You are aware that “aqua” was the Latin word for water, right? The Spanish word “agua” was almost certainly derived from it (I don’t have a handy source of Spanish etymology, but it’s a pretty common linguistic transformation). Of course, Aqaba is (I assume) not a Latin-derived name, so it was still pretty silly, but I doubt she was thinking of ‘agua.’
Malacandra, you’re so cute. It’s almost as if you know my sister and know she would make an awesome mom. Maybe you think this one conversation is the whole reason I think she should never breed?
Here’s another one from my sister, the genius: “When I have a kid I am going to discipline it by pulling its hair really hard, that way no one can see the bruises. I don’t know why more people don’t do that.”
Here’s a snippet from one of her emails, they all read like this:
“Dude… why couldn’t they just wait an extra 10 minutes… your right?! I tell you … they were proably up to no good doing something that was wrong, illegal… who knows!!! What is sooo important about Larch Mountian anyways that they couldn’t wait!!! Dude… who knows?!”
Or wait, forget my sister, how about her boyfriend, the would-be dad. Although he brags about how he can’t read or pay any of his own bills, he is hoping to make it big as a male model. He has a totally awesome hula girl tattooed on his bicep, so he can make her ‘dance.’
You’re right, I am shockingly ignorant and my sister should have as many kids as she possibly can. You have a much better idea about my sister and her judgement than I do. :rolleyes: yourself.
Since the letters were individually cut out, if the guy had half a brain he could have just rearranged “except” to “expect” and claim it was mistake.
Of course, if he had half a brain he wouldn’t have stuffed it up in the first place.
Great thread. A few of the stupidities cited are maybe not as bad they might first seem, though.
For example:
An ex-GF of mine wore a pendant that may have looked something like yours. I’m guessing yours might be similar to one of these: http://www.paganpretties.com/pentacles.htm )
My GF’s looked something like this:
Note that the only real difference is the number of points on the star. Yeah, people should know that the Magen David has six points, but ignorance of that is not particularly shocking.
Another one:
Yeah, Grandma phrased it wrong, and probably showed some evidence of ignorant thinking in doing so. But there’s some truth in what she said. Her book probably referenced Haym Salomon, who was instumental in financing the Revolution, which included efforts to raise money from the Rothschilds and other Jewish sources.
Cite:
I was once involved in a discussion as to how (human) life began in Africa and spread outwards from there. There was some talk as to why some humans were not black; someone explained that black skin wasn’t an advantage in cold climates and so on. One of the listeners became really agitated and said she knew it was all a lie; she knew black people who lived in New York, it was really cold in New York, and not a one of her black friends had ever turned white. The conversation died at that point.
ITR Champion, your story reminded me of something I’d overheard at a nice restaurant the last month.
This group of four diners were discussing the urban crime problem in the city. And the loudest (and most opinionated) member of the quartet was saying that the cops should just let ‘them’ alone to do whatever they wanted to themselves. The implication was that they weren’t really people, of course.
Of course there was a bit of instant karma with that story - the same woman then talked about trying to clean her hottub, and having used an ammonia based cleaner in the water, and how it had combined with the chlorine in the water to nearly gas her.
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but that very practice is relatively common here in San Diego. Controversial, though, as it seems there’s no happy medium–teaching all kids in both English and Spanish would make some sense, considering that speaking both languages (not to mention Vietnamese) fluently increases your job prospects exponentially in this city–instead, the kids who speak English at home get taught in English and the kids who speak Spanish at home get taught in Spanish. Why anyone thought that was a good idea, I don’t know. But it turns out (big shock!) that the kids who don’t learn in English at all have a much harder time communicating in English and, thusly, have a harder time succeeding in later education and life in this country.
As for the most ignorant, well, I’ve heard a lot of ignorant things in my life so I’ll go with the most recent gem, from the ex-con-turned-warrior-for-Christ coworker:
ECTWFCC: “So, what do you think of there being an openly gay knight?” (referring to Elton John)
Me: “Nothing. You?”
