# Surprised by ignorance
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 3, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875 "2003-05-03T16:49:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/1 "2003-05-03T16:49:58Z")
Obviously, all of us here are superior intellects who know all. But them people out there…
Okay, maybe it’s not nice to point out the ignorance of others. But it’s fun. And I was surprised twice yesterday when I made a reference and the person I was talking to had no idea what I was talking about.
The first was when I mentioned Joseph Goebbels. I know I’m a history buff, but I thought Goebbels was a well-known figure. But the person I was talking to had no idea who he was.
Then a few hours later, I was talking to another person about Tom Cruise and I mentioned about him being a scientologist. The person I was talking to said, “a what?” A brief discussion revealed she had never heard of scientology and had no idea what it was.
So let’s share. Who else has been surprised when someone didn’t know something you thought everyone knew?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/2 "2003-05-03T17:00:53Z")
I bump up against the void pretty often. I’m not so surprised when people don’t recognize a name, but it’s not that rare to encounter an adult who is unaware of WWII or some such.
But I thought most people knew Goebbels was lead singer for Adi and the Brownies.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/3 "2003-05-03T17:25:07Z")
I can’t cite specific instances damned failing memory… but there have been several times when I had conversations and tossed out a comment or a reference that I thought was fairly commonplace, and the person I was talking to was clueless. There were a couple of times I honestly thought the other person was pulling my leg about not understanding. I don’t like to come off as a know-it-all and I realize that not everyone has had a broad education, so I try to tailor my allusions to my audience. I don’t always succeed.
Every once in a while, someone will say they don’t understand what I meant and I can do a little educating. I try very hard not to sound condescending. Sometimes the things people don’t know can boggle the mind.
Wish I could remember specifics. Stupid brain.
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### Author:  [@Crystal\_Task](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystal_Task)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/4 "2003-05-03T17:32:03Z")
I don’t think its fun, OR fair to point out the apparent ‘ignorance’ of other people. Sure there are some stupid people but just because someone didn’t know Goebbles was head of nazi propaganda in WWII or whatever dosn’t mean they should automatically be dubbed ‘ignorant’.
I think the only reason you think its fun to point out the short-comings of others is because either;
a) you’re really full of yourself
b) you’re really insecure and need to make other people look dumb or bad so you can feel better about yourself.
How do you like 'dem apples, Will Hunting?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/5 "2003-05-03T17:57:23Z")
You know, Crystal, there are many brands of decaf that taste every bit as good as regular coffee.
That said, I’d point out that I used ignorance in the literal sense, not the general one you used. Ignorance simply means not knowing something; someone who doesn’t know Goebbels was the Nazi Minister of Propaganda is indeed ignorant of that fact. You’re the only person here who’s used the “s-word”.
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### Author:  [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/6 "2003-05-03T18:02:20Z")
A friend was over recently and did not know, nor had ever heard of, a kiwi fruit.
I found that rather odd.
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### Author:  [@Crystal\_Task](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystal_Task)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/7 "2003-05-03T18:02:24Z")
lol I wish you could see how many people in my family and friends rolled their eyes to that attempted haiku, what are you?
some american yuppie?
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### Author:  [@mishaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mishaa)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/8 "2003-05-03T18:06:33Z")
Why, just yesterday I cracked myself up! While at the office, I had to call a co-worker about the Franco file.
I got the giggles - Tee hee Franco file = francophile. They didn’t find it amusing when I used a french accent. Then again, I am known there for my weird sense of humor.
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### Author:  [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/9 "2003-05-03T18:14:04Z")
I mentioned to my parents that my wife and I were reading Lovecraft. They thought it was some sort of guide to marital relations, rather than one of the pioneers of horror fiction from the 1930’s.
I met someone who thought that birds were mammals. That seemed like a serious gap in their knowledge of zoology.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/10 "2003-05-03T18:25:11Z")
Mr. Butrscotch has a huge gap in his cultural knowledge, from about '83 to '96, when he was living in various parts of Asia and for much of it didn’t have a TV, and even when he did didn’t watch much American TV.
