# Simple thing you finally figured out that made you feel stupid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805 "2005-06-04T00:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/61 "2005-06-05T05:30:27Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Originally Posted by Queen Tonya > Realizing that north-south highways are odd numbered and east-west are even was quite the revelation for me. > Yeah, in the Los Angeles this is violated, too. The 110 is N-S, the 91 is E-W, the 710 is N-S, the 105 is E-W. The numbering rules only apply to Interstate highways. For US and State highways, all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/62 "2005-06-05T05:56:51Z")
Lottery = Drawing lots. It took me until age 21 to make the connection. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/63 "2005-06-05T12:02:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [SDMB classic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=62082) Wow, thank you for linking to this. It made my wake-up time a lot more enjoyable, and allows me to come forth with this shameful confession: I was never a fan of _South Park_ when it began, but did see a few episodes at a friend’s house when it first was available in video stores. I somehow got things horribly confused in my mind and…ugh, do I really admit this? OK, well, I somehow thought that the guy who did the voice of Chef was the same guy who had played the bartender on _The Love Boat_ . No, I don’t know. I don’t. It was just a weird delusion that I was under until I had dinner with my then-boyfriend, his brother, and sister-in-law. They were all talking about South Park, and I mentioned how weird I found it that this guy who had played the bartender on _The Love Boat_ now was doing Chef’s voice. Like, what a range of talent this guy has! Who knew? They all looked at me totally thunderstruck, and I started giggling nervously, near hysterically. I somehow choked out, “Didn’t I tell you? That’s what Chris thought!” and semi-redeemed myself, but I have to think my flaming face gave me away. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/64 "2005-06-05T15:04:22Z")
Another one I might as well admit to, as it occurred here, was the fact that I thought Del Shannon the singer was the same person as Dell Shannon the author. I guess I just assumed the after “Runaway” dropped off the charts and his musical career faded, he picked up a pen and began writing mysteries. As several people pointed out, Del (aka Charles Westover) was no relation to Dell (aka Elizabeth Linington). At least nobody tried to claim it should have been obvious because everybody knows Del’s a boy’s name and Dell’s a girl’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/65 "2005-06-05T15:53:06Z")
You know the song “I’m No Angel” that came out in 1987? For seventeen years, from 1987 until 2004, I thought it was an Eddie Money song. In fact, when it came on the radio, I would say to the people around me, “This is the best song Eddie Money ever did.” Or, “I wonder why this song is so much better than any of Eddie Money’s other songs?” For seventeen years, no one gave me the correct answer to that question. Last year I was in the car with my husband, and the DJ on the radio said, “That was ‘I’m No Angel’ by Greg Allman.” I scoffed: “That wasn’t Greg Allman! That was Eddie Money!” My husband looked at me like I was insane and said, no, that was Greg Allman. I continued to argue. I knew that was an Eddie Money song. I had known it for seventeen years. When we got home I looked it up on the Internet to prove that I was right. :wally \<----- me. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/66 "2005-06-05T16:02:43Z")
I used to think that TBA was the hardest working band in show business. Man those guys played _everywhere!_ [sub]Sometimes in several different places in the same night, as it took me too long to notice.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Samaritan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bad\_Samaritan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Samaritan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/67 "2005-06-05T16:32:13Z")
I was like twenty-something before I realized it was ‘soap operas’ and not ‘soap boppers’ ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/68 "2005-06-05T17:07:21Z")
One more I thought of: I lived on my own for many, many years before I realized that putting aluminum foil down on a baking sheet before using it makes cleanup _much_ easier. 😃 > [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > For US and State highways, all bets are off. That’s [not entirely accurate](http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/highways.asp), either. 🙂 (I used to do public relations for a state highway administration, but these days Snopes can explain it better than I!) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/69 "2005-06-05T19:09:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Another one I might as well admit to, as it occurred here, was the fact that I thought Del Shannon the singer was the same person as Dell Shannon the author. > [@](#): > > You know the song “I’m No Angel” that came out in 1987? For seventeen years, from 1987 until 2004, I thought it was an Eddie Money song. > > In fact, when it came on the radio, I would say to the people around me, “This is the best song Eddie Money ever did.” Or, “I wonder why this song is so much better than any of Eddie Money’s other songs?” For seventeen years, no one gave me the correct answer to that question. It happens, man. For some time after I saw **Mulholland Drive** , I was gushing about how terrific Cameron Diaz was in her role. Luckily in my case, it was only a few days before I looked it up on IMDB. "…Oh. Naomi Watts. I see. :o :smack: " ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/70 "2005-06-05T19:24:20Z")