E: “You don’t think it represents the degradation of morality in our society?”
Me: “No, but I’m starting to think you’re an ignorant jackass.” (I had had just about enough of his shit–it was one thing after the other after the other.)
E: “No I’m not!” (In full 5th-grade deflection-of-responsibility mode.)
Me: “Whatever you gotta tell yourself to get through your day, dude.”
E: “Well, what, do you go down the Hershey Highway?” (Plus two or three other slurs I don’t remember specifically, all with the same general idea behind them.)
Me: “Are you hitting on me? Because I don’t swing that way.”
That shut him up pretty fast. And then he asked me for a ride home not 15 minutes later. :rolleyes:
I was hoping you’d say you just socked him in the face to disprove his logic.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
A couple of adjectives come to mind for describing this woman, but “ignorant” is not the first one.
For someone who doesn’t have an above-average grasp of European geography, that’s not all that bad. First-world Europe is more analogous to the United States (a collection of mini-governments operating as parts of a big government) than to North America these days, really.
They did. The majority of slaves were like slightly less educated English butlers, living with a family and cooking, cleaning, etc. for them, watching over the kids, in some cases even tutoring the kids, in exchange for free room and board, food, etc. The travesties were that (a) this was the highest ambition black Southerners had, (b) they didn’t get to choose whether they worked for a family or a plantation owner, and (c) the horrors regularly visited upon the plantation slaves were obviously quite substantial. Of course all of these were more than valid reasons that all slaves needed to be rescued and freed–so if the teacher really said that part, he needed a reality check. But if all he did was point out that the majority of slaves lived better than the image we have of them–not nearly good enough, but better–shame on the principal for using his/her position of trust to spread ignorance and closed-mindedness.
And how do you propose this law gets enforced with religion, Fuhrer? Do you pick which religions are misleading and which ones are OK for the state to sponsor? That’s scary, scary stuff.
Speaking of ignorance, what interdimensional portal did this drive-by slur fall out of?
“American” and “Canadian” hardly mean anything outside of the two countries anymore; well-behaved Americans say they’re Canadian to avoid being associated with their countrymen, and nasty Canadians say they’re American to avoid spoiling their countrymen’s reputation. (I’ve actually heard several stories of both…)
My roommate has been to either Amsterdam or Germany several times to visit family. I have no idea which.
Me: “Man, I have to go to Holland some day.”
Him: “I’ve been to Holland a few times. We were in Amsterdam which was pretty close, so I hopped on a train and checked it out.”
Me: “…”
Him: “It wasn’t that great. I liked Amsterdam a lot better. A lot of my family is there. It’s kind of awkward, though, because I don’t speak any German.”
I was flabbergasted, and afraid that if I questioned this further my head might explode, so I just let it be. But I still wonder. Was he really in Munich? Are his family there German transplants? Is he just unable to tell the difference between Dutch and German? Lastly, how can you not know what country you’re in when you’re in that country’s most famous city?
Overheard while pumping gas (as told by my brother-in-law)
Man #1: How 'bout this cold weather, eh?
Man #2: All’s I know is next time I’m votin’ for Al Gore!
It makes a lot of sense.
It have something to do with taking the concept of egalitarianism too far. Too many Americans seem to think that all opinions are equal, a way of thinking reinforced by some educational philosophies that stress “validation” rather than learning. Correction of a false claim is taken as a personal attack, and the claimant digs in his heels and refuses to concede.
It happens in GQ, even.
Oh, I knew that, way over yonder in SoCal, some schooling was beginning to be in Spanish, even then. This was in Rochester, NY. 25 years ago. Roomie was a redneck hick from someplace small in Maine… he would have been flabbergasted, so I went easy on him.
As for the actual specifics – I really think that if 90% of the population of a country speak language A, then all children should be WELL schooled in it – including doing a lot of studying in language A. I’m still all for teaching intrinsically important subjects, like Math, in language B (which is the kids’ native language)
Heh.
