# Stupidity you have heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761 "2014-08-04T05:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/21 "2014-08-04T19:30:36Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > A young lady I once worked with declared it was unsafe to look directly at a \*lunar \*eclipse. When I asked her if she knew what caused a lunar eclipse, she said, “Isn’t that when the sun gets between the earth and the moon and casts a shadow?” That reminds me of a \* Twilight Zone \* episode. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/22 "2014-08-04T19:46:16Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > A friend and I were discussing her plans to go hiking in Denali, when a neighbor of hers said “I think you are very brave to hike in Africa.” You know, I’ll cop to also believing this (not the danger part). I was, until recently, completely unaware that McKinley was also called Denali. And Denali has a vaguely African sounding name, so I kind of assumed it was in Africa without really thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/23 "2014-08-04T19:56:44Z")
This may be a more personal/political annoyance, but the province of Quebec is not a country, and I hear it being referred to as a country rather often. Though this may be less of stupidity and more of people’s political views not being the same as mine. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/24 "2014-08-04T20:11:52Z")
The owner of the dropzone that my college skydiving club trained at took me aside one time and said that she was worried about one of the exchange students who was in class, “I think there may be a language problem”. I told her that he was from Scotland. Then I had to tell her that they speak English there. She looked at me rather incredulously. (This was in Indiana) ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/25 "2014-08-04T20:35:05Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > The owner of the dropzone that my college skydiving club trained at took me aside one time and said that she was worried about one of the exchange students who was in class, “I think there may be a language problem”. > > I told her that he was from Scotland. Then I had to tell her that they speak English there. When I was in college, I got to spend three weeks in London as part of a study group. We took a train to Edinburgh for a weekend, and we weren’t sure how our return tickets worked, so Sunday evening we were on the platform looking for information. We spoke to a porter, and while I’m sure he was speaking English, I couldn’t understand a word he said. So Scottish English, depending on the speaker, could well be a foreign language. My contribution: Many years ago I was at an after-work party. We were playing Trivial Pursuit, and one of my college-educated co-workers read a question. The other player didn’t know the answer, and the co-worker said “It’s … A-DOLPH? Hitler? I think. Not sure how to pronounce that.” He had no idea who Hitler was. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/26 "2014-08-04T20:42:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > … > A conversation I had more times than I can count over the years: > > “Where are you from?” > “Anchorage, Alaska.” > “Oh, do you know Sam Jones? He lives in Anchorage.” > “It’s a big place. . .” > “He’s tall and skinny and has a mustache. . .?” > “Nope, sorry.” > “Oh, everybody knows Sam!” > > Usually, my patience would wear out somewhere in there and I would have to explain that there are a half-million people scattered over an equal number of square miles, and that Anchorage has about half that population. I still get that question on occasion, from otherwise intelligent people. Texan here – I’ve had that one, too. “Oh, really, you’re from Texas? Do you know my cousin Bob? He lives in San … San … San Something. Know him?” I’ve also been asked what the capitol of New England is. He was all “Well, all the other states have capitols!” ---
**Author:** ![codgerone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@codgerone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codgerone)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/27 "2014-08-04T21:13:23Z")
Teenage girls on a train today. “OMG I feel such a connection with so and so. It’s amazing how often I think of him/her and then minutes later I get a text!!!. It’s like we have this totally incredible psychic connection!!!” I just wanted to lean over and say “look up confirmation bias you daft cow.” And meanwhile STFU. Yes I’m a grumpy old git. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/28 "2014-08-04T22:29:02Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > When I was in college, I got to spend three weeks in London as part of a study group. We took a train to Edinburgh for a weekend, and we weren’t sure how our return tickets worked, so Sunday evening we were on the platform looking for information. We spoke to a porter, and while I’m sure he was speaking English, I couldn’t understand a word he said. So Scottish English, depending on the speaker, could well be a foreign language. > > My contribution: Many years ago I was at an after-work party. We were playing Trivial Pursuit, and one of my college-educated co-workers read a question. The other player didn’t know the answer, and the co-worker said “It’s … A-DOLPH? Hitler? I think. Not sure how to pronounce that.” > > He had no idea who Hitler was. Similar anecdote, just about two weeks ago. With a very wealthy, but very stupid, client of mine. We were talking about our familys’ origins and I said my mother’s family was Jewish and was luckily able to get out of “Hitler’s Germany” to the US while the getting was good. Very Stupid Client: Whaaaaa…? I thought Hitler was Jewish. Me: No, he was the guy who ordered Jews into concentration camps and was responsible for about six million deaths. VSC: So he wasn’t on the side of the Jews? Me: No. Next day. VSC: I asked my husband about Hitler last night. He said Hitler was a Jew! Me: Umm, I really don’t think so. VSC: Well that’s what Dave said. He watches the History Channel a lot. Me: OK. Actually due to that exchange, I now know that there is what appears to be an urban legend that [Hitler’s paternal grandfather was Jewish](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitlerjew.html). But everything I’ve read since suggests that is an urban legend. But in any case, VSC had decided that what her husband (also Very Rich and Very Stupid) said was The Word because, you know, he watches the History Channel and that was that. They are among us. And They vote. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/29 "2014-08-04T22:37:43Z")