I will post as Bus Kid’s proxy. It was only this past week, that she realized when ordering, for example Cherry Rhubarb Pie, that Rhubarb referred to a food, and not a way of preparing the Cherry or the Pie. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/71 "2005-06-05T19:57:00Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > epi-tome is apparently pronounced epi-to-me. who knew? I taught myself most of the words I used through reading books and I didn’t have many adult friends to discuss them with so I use/used TONS of those. I’m also the second oldest in a large family and I taught all my younger siblings the wrong way to say a bunch of words. It used to drive my mom crazy. Besides that one, I used to say “crayon” “crown.” Despite reading all these books, I somehow did not learn to spell correctly and I consistantly spell/ed certain words wrong. I was in high school before someone pointed out to me that “does” is not spelled “dose” and “weird” is not “wierd.” **fetus** , they don’t all work like that but they should! It’s the same with exit signs. If the sign is on the right, the exit should be on the right, and if it is on the left, then the exit should be on the left. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/72 "2005-06-05T20:41:46Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > I remember when I first heard about the President giving the “State of the Union” address. I thought that was kind of odd, I mean there’s fifty states in the union. I wondered whether the governors gave “city of the state” adresses, etc. > > One day, years later, I realized that State of the Union referred to the _other_ kind of state, and thus State of the State addresses and even State of the City addresses make sense. And I used to think the Secretary of State did things like type, answer the phone, and take dictation. (ok, I was much younger at the time). I also thought the guy who lost a presidential election became the vice-president. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/73 "2005-06-05T22:54:47Z")
When I first learned about the Error function in statistics, it bothered me because it didn’t really have much to do with “error” or being wrong. It recently occured to me that “error” is another word for standard deviation, and then I made the connection and the name finally made sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/74 "2005-06-05T23:01:52Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I also thought the guy who lost a presidential election became the vice-president. When I was very little (under 6, I think), I believed this as well. Can you imagine if this were really true?! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/75 "2005-06-05T23:31:33Z")
I spelled “maybe” as “mabye” until embarrassingly late in life. ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/76 "2005-06-05T23:32:15Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I also thought the guy who lost a presidential election became the vice-president. > [@lorene](#): > > When I was very little (under 6, I think), I believed this as well. Can you imagine if this were really true?! \ Yeah, there’d be a lot more presidential assassinations. \ Regarding the OP, as a kid, I had a friend who thought all dogs were boys and all cats were girls (because that’s how they just happened to be in his house. Two male dogs, and two or three female cats.) Yes, we teased him mercilessly about it for years. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/77 "2005-06-06T00:36:24Z")
I had taken apart my computer for cleaning and repair. It’s really dusty here, and I smoke; so things can get nasty in there rather quickly. Also, the motherboard was attached to the case with only two screws, which made for some nasty vibrations and buzzing noises. After I got everything dusted out and fixed up, I tried to put it back together. But I forgot where exactly the reset, HD light, power, and all the other little wires plug into the motherboard. No problem, I just put the box back together as best I could and schlepped it down to my friend’s room, and asked if I could look up the motherboard manual online. He let me use his laptop (which is now mine), and I looked up the manual for a ABIT NF7 motherboard. I hooked it up, noticing that the manual’s motherboard had a few more pins than mine. I plugged it in and hit power, and nothing happened. I opened it back up, checked again, and wondered what the hell was up. That’s when I remembered I had traded my motherboard with another guy I work with, and I now had an ASUS board. That was stupid thing number one. Stupid thing number two happened after I tracked down the right manual and was plugging the things in. I took a close look at the motherboard, and lo and behold, _the proper places to plug those things in were **printed right there on the board.** _ I felt like a real genius, I tell you what. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/78 "2005-06-06T00:36:57Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I also thought the guy who lost a presidential election became the vice-president. This used to be true, so don’t feel so stupid! The Vice President was originally the one who received the second largest number of electorial votes but the 12th Amendment changed that. ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/79 "2005-06-06T01:01:06Z")
I just recently figured out what the overdrive button on my car does. One simple skill that I have yet to figure out is to be able to convert points of a compass to useful information. So if someone says “Go South on Ravenswood, then pull into the Northeast corner”, I react with 😕 "I’m sorry, but I don’t have a compass. Can you just tell me in left and right?” They would give an uncomfortable laugh, as if to say, “I’m sure you were making a joke, but it wasn’t very funny”. I don’t know how you people do it. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/80 "2005-06-06T01:29:20Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > The numbering rules only apply to Interstate highways. For US and State highways, all bets are off. The 680 and the 580 are called Interstates (though I’m pretty sure neither one extends outside of California) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=5)