# Pure, unadulterated stupid. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030 "2018-03-22T16:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/1 "2018-03-22T16:59:27Z")
Did you know?: I overheard a guy at work telling another guy, in a hushed, _‘Most people don’t know this but allow me to impart some knowledge on you’_, tone, that the word “Dyslexia” comes from the ancient latin meaning “broken language”. And the reason why people have dyslexia is because of genetic memory that goes back to the time of ancient civilizations in Africa (and Mesopotamia) where they would write and read from right to left. Thus people with dyslexia have their brains genetically wired for memory of ancient languages. This is from a guy with a degree in communications. I shit you not. Now tell me what you know. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/2 "2018-03-22T17:14:49Z")
A lunkhead on the news last night, re the grass roots attempt in Oregon to ban the sale of military style weapons and registration of same: “The 2nd amendment doesn’t say that these guns are for hunting; they’re in case the government needs to be overthrown because. . .stuff.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/3 "2018-03-22T17:44:19Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Thus people with dyslexia have their brains genetically wired for memory of ancient languages. > > This is from a guy with a degree in communications. Sounds like he thinks the Percy Jackson books are real.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/4 "2018-03-22T17:55:50Z")
I had so many question for him. Too bad he’s an otherwise nice guy with a [del]happydumbfuck[/del] sunny disposition. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/5 "2018-03-22T18:03:48Z")
I half remember hearing about a theory that many of the behavioral aberrations we see in people such as OCD and ADHD are there because these abilities were useful to hunter gatherer societies. I wonder if what that person was talking about was an even more half baked version of that ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/6 "2018-03-22T18:05:00Z")
Are you absolutely sure he wasn’t pulling a fast one on the other guy? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/7 "2018-03-22T18:16:45Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I half remember hearing about a theory that many of the behavioral aberrations we see in people such as OCD and ADHD are there because these abilities were useful to hunter gatherer societies. I wonder if what that person was talking about was an even more half baked version of that This isn’t a dumb theory, though. Some of the traits of OCD - such as being overzealously cautious around anything that could be a threat - would be useful for survival in a brutal world. Traits such as being extra-careful not to eat any plant one is not familiar with, to make sure water is drink-able, to avoid giving away one’s presence to potential enemies, to always err on the side of caution. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/8 "2018-03-22T18:32:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > This isn’t a dumb theory, though. Some of the traits of OCD - such as being overzealously cautious around anything that could be a threat - would be useful for survival in a brutal world. Traits such as being extra-careful not to eat any plant one is not familiar with, to make sure water is drink-able, to avoid giving away one’s presence to potential enemies, to always err on the side of caution. I’m sorry but I don’t see any survival utility in turning the lights on and off 12 times, or checking the locks on the cave door 15 times before going out to hunt and gather. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/9 "2018-03-22T18:33:10Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Are you absolutely sure he wasn’t pulling a fast one on the other guy? Nope. He was quite earnest in his convictions. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/10 "2018-03-22T19:34:43Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’m sorry but I don’t see any survival utility in turning the lights on and off 12 times, or checking the locks on the cave door 15 times before going out to hunt and gather. The survival utility in OCD can be that the same disorder that causes one to do things that won’t save lives can cause things that will. > **[The Survival Advantage of OCD: a Tale of Edna](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fighting-fear/201209/the-survival-advantage-ocd-tale-edna)** > > There are certain situations where it is an advantage to have OCD, if you don't get carried away. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/11 "2018-03-22T19:48:45Z")
[Here’s a stupid would-be burglar who doesn’t know how security cameras work.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cIkbsISEtc) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/12 "2018-03-22T20:18:52Z")
Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s I heard a local radio preacher insisting that (nearby city)'s instillation of traffic cameras was to keep track of which people had bibles on the dashes of their cars so that they could be rounded up and put in concentration camps. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/13 "2018-03-22T21:23:32Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > This isn’t a dumb theory, though. Some of the traits of OCD - such as being overzealously cautious around anything that could be a threat - would be useful for survival in a brutal world. Traits such as being extra-careful not to eat any plant one is not familiar with, to make sure water is drink-able, to avoid giving away one’s presence to potential enemies, to always err on the side of caution. And here we have the reason Evolutionary Psychology is the joke of academia: So many just-so stories we can’t falsify, but which sell well at the checkstand. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/14 "2018-03-22T21:26:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s I heard a local radio preacher insisting that (nearby city)'s instillation of traffic cameras was to keep track of which people had bibles on the dashes of their cars so that they could be rounded up and put in concentration camps. A local preacher here in my home city had a radio program for a while. He insisted that since our ZIP codes started with 666 that meant we were doomed. And the motto of the city “The Golden City” was a reference to evil Babylon in the book of Revelations. The local university has a mascot called the Ichabod, and since the means "God’s glory has departed(according to the OT) it’s another sign we are doomed. The dude is several years dead, but his cult carries on, although not quite as active. He was a very hateful man, and boy did he have a potty mouth on him. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/15 "2018-03-22T21:30:26Z")
If we’re talking stupid… I know a guy who has fallen for damn near every scam that has come down the pike. Multi-level marketing of useless products, the _"I want to buy your car. Here’s a check. Wire me the change and I’ll pick the car up later_" trick, the Rainbow vacuum tragedy… you name it. He also has a bad habit of “buying high, selling low”. He’ll pay too much for a junker, put a wad into it, then sell it for ridiculously cheap if he gets himself into money trouble (a frequent situation). Oh, the stories I could tell… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/16 "2018-03-22T21:40:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > the Rainbow vacuum tragedy 😕 The what? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/17 "2018-03-22T21:52:01Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Nope. He was quite earnest in his convictions. That’s how you sell yarns, bro! In real life, when I’m around people who don’t know me very well, I carry myself as a pretty stereotypical middle-aged corporate white guy. Analytical, reserved, very careful about bringing up potentially irritating topics during conversation. Ward Cleaver, total hobbit. The Mrs. And I offered to let a homeless couple stay with us for a few days, enough time to get showered up, fed, rested, do some laundry, etc. The day before they were to leave I was working out what kind of travel food they wanted to take with them. While putting the ‘menu’ together: “Corn muffins?” I offered “Corn muffins? Yeah! I mean, who doesn’t like corn muffins?” The devil called to me and I couldn’t resist: “Well, Mexicans for starters.” “What?” Expecting a punchline to a much anticipated joke. I had her. “You don’t know about Mexicans and corn muffins?” At that point I began to weave one of my better off-the-cuff yarns. The nuts and bolts are: [ul] [li]Chihuahuas are often known to be very aggressive, basically wolves in rat bodies[/li][li]Dog fighting is illegal in Mexico[/li][li]The Chihuahua was bred, originally in Chihuahua, Mexico to be easily-hidden, inexpensive to breed and keep, and ferocious.[/li][li]Chihuahuas became the preferred animal for underground dog fighting clubs[/li][li]The principle drawback to the Chihuahua as a fighting dog is its size, and proportionate lack of strength. Despite their ferocity, a Chihuahua fight to the death can take a very long time.[/li][li]People get hungry during the fight, so they bring portable, stable snacks: corn muffins. The corn muffin became to Mexican dog fighting what hot dogs are to American baseball, and is essentially a symbol of the sport[/li][li]Most Mexicans are decent people who want nothing to do with dog-fighting, therefore they find the sport’s telltale treat to be moderately offensive and equate those who eat them with the baser elements of their culture.[/li][/ul] Eventually I took the story too far and allowed her to call bullshit. But it was a great ride. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/18 "2018-03-22T22:00:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A lunkhead on the news last night, re the grass roots attempt in Oregon to ban the sale of military style weapons and registration of same: “The 2nd amendment doesn’t say that these guns are for hunting; they’re in case the government needs to be overthrown because. . .stuff.” :smack: I’m always amused by the people who think that the same founding fathers who didn’t trust the people to directly elect Senators, much less the President, would let them have guns to overthrow the very government they were setting up. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/19 "2018-03-22T22:11:39Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > 😕 The what? That’s where some shithook cons you into buying a $1200 vacuum, but will give you a discount if you become a “representative” and you agree to try to con all your friends and family into buying one also. He tired to sell me one, and I almost resorted to violence. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030/20 "2018-03-22T22:25:21Z")
[”You know, people like blood sausage, too. People are morons.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jFswLuB06KU&t=1m10s) Stranger [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pure-unadulterated-stupid/811030.md?page=2)