My two favorite cow-orker quotes (I’ve posted these before):
One who thought the Taliban was a building in Afghanistan, similar to the Pentagon in the US.
Another who questioned my love for J. K. Rowling’s *Harry Potter * books: “If they’re that good, why didn’t someone write them before?”
In that case, consider me unforgiven. No curiousity about the world around me (in geography/world news sense, at least) whatsoever here.
Moreover, pretty much every single thing/person/whatever in this thread that someone is shocked by someone not knowing… I don’t know.
Geography bores me. History puts me in a coma. I don’t watch or read the news* because it simply doesn’t interest me. I’m not going to make an effort to learn about things I’m not interested in just because I feel it’s my duty as a human being to be well informed about them – I don’t. Instead, I’d rather spend my time learning about things I DO find interesting – how a car’s engine works or something like that. Being that I never watch TV, and therefore the internet is my sole source of “home entertainment,” this is something I do on a daily basis, sometimes for hours at a time.
It kind of bothers me that somehow that isn’t enough for someone else, and there are people who think there’s something inately wrong with me if I don’t especially give a shit what’s going on in Pakistan, but eh, that’s life I suppose.
OK, I’m simply going to say I agree with glee.
A working knowledge of coutries as well as movers-and-shakers within said countries around the world is not something the average person can possibly spend their time learning. Especially due to the rate at which it all changes.
Also, lets think about perspective.
I first heard of Bhutto less than a year ago, when she was making her way back to Pakistan. I am a local reporter for a small paper and so have no responsibility to learn such things, but I enjoy knowing about the world around me. My roomate is working toward a government job and has in the past held an internship with the State Department. He was fully aware of Bhutto and her past, and all the ramifications of what was happening.
He could name any number of world leaders, capitols, historical facts and imports/exports.
He could not, however, name important local officials and personalities in government and events, nor popular opinion of upcoming changes to the area. Nor is he aware of the nuances of municipal policy, current trends in such, or how local building developments are effecting taxation in small boroughs.
I know this stuff.
While we here may disparage a lack of knowledge pertaining to the world at large, we should remember that mopst people know what they do to do their jobs well and then care for their livelihoods and families as best they can.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that nobody here seems to know what the word “capitol” actually means.
I have some sympathy. I was taught to memorise many things at school:
There are much better ways for adults to take an interest in these subjects.
Maths: learn about interest charges
History: read an interesting book e.g. by C.S.Forester (Hornblower series) or G. McDonald Fraser (Flashman series)
Geography: go and look at it (Las Vegas!)
Economics: make a budget; pick a pension plan
Eleanorigby yeah, we should save it for another thread.
Let me know when you want to start it. And bring the Colyte, because Ive got a whole lotta crap to unload. grin
Oh, yeah, GuanoLad, that’s right. The “o” is only for rediculous American capitals, because nobody else rates it.
That and I was well into a 12-pack when I posted.
Oh, and I have heard the Flashman series is pretty good.
So, will the resultant hangover be your excuse for spelling “ridiculous” with an “e”? 
I think that’s fine as long as you don’t vote. If you vote, you should know what’s going on in the world.
Are you sure that you can name the prime minister of Pakistan 
? After all, he was only appointed a couple of months ago. I sure didn’t remember the name of Muhammad Mian Soomro off the top of my head.
I find it fascinating that that would seem impossible to you. Are you the sort of person who has to construct a detailed mental image of each character to follow a novel? I only form the vaguest notion of how they appear. In my mind, they consist of a bundle of personality traits and relationships with other characters, not physical features.
Iowa is the same. Because of the caucus, I have some acquaintance with the politics of the state. But I got almost all of this information by reading NYTimes online or by listening to NPR, so I still couldn’t point it out on a map.
It certainly is.
I enjoyed reading the books and can now converse fluently on (for example):
and of course
Capitol is the building that the government resides in.
Capital is the city that the government building resides in.
This is solely an American usage (and possibly Canadian).
To the world at large, capitol is either a misspelling or the Temple of Jupiter in Rome.
Not Canadian. We have a federal Parliament and provincial Legislatures, provincial Parliaments, or provincial National Assemblies.
I’ve got a similar story to some others here. I was at work, talking to someone about some room that was tiny and had no air conditioning (it was summer). I said “It’s like the Black Hole of Calcutta.” My (generally intelligent) co-worker looked at me as if I had two heads. “What’s that?”
“What, you never heard of the Black Hole of Calcutta?”
“No.”
ME: “Hey, Marty (nearby co-worker, and onetime bank president). Do you know what “The Black Hole of Calcutta” is”?
Marty: “Never heard of it.”
On and on this went. I asked 7 people; only 2 had heard of it. I would rate everyone I asked as average to above-average intelligence.
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been that surprised.
The Black Hole of Calcutta is in the Horsehead Nebula, right?
Hindu porn?
If you read the Flashman books, you’d know what it was! 
(As well as the Lucknow Seige and the retreat from Kabul…)
I’ve heard of it, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it is.