# Things said to you that left you so dumbfounded you couldn't respond **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 5, 2013, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369 "2013-02-05T07:26:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/161 "2013-02-11T17:50:41Z")
From my days working at a local convience store: A truly stunning woman came in one night while we were fairly busy. She really did look like a red carpet type, tight black dress, tons of clevage, etc… She bought 4 cans of cheap 24oz booze. I asked her if she wanted the (traditional) paper bags for 'em, and she said: > [@](#): > > No thanks, I’m barebackin’ tonight. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/162 "2013-02-11T18:47:39Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > I was in Sequoia National Park, standing next to General Sherman, which is\*\* the largest tree on the entire planet\*\*. It’s just unbelievably huge, and there are signs everywhere, and tons of people gawking at it and taking pictures. This guy wanders up to me and says, “Um… isn’t there supposed to be a really big tree around here somewhere?” > > I didn’t even know how to respond. I’ll give the guy a little slack on that one. Last year I was on Nantucket, and was trying to find an ATM. After about half an hour of walking around, I walked up to a guy and asked if he knew where I could find one. He gave me this sort of dumbfounded look and pointed at the sign above our heads. The sign that said ATM in giant letters. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/163 "2013-02-11T19:23:21Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > The second one involves a **high school friend of hubby’s, all of whom seem to have names like Bubba, Orby or Huffy. This particular friend’s nickname was Stinky. Hubby had arranged for his friend to come by one morning** , while he was at work, to pick something up. (I added the bold.) Those names–Bubba, Orby, Huffy–fit right in with your husband’s nickname of Hubby. When I first saw that you were calling him Hubby, I wondered where that nickname came from…now I know it was leftover from childhood! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/164 "2013-02-11T19:33:58Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > all I can do is stand there in silence unable to spit out the only sentence I can formulate in my sleepy head, ‘you must be Stinky’. Years ago I came home from work to find that my stove wasn’t working. I told my roommate about it and we soon discovered that we also had no hot water. We came to the conclusion that our gas service must have been cut off. Not knowing if it was just us or if the whole neighborhood was out, I decided to check with our downstairs neighbor if her service was on. I knocked on her door, and when she answered, I asked “Do you have gas?” She just looked at me like this: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/165 "2013-02-11T19:39:13Z")
Actually this is singularly the only place I refer to him that way. I first saw it used here, read a thread about all the hate for the ‘Mr Elbows’ cuteness, found just an initial too police blotterish, and ’ significant other ', impossibly long if making reference to him more than once, so I settled on ‘Hubby’, as the least offensive. ( You know, for a moment, reading your post, I was afraid you recognized this group of people from the names I used! And knew whom I was referring to in real life! Whew!) ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/166 "2013-02-11T20:15:59Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > (I added the bold.) > Those names–Bubba, Orby, Huffy–fit right in with your husband’s nickname of Hubby. When I first saw that you were calling him Hubby, I wondered where that nickname came from…now I know it was leftover from childhood! Thanks! “Hubby” is short for husband. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/167 "2013-02-11T21:21:23Z")
Last February I commented to a cow-orker that I was glad to see the sun setting later. “Yeah,” she replied, “It must be that global warming.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/168 "2013-02-11T21:25:20Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I have seen [pictures, and while the Sherman is a really big tree, it is still a just a very big tree.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yLy3jj6O2Mo/TNB3N8WFOrI/AAAAAAAAG3s/zsi0aRMuaz4/s1600/IMG_2948.JPG) If you’ve heard stories of trees so big [they have made roads through them](http://i.slimg.com/sc/sl/photo/c/ca/CA-MeyersFlat-DriveThruRdwd-XL.jpg), (as I heard when i was a kid) and if you believe what CGI tells you, then the real world Sherman is a bit of a let down. Here’s a better perspective for you: [http://m3.i.pbase.com/g6/83/635583/2/73127473.TQxsdJeh.jpg](http://m3.i.pbase.com/g6/83/635583/2/73127473.TQxsdJeh.jpg) hth My ex’s Father came to visit while I was on disability leave after Celtling’s birth. I was talking about the pull to go back to work vs the pull to stay with Celtling. He said “Well, I’ve always said there’s nothing wrong with a woman working, as long as she can also get her housework done.” So I said, (in a very light, teasing tone) “Well, I make more money than your son does, and I work longer hours, so at what point does the housework become his responsibility?” He shouted a curse word and jumped out of his chair, then literally hopped like a bird (ankles together, flipping off his toes) across the rather large room, ending up facing me over by the fireplace. Then he just quietly walked back to his chair and sat down as if nothing had happened. :eek:😕:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/169 "2013-02-11T21:46:55Z")
Hahahaaa, TruCelt, what??? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/170 "2013-02-11T21:52:23Z")
Winner! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/171 "2013-02-11T22:00:58Z")