OTOH, there are GOOD kinds if ignorance, if his failure to know who Kathy Lee Gifford and the Olsen Twins are is any indication. 😃
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### Author:  [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/11 "2003-05-03T18:25:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Crystal Task \*
> \*\*lol I wish you could see how many people in my family and friends rolled their eyes to that attempted haiku, what are you?
> some american yuppie? \*\*
Have I been wooshed? What haiku?
Or am I profoundly ignorant?
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/12 "2003-05-03T18:38:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lyllyan \*
> \*\*A friend was over recently and did not know, nor had ever heard of, a kiwi fruit.
> I found that rather odd. \*\*
That reminds me, I dated a guy for a while who was unaware that lettuce came in other varieties than iceberg. If it was green, he thought it was “cabbage.”
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### Author:  [@mishaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mishaa)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/13 "2003-05-03T18:58:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lorinada \*
> \*\*Have I been wooshed? What haiku?
> Or am I profoundly ignorant? \*\*
I really wouldn’t worry about it. In an amazing coincidence, the first 2 forums I read this afternoon, Ms. Trask has posted in each. Both times she failed to make a solid point, and in the other one was reduced to a single word post, calling someone an A-hole. I don’t think she will last long here…
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### Author:  [@mishaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mishaa)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/14 "2003-05-03T19:03:48Z")
I have a Far Side cartoon on my wall at work. It shows a Butler Convention, and in the middle of a group of butlers is a dead body, and 2 cops. One cops says “God, Collins, I hate to start a Monday with a case like this”
The majority of people who read it told me that they didn’t get the joke! I put a post it note underneath, saying “The **BUTLER** did it.”
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/15 "2003-05-03T19:34:05Z")
I know people who don’t get the classic “Midvale School For The Gifted” Far Side.
For those who don’t know…
We see a kid pushing against a door, and it looks like he’s been there a while. A big sign on the door says “PULL”. The sign on the lawn says “Midvale School For The Gifted.”
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/16 "2003-05-04T00:26:27Z")
I don’t get _Far Side_.
Because Larson retired, you see. So… I no longer “get it” in my daily newspaper funnies.
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### Author:  [@sirkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirkle)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/17 "2003-05-04T00:56:10Z")
I worked with a guy once who was ignorant as to who Garth Brooks was. Everyone was like “You have to be kidding?!”
I am continually ignorant of pop culture stuff, since I don’t really watch TV.
At the moment, I’m ignorant as to the giant black box I see in relationship to Spoilers! Would someone PLEASE enlighten me.
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### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/18 "2003-05-04T01:20:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mishaa \*
> \*\*I have a Far Side cartoon on my wall at work. It shows a Butler Convention, and in the middle of a group of butlers is a dead body, and 2 cops. One cops says “God, Collins, I hate to start a Monday with a case like this”
>
> The majority of people who read it told me that they didn’t get the joke! I put a post it note underneath, saying “The **BUTLER** did it.” \*\*
And your point is…what exactly?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/19 "2003-05-04T01:55:50Z")
using [brackets], put the word spoiler in one, write the spoiler, then put another set of [brackets] and put /spoiler in that.
Voila!
My mother didn’t know who Slobodan Milosevic was, nor did she remember our involvment in Kosovo.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprised-by-ignorance/172875/20 "2003-05-04T02:20:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sirkle \*
> **I worked with a guy once who was ignorant as to who Garth Brooks was. Everyone was like “You have to be kidding?!”
> …**
I have only the barest inkling of who Garth Brooks is. And I like it that way.
I once worked in an office that handled bills of lading for a large corporation (IBM). I noticed one of the pieces of paper I was filing was in relation to a package that had been sent to Carl Sagan, the astronomer and author of the book _Cosmos_, which was made into a famous and widely seen TV miniseries in the 80s. At the time Dr. Sagan was a professor at Cornell, and pretty much a household name. He was the guy Johnny Carson from the tonight show was imitating when he used to say “BILLy-uns and BILLy-uns”
I mentioned to my mother that I had seen this bill sent to “Dr. Carl Sagan, Cornell University, etc. etc.” and I thought it was kind of cool. A brush with fame, if you will. She said “Who’s Carl Sagan?”
When telling this story later to my girlfriend at the time, she looked at me really perplexedly and asked “Well, who IS Carl Sagan?”
I guess its just me.
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