# No, actually I'm NOT ignorant... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465 "2007-08-22T04:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/21 "2007-08-22T22:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] Not an Aussie, a Kiwi - and I’ve never heard it used in that way before, maybe he was Canadian? 😉 [/QUOTE] I was referring to Cazzle saying he’s heard it used that way before. Obviously it’s not just up here in the Frozen North that we make up new meanings for words 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/22 "2007-08-22T22:14:29Z")
Some drunks walking past our house saw me sitting on the front porch, and I guess they took issue with the big rainbow flag waving behind me. “You Faggots!” “Nope, got tits. Try for the right gender next time!” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/23 "2007-08-22T22:51:06Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Well, it didn’t happen to me, but the best I ever heard was when I worked at Sprint in the “retention” (cancellations) department. The black girl who sat across from me got off a call and started laughing til she had tears running down her face. I asked her what was so funny and she said that she had just had the most rude, hateful and ignorant Asian woman on the phone. The woman kept calling her a “nickel” and my friend could _not_ figure out how “nickel” was an insult. When she hung up, it clicked. [/QUOTE] [hijack]I’ve actually heard “nickel” used as an insult, although it wouldn’t make much sense in the context you’ve described. But I’ve heard it use to describe pot heads who are always asking their friends to sell them “just one bud for five bucks.” The implication being, they’re too cheap to even buy a dimebag.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/24 "2007-08-22T22:51:13Z")
Ignorant=rude in Scotland too. Always amuses me when my cousin rants about folks being ignorant to her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/25 "2007-08-22T23:34:16Z")
Consider my ignorance fought (but not my arrogance). I found it amusing at the time, now I’ll have to go back to thinking he was a sad old bastard who should get a grip on reality. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/26 "2007-08-23T01:16:30Z")
Actually, I posted a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=251899) a while back about a series of misinsults I’d gotten from lunatics. I’m _still_ not any form of sausage, although I suppose you could consider me German meat. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/27 "2007-08-23T02:29:03Z")
But I couldn’t post in that, it’s a Zombie! Isn’t it? I’m still fairly new here, but I’m fairly sure I’m not supposed to resurrect 3 year old threads. YMMV PDN PALATR etc. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/28 "2007-08-23T02:32:30Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] He turned and said, "Oh, you’re so _ignorant!_ " [/QUOTE] If only you could have replied “No! Ignorance and Want are the children you were to Beware of, Scrooge. Weren’t You Listening…?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/29 "2007-08-23T02:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] If only you could have replied “No! Ignorance and Want are the children you were to Beware of, Scrooge. Weren’t You Listening…?” 😃 [/QUOTE] Honest to Og, my first instinct was to help him find the correct word with which to insult me _properly_! ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/30 "2007-08-23T09:49:01Z")
My first wife was Chinese. I worked with an elderly woman who was also Chinese. One day she was in a sour mood and kept calling me something in Cantonese–enough times for me to memorize it. When I got home I asked my wife what it meant. Apparently I am a smelly pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/31 "2007-08-23T17:32:46Z")
You can call me ignorant, because I don’t get how nickel is an insult. Help me out here. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/32 "2007-08-23T17:58:37Z")
[QUOTE=Velma] You can call me ignorant, because I don’t get how nickel is an insult. Help me out here. [/QUOTE] My coworker was black. The insulter was Asian. Many Asian people (especially when they are angry) will exchange an “l” sound for an “r” sound. It was a mispronunciation of a very common racial slur. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/33 "2007-08-23T19:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] My coworker was black. The insulter was Asian. Many Asian people (especially when they are angry) will exchange an “l” sound for an “r” sound. It was a mispronunciation of a very common racial slur. [/QUOTE] ok. I thought that was it but I couldn’t figure out why! ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/34 "2007-08-23T19:47:04Z")
This one wasn’t directed at me but was still funny. I was playing EverQuest and running through one of the zones where new players started. Two people were arguing in one of the public chat channels and one said to the other. “shutup you egotesticle punk!” ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/35 "2007-08-23T21:42:42Z")
In the city I used to live in there was this woman who was completely nuts. Everyone called her crazy Rita, but I have no idea if that was her real name or not. She looked pretty normal - well dressed and grandmotherly, but she’d walk around town and swear up a storm for no particular reason. A couple of times her wrath was directed towards me. I was at a stop sign with a friend in my car when she happen to stroll up next to us and called us “godamned homosexual communists” which caused us to immediately burst out laughing. Another time I was leaving my apartment to go to work and she was walking by on the other side of the street. She saw me and yelled “you rock and roll pig, I don’t give a shit about you!” I couldn’t wait to get to work to tell everyone. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/36 "2007-08-23T21:52:14Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] But I couldn’t post in that, it’s a Zombie! Isn’t it? I’m still fairly new here, but I’m fairly sure I’m not supposed to resurrect 3 year old threads. [/QUOTE] Well, yeah. But Charter Members get an extra year’s subscription every time they trick a newbie into breaking the rules. Actually, I thought it would be easier to link to the thread than re-type the whole incident. Apparently forgetting that I could cut and paste. Duh. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/37 "2007-08-23T21:54:45Z")
FWIW, I’m a native of Western Pennsylvania. I’ve used the word “ignorant” all my life as to mean unaware or unconcerned about manners, common courtesy, or unawareness of one’s surroundings. In other words, like the old man in the OP meant it. Not that I would have agreed with him that you were ignorant, **maggenpye**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/38 "2007-08-24T01:39:47Z")
It’s not really an insult toward me, but, here goes. I had a co-worker whose teenage son had decided that because his friends had some item, or were allowed to do some activity, that he should be, too, and Mom didn’t approve of it. She was shaking her head over his idea of being entitled because “everyone is doing it.” I said, “Did you disabuse him of that notion?” Word went 'round the office that I accused her of abusing her son. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/39 "2007-08-24T01:41:07Z")
I was once called a “free thinker”. Got fired for it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465/40 "2007-08-24T03:21:11Z")
Strangest insult I ever got was when a customer got pissed off at me because she had to wait in line, and started accusing me of everything from being racist to “thinking [I’m] god’s gift to men”… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-actually-im-not-ignorant/416465.md?page=3)