That reminds me of the movie Hell House, which is a documentary about a fundamantalist Halloween alternative. You know, the haunted houses where they scare people with tales of Harry Potter, evolution, and dancing. For one exhibit, they were going to show the horrors of Satanism. One prop was a giant spray-painted pentacle. The guy that painted it was quite proud of his handiwork.
He painted a Star of David.
Hey, they should get some Canadian advice on how to deal with bi-lingualism, since that is working so well for us. 
Reading these comments makes me wonder what is it about star-shaped jewelery which draws so much interest. I’ve experienced it myself.
Around my neck, I wear a thin chain with a small star on it. It’s very small: about the size of the tip of my index finger, and five pointed. It’s simply made: all one piece like someone took a little platinum tube and just bent it into the proper shape. My grandmother gave it to me because she saw it in a shop, and thought it looked cute, so she bought one for all “the girls.”
It’s just an innocuous little star on a chain. It looks like something you’d see on the logo of a cartoon for girls. I’ve gotten more comments on it than any piece of jewelery I own. People assume it has to have* significance.*
I’ve been asked twice if I was Jewish, which just blows my mind because this thing looks nothing like a Star of David. I’ve been asked if I was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, whatever the hell that is. I’ve been asked if I’m a pagan (by a woman who seemed genuinely frightened to know the answer) and once even if I was an Anarchist. (*That * certainly a WTF? moment.)
Since we’re taking shots at the spouses whom we love and adore so fully, my wife asked me… and I’m not joking, this coming from a woman with an IQ of 129, who taught herself how to read at the age of four… she asked me
“Is it the same kind of gravity that keeps the moon in orbit as keeps us on Earth?”
I was really gentle… “Well, yes dear.” Sex was forthcoming and there wasn’t a damn thing, not even a “I dare you to laugh at this” comment, that was gonna divert me.
Does anyone else get the Google ad for The Second Coming of Christ? “Please read this novel; it operates on a number of levels.”
Wow! Operates on a number of levels, you say? Well, that’s a sparkling review if ever I heard one. I simply must lay hands on this wonderful book. 
It’s much like the Masons, but co-ed. It’s the largest “fraternal” order with both male and female members. It’s not a religion, but they do charitable and social work like the Masons. It’s open to those of all faiths, but not to atheists. Order of the Eastern Star.
I guess we’re talking about actual comments, because if the thread was about the Most Ignorant Post You Ever Read, this one could go to 1,000 pages easily.
Like the guy whom I was recently arguing about corporate finance on some other board whom, towards the end of the debate, proudly proclaimed that he neither reads nor understands financial documents and that they “put me to sleep”.
Oh, one more, which I have just learned to tune out by now, but it happens all the time – “You live in Israel? In Tel-Aviv? How can you live there with all the shooting and all the tanks on the street all the time!?” Um… dude(ette), Tel-Aviv is probably safer for you to walk down the street than NYC, OK?
I knew a guy who owned a hardware store (inherited it from his dad).
He said that French classes were a waste of time. Just add an e in front of words. School sounds like e-school in French.
The recent election provided a couple of good examples.
I was eating dinner in a restaurant, sitting next to 3 elderly people. They were all talking a bit loud, hard of hearing loud, so this exchange came through quite clearly:
“I never know anything about the candidates or issues anyway, I just vote republican.”
“Oh yes, but it’s important to vote.”
“Absolutely, I always make sure to vote even I don’t know any of the people running.”
The place I was assigned to vote at was a meeting room on the first floor of a large apartment building that had a lot of elderly residents. As I was leaving having done my patriotic duty, I heard an elderly woman at the entrance talking to one of the volunteers:
“Ma’am, you’ll need to show an ID to vote.”
“I didn’t bring any ID down with me.”
“I’m sorry, but we need to see some form of ID before you can vote.”
“Are you sure? If I have go back upstairs it’s not worth my trouble to come all the way back down.”