I worked with one young woman who would not, would not, would not believe that owls are birds. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/30 "2014-08-05T03:46:33Z")
I watched a piece on genetically modified foods and the reporter asked customers in the supermarket whether they had any issues eating GMO food. One person stated that they wouldn’t eat anything with DNA in it. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/31 "2014-08-05T04:02:08Z")
A friend dropped by once with a woman she knew, whom I had never met. I had some extra eggs from my chickens and gave a dozen to my friend, then turned to the other one and asked if she would like a dozen eggs, too. “Oh, no, thanks,” she said. “I never eat eggs from chickens, just the ones from the store.” Ah. Ok. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/32 "2014-08-05T04:07:18Z")
I had a co-worker once ask me which came first: the American Revolution or the American Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/33 "2014-08-05T04:15:08Z")
I had an argument with my 8th grade _geography teacher_ who refused to believe me when I tried to tell her that the capital of Brazil is Brasilia, not Rio de Janeiro. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/34 "2014-08-05T04:19:04Z")
Caught a complaint call at the dealership. Guy needed an oddball (as in we had never sold one before) trim piece for a 2010 model car. He was livid that we did not have it in stock. I tried to explain that no dealership can have every part for every car on the shelf at all times. He wasn’t buying it. He swore that we were incompetent and he was going to call the car maker. Here is the number sir, have a nice day ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/35 "2014-08-05T04:28:57Z")
I was once sitting somewhere, (some kind of function, like a fundraiser) having a conversation with some guy I had just met who was friends with my sister. As I was talking, I grabbed both of my legs and folded them into an “indian-style” position on my lap (in my wheelchair). I do this all the time and half the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it; it’s just like an ‘autopilot’ kind of action. Well a couple minutes later, as we were still talking, this guy looks at me with a sort of hesitant, unsure and kind of confused look on his face and asks me, "So I seen you move your legs there. So, you ain’t paralyzed then, huh? :smack: “Um, no actually, “paralyzed” and “petrified” are not in fact synonyms.” (_Ok I didn’t actually say that last line, I just thought of it **after** _) 🆒 But a surprisingly not-insignificant number of people apparently think that’s what being paralyzed means. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/36 "2014-08-05T04:29:38Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > I worked with one young woman who would not, would not, would not believe that owls are birds. Should have told her that owls are dinosaurs. 🙂 > [@dasmoocher](#): > > I watched a piece on genetically modified foods and the reporter asked customers in the supermarket whether they had any issues eating GMO food. > > One person stated that they wouldn’t eat anything with DNA in it. Let’s see… I think that limits them to salt and water. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/37 "2014-08-05T04:31:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I had an argument with my 8th grade _geography teacher_ who refused to believe me when I tried to tell her that the capital of Brazil is Brasilia, not Rio de Janeiro. You just reminded me of my 7th grade History teacher. He was logging everyone’s known ancestry on the blackboard and didn’t believe me when I said my grandmother was Slovenian. He said there was no such place and logged her as Slovackian. I told him that currently (at that time) Slovenia is a part of Yugoslavia but that they are their own region with their own language and he chose to deny it. That was the first time I had real experience of an adult choosing ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/38 "2014-08-05T06:19:44Z")
On more than one occasion, I have explained to people that Shania Twain is NOT the great granddaughter of Mark Twain. Most of the time they think I’m full of it when I try to explain a pen name. Catholic elementary school, a nun gives me detention for bringing “devil toys” to school. The toy? Evel Kneival action figure and wind up bike. I explained he Had a German name. She thought it was “Evil Can Evil”. She was a novice though. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/39 "2014-08-05T07:56:26Z")
I didn’t hear this one - my dad did - but I’m posting it anyway. He worked with a woman who said that it was good to dry cloth diapers in the sun because the baby could get vitamin D that way. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/40 "2014-08-05T08:17:01Z")
A woman who has had an ovary removed will have children of only one sex. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=3)