer. That’s just a simple matter of competence.
I once had an argument with a guy who said the US asked for September 11th, and stated as proof that we bombed the Japanese ‘after they surrendered.’ When pressed, it turned out that he wasn’t too clear on how that war got started.
Of course, there’s also this guy I used to know who didn’t know what a clitoris was, either…
I once got off a plane from Moscow and found myself confronted with, on my first day back at work, with a guy who claimed that all Russian women were butch lesbians. And where did he get this idea? From watching shot-putters every four years at the Olympics.
I once ran into some guys playing NTN trivia who incorrectly guessed that the capital of Alberta was Calgary. It is, in fact, Edmonton.
This wouldn’t be a big deal… except they were from Edmonton. No, they were not retarded.
Five, There’s one in Fayetteville North Carolina (but it doesn’t have squid beaks).
I was at the beach with a friend one lovely summer day. she picked up a beautiful pale shell, and while turning it this way and that in the glow of the setting sun, remarked, “isn’t it amazing how shellfish carve rocks into such smooth pretty shapes?”
I was heading home one night with my college roommate, and we noticed that the moon was very large and red.
“What is THAT?” she said, in a tone of alarm.
“The moon’s setting,” I said.
“You’re crazy,” she said. “The moon doesn’t set. That’s why you can sometimes see it in the daytime.”
Apparently she believed that the moon hung motionless over our college…
I’m a middle school math teacher, and a geography buff on the side. Often at the end of class, I will throw out some geography questions for “fun”. I am always amazed that at least half of my students can’t regularly identify the continents, and most don’t know the difference between a continent and a country! I don’t care if it is Math, I make a point to teach them the info. anyway.
Do squid have baby beaks?
Baby squid do. They use them at the Feast of Pentecost to rend the flesh of people who don’t know who Martin Luther is.
You can see them in the reflecting pools in front of replicas of the Eiffel Tower. They start to gather there about six weeks after Easter, when they celebrate the Electoral College casting their votes for candidates who lost the popular vote in the last election. After the festivities, they all go to Edmunton, where they watch the mammalian birds returning from Capistrano.
I guy I work with and I walked into the lobby of our building the other day. We have two elevators side by side, with the numbers that tell you what floor they are on. We pressed the button to go up, with one elevator being on 3 and one on 2. The one on 2 started to come down and pretty soon the bell rang and the door opened.
He had been looking at the display for the other elevator, which hadn’t moved. “Hey” he said “how come this elevator didn’t go up when the other one went down?”
It turned out he thought they were on the same cable, like a pair of kid’s mittens connected by a thread. I guess they could be, but how did he explain our company’s old building, with only one elevator?
I knew the squid beak thing but I am a bio-geek. But I really think most adults who have been educated in one of the countries that is generally considered part of “Western Civilization” should have at least a vague knowledge of who Martin Luther is and what he did. Pretty epochal events, really. And for an adult who is a Protestant to not know they are Protestant? That’s just bizarre.