I’m dumbfounded just by the story! ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/172 "2013-02-11T22:28:15Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Hahaha… co worker and I are driving lost in Puerto Rico in the middle of the night and we can’t find the town of Salida… even though it MUST BE HUGE given all the exits that were marked for it. That’s terrific. Reminds me of my trip to Ft. Worth many moons ago. My sister had given me directions over the phone. I’m driving around and around and around in circles trying to find the road I need, named Kambooey. I’ve followed her directions exactly, she’d assured me that I wouldn’t have any trouble, I can’t figure out what the problem is. I finally stopped at a convenience store and asked. The clerk had no trouble translating to the 5 lane boulevard in front of his store…Camp Bowie. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/173 "2013-02-11T22:47:08Z")
I once hired a gal for a seasonal part-time position at a mall retail shop for what must have been her first real job. My assisstant managers let me know immediately after she started that she was missing shifts and also showing up at odd times. I sat down with her and she was totally confused about why I was concerned since she was accurately filling in her time sheet when she was there. It took me a bit to discover that she had absolutely no concept of working off a schedule. She thought that once I hired her she was free to come and go and work whenever it was convenient for her. Once I explained the concept of coming in to work when and only when scheduled (yes you will get warnings for not showing up for scheduled shifts, no I will not pay you for working random hours of your choice) she no longer wanted the job. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/174 "2013-02-12T01:56:03Z")
“Did you just have brain surgery?” This was posed to my daughter at an outdoor winter festival, she happened to take off her hat and expose her hair style (half a mohawk basically). That question threw us all off guard, we had to laugh the lady seemed somewht serious too. only later did we think of any inappropropriate replies. Still don’t think I’d go there but honestly??? ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/175 "2013-02-12T17:10:32Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I was living in Berlin and came back to the States for a visit to the old hometown. > Some questions people asked me: > > “Do you read German newspapers in German?” > > “Do they have trucks in Germany?” > Then again - while living in Berlin, Germans asked me: > > “Can I rent a horse and ride through Chicago?” > > “I read nobody has health insurance in America. Does everyone die when they get sick?” > > “I am renting a car in December in NYC and driving to Los Angeles - I have a week. What should I see and do on the way to LA and back?” As a kid (I’m mexican) I was visiting in Germany and went to school for 2 or 3 days. The kids asked some weird questions like, for instance “When you want to know what time it is, do you read the sun’s position?” (I was wearing a wristwatch by the way) My grandma took my to buy some groceries and proudly introduced me to everyone we mete. Two ladies said something like “Well… they’re humans too, aren’t they?” We (my parents, my two brothers and my sister) were in some town, I think in Bavaria. My brothers and me were wearing some Lederhosen, my sister a typical german dress (Dirndl). Some american(?) tourist saw us and asked my parents if they would mind if they took some pictures of us as “Typical german children”. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/176 "2013-02-12T17:24:34Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Hahahaaa, TruCelt, what??? I know, right? When I was writing it I thought, “the weirdest thing about this one will be that what he said was not what dumbfounded me.” But his misogyny was old hat by that time. I must have heard the phrase “hopping mad” a thousand times from my Georgia cousins, but I have only ever seen it that once. It was surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/177 "2013-02-12T19:27:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t know anything about this, but if sperm, eggs and embryos can be successfully frozen and reanimated, why can’t these things? Sperm, eggs, and embryos are very carefully frozen in processes that, among other things, use liquid nitrogen. The final sample gets much, much colder than a normal freezer. If you just tossed them in a freezer, unprocessed, their cell walls would rupture, leaving them very dead. It’s expensive and I guarantee that the pet shop wasn’t pulling lab-processed brine shrimp samples out of a liquid nitrogen container. > [@Enkel](#): > > . . . Him: “They only cost $3” (still looks as if he seriously thinks he has a chance that I’m going to say yes to this) . . . “Yes, honey, and there a guys right here that would do it for free.” Gah! You have my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/178 "2013-02-12T19:42:06Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Hahaha… co worker and I are driving lost in Puerto Rico in the middle of the night and we can’t find the town of Salida… even though it MUST BE HUGE given all the exits that were marked for it. We were driving half lost in Turkey (or, more knowing that we had a long route home and were looking for a short cut) when we saw the sign “Sehir Merkezi” and knew that we’d seen a sign pointing to there at our hotel. So, obviously, if we followed the signs there, we could then follow signs back out to the city. We followed that idea for about 20 minutes through the tiny, semi-paved streets of a tiny town and then gave up and went back to the highway to drive the long route home - where we kept seeing signs for “Sehir Merkezi” and realized that it probably wasn’t referring to a city. After we got back to the hotel, Google translate confirmed it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/179 "2013-02-12T20:43:23Z")
OK,I hereby vote that all people entering stories about language gaffes must translate for the rest of us. No fair sending 300 people off to Google Translate . . . ---
**Author:** ![Gesturing\_Mildly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@Gesturing\_Mildly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gesturing_Mildly)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369/180 "2013-02-12T21:13:43Z")
I was outside a Hardee’s once with my then-boyfriend. A little boy, maybe around eight, rode up on his bicycle. He barely slowed down, and on his way past, said to my boyfriend, “Hold my axe. I’m gonna go break stuff.” And yes, he handed over his axe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-said-to-you-that-left-you-so-dumbfounded-you-couldnt-respond/649369.md?page=10)