# Stuff you were embarrassed that you didn't know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206 "2010-11-19T06:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/101 "2010-11-22T21:52:35Z")
Nat King Cole? Black. Joe Cocker? White. I had my world rocked when I discovered both of these things at the age of twenty-one. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/102 "2010-11-22T22:10:44Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > And here’s a [Venn diagram](http://qntm.org/uk)! Some dots not shown. For example, the Isle of Man is within the British Isles and the UK, but outside Great Britain and Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/103 "2010-11-22T22:26:36Z")
Bus-related. I had ridden the city bus a few times. It invariably stopped where I wanted to get off, because other people were getting off. So I’m on it kind of late at night, and it turns out there are only a couple of other people on the bus, and they don’t want to get off where I do. I know there’s a way to make the bus stop. I don’t know what it is. So I ride along, blocks farther than I want to go, and finally the creepiest guy on the bus reaches up and pulls this little wire that I hadn’t even noticed. I don’t want to get off the same place as Creepy Guy so I don’t pull it until we start up again. I get left off in a very weird location (but at least no Creepy Guy) about 20 blocks from where I want to be, in the cold and the dark. But at least now I know how to stop the bus! Yes, I kind of felt like an idiot. But in order to be embarrassed, I think someone has to observe your discomfiture, and there was no one around. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/104 "2010-11-22T22:34:30Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > the Isle of Man is within…the UK Oops. Strictly speaking, the Isle of Man isn’t in the UK, though it is a dependency thereof. So it should be a green dot, inside the big blue circle but outside all the others, with a little string attaching it to the UK circle, or something. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/105 "2010-11-22T22:50:20Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > There was a teacher I once had, it might have been in middle school, or maybe grade school, who told us to only call it a lavatory. We couldn’t call it a restroom because we didn’t go in there to rest, and we couldn’t call it a bathroom because we weren’t going in there to take a bath. :rolleyes: In that case I think, “Shitter,” or, “Pisser,” would have been perfectly justified responses. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/106 "2010-11-23T00:07:07Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I don’t want to get off the same place as Creepy Guy so I don’t pull it until we start up again. I get left off in a very weird location (but at least no Creepy Guy) about 20 blocks from where I want to be, in the cold and the dark. But at least now I know how to stop the bus! Related: A university roommate of mine was riding the bus with me and another roommate one day as we were on our way to some suburb or another. As such in that part of the world, the bus hopped onto the highway for a brief spell before getting off to the next exit (and bus stop). As we were coming up to the exit for the next stop, I told my roommate to pull the cord, because I couldn’t reach it. First Roommate _freaked out_. “Are you CRAZY?” she asks, panicking. “Do you WANT them to LEAVE us here on the SIDE of the HIGHWAY? In the SNOW? In the COLD?” My other roommate and I looked at each other before realizing that she had never been exposed to the wide world of…bus stops. We had to educate her on how the bus worked. Apparently it had never occurred to her that it would be more time efficient if the bus stopped at regulated points along the way, rather than just screeching to a halt at the side of the road to disgorge people into the gutter every couple of feet. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/107 "2010-11-23T00:20:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Oops. Many years ago I ran a D&D adventure with a “gibbering mouther” in it, and pronounced it with a hard G, as I’d always done in my head. A friend kept calling it a “jibbering mouther,” and I was too polite to correct him, but I carefully pronounced it with the hard G, hoping he’d pick up on the correct pronunciation. > > That’s a little embarrassing. For some reason that scenario just makes me laugh. Two people sure that they’re correct, too polite to do anything but keep repeating the word. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/108 "2010-11-23T00:35:19Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > This is incorrect too: England is a subdivision of the island of Great Britain, which is shared with Scotland and Wales - not the other way round. [Here’s a diagram](http://www.crowaptok.com/images/british_isles.gif) to help furriners understand our geography. (And yes, as mentioned there was a bit of France known as Brittania Minor.) To be fair to my Brit friends, they probably explained it correctly and I have reported it incorrectly. To be fair to me, we were drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/109 "2010-11-23T07:44:52Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I had no idea until a two minutes ago that Stevie Nicks is a woman. I’m 31. I find it mildy amusing that someone would think that [this](http://images.google.com/images?as_q=&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=stevie+nicks&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgtype=&imgsz=&imgw=&imgh=&imgar=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images&as_st=y&biw=1024&bih=619) is a man. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/110 "2010-11-23T08:05:21Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > I find it mildy amusing that someone would think that [this](http://images.google.com/images?as_q=&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=stevie+nicks&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgtype=&imgsz=&imgw=&imgh=&imgar=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images&as_st=y&biw=1024&bih=619) is a man. 😉 Like I said, that’s clearly Lindsey Buckingham. And [this is Stevie Nicks](http://www.google.com/images?q=lindsey%20buckingham&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1239&bih=867). (It’s their fault! They both have wrong sex names! And are in the same band!) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/111 "2010-11-23T10:07:26Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > **Nava** , it never occurred to me that people in other parts of the world might not get that “Auld Lang Syne” means it’s New Years, which probably makes the whole rest of the thing a little confusing - there’s always champagne, and traditionally people kiss at midnight, and all sorts of little thing. But there aren’t other things which are associated with New Year’s in other cultures, and neither of the two additional clues you mention (champagne and kissing at midnight) are associated with New Year’s in Spain. Cava gets more publicity around Christmas, but it’s often used as a dessert wine, or just a celebration wine: you’ll find it in pretty much any banquets. My college’s girls basketball team celebrated the defeat of a foe of theirs by buying several boxes of Anna de Codorniu and inviting everybody (except said foe) - good cava in plastic cups. Cheap cava is one of the two main ingredientes of sorbete, which is a summer dessert (as the other half is ice cream and it’s served chilled). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/112 "2010-11-23T15:59:18Z")
Regarding Ms. Nicks, I remember being about nine and looking at a rock magazine that had a pitcure of her and some record executive or whatever and I couldn’t grasp that her name was actually Stevie. I assumed it had to be a misprint. I think I have you all beat when I say as recently as six months ago I needed to use a neighbor’s cell phone and didn’t have a clue how to operate it. Talk about shame. I just got my first phone - a Tracfone to keep in my car - and I figured out how to make a call but beyond that, no clue. It apparently has some nifty stuff on it too, but I just can’t get into it. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/113 "2010-11-23T16:27:16Z")
May I just add that I saw Ms Nicks perform on stage last winter and I must say I still find her very beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/114 "2010-11-23T17:03:07Z")
I never blinked twice when hearing Stevie Nick’s name and thought “Stevie” was a perfectly cromulent, if odd, name for a woman. Now, the name of the actress Michael Learned (last name has two syllables), on the other hand … ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/115 "2010-11-23T17:05:17Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > My other roommate and I looked at each other before realizing that she had never been exposed to the wide world of…bus stops. We had to educate her on how the bus worked. Apparently it had never occurred to her that it would be more time efficient if the bus stopped at regulated points along the way, rather than just screeching to a halt at the side of the road to disgorge people into the gutter every couple of feet. Interestingly, in my current town that is exactly how the bus system works. There is a set route and you pull the cord to get off where you want to- no set bus stops. Of course this made no sense to me, having ridden buses with specific bus stops, and it took me years (not riding the bus but just driving around town) to realize why I never saw bus stop signs, but lots of city buses. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/116 "2010-11-23T17:07:11Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Interestingly, in my current town that is exactly how the bus system works. There is a set route and you pull the cord to get off where you want to- no set bus stops. Of course this made no sense to me, having ridden buses with specific bus stops, and it took me years (not riding the bus but just driving around town) to realize why I never saw bus stop signs, but lots of city buses. Where do people get on? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/117 "2010-11-23T17:13:38Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Where do people get on? At the corner? That’s the way it worked in my town back when I rode the bus (and presumably still does). I don’t remember whether there were signs or not, but if you wanted to ride the bus, you stood at the corner somewhere along the route, and the bus would stop and let you on. (And if nobody was stopping there, the bus wouldn’t stop, unless someone on the bus rang for a stop. There were also a couple of places along the route where the bus would stop and wait if it was running ahead of schedule.) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/118 "2010-11-23T17:44:48Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > At the corner? > > That’s the way it worked in my town back when I rode the bus (and presumably still does). I don’t remember whether there were signs or not, but if you wanted to ride the bus, you stood at the corner somewhere along the route, and the bus would stop and let you on. (And if nobody was stopping there, the bus wouldn’t stop, unless someone on the bus rang for a stop. There were also a couple of places along the route where the bus would stop and wait if it was running ahead of schedule.) But… _any_ corner? How would a bus know if a person standing there was waiting for the bus or for something else? Man, that totally sounds like a system that would be hard as crap for an outsider to grok. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/119 "2010-11-23T17:55:56Z")
I thought of this thread this morning when my husband and I were on our way to our cycling class. It’s very cold here, and one of our vehicles wouldn’t start this morning. So we drove down together and I said something about it being colder today then yesterday, around -25C. He said ‘Yeah, yesterday it was -30C something something windshield.’ I said ‘How do you know what temperature the windshield was?’ I was dead serious - I thought he had put something in the truck that will tell you the external temperature and the read out was on the windshield or something…and then it dawned on me! ‘Did you just say windshield for wind chill?’ :eek: ‘It’s wind chill?’ He was embarrassed and quickly changed the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206/120 "2010-11-23T18:15:08Z")
Watching sports, as a kid, I would hear references to “veteran defenceman” and stuff like that. I used to think veteran athletes were former war vets. I used to wonder what war they had fought in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-were-embarrassed-that-you-didnt-know/561206.md?page=7)