# Things that people get Very Wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958 "2012-07-12T02:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/121 "2012-07-16T06:57:46Z")
> [@campp](#): > > This x1000. My wife thinks the same thing. ☹ Then I guess I’d better make it x2000 > [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Coworker (looking through a house plan): “Whats the difference between twelve square meters and twelve meters square?” > > Me: _pause_ “Not much.” > > I gather she had gotten a little mixed up between the same measurement written as both 12sqm (in the document) & 12m[sup]2[/sup] (on the plan drawing). While she may have used the wrong veriage in looking at the measurements, if we just listened to her question, you are the wrong one and there is nothing silly about her question. The difference is 132m[sup]2[/sup]. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/122 "2012-07-16T07:23:43Z")
My father told of meeting a woman who was seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time and was not impressed. She was standcing at the water’s edge with the horizon about eight miles away. “I thought it would be bigger.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/123 "2012-07-16T07:25:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I know people who swear there is a road to Nome, Alaska, and that there are inter-island bridges in the Aleutians. In the stupid question department, a common tourist question in Juneau, AK (a coastal town) is “how far above sea level is Juneau?” The answer invariably is “at high tide or low tide?” Mind you, these are people who arrived on a cruise ship. I’ve encountered the opposite, people surprised that places which are at the seaside can be listed as having an elevation greater than zero. In Spain there’s two reasons for this: first, the elevation is given at City Hall (which may or may not be at the seashore) and second, it’s measured not “over the nearest bit of salty water” but “over the medium waterline in Alicante”, and apparently this and measurement error lead to things such as San Sebastián/Donosti having an altitude of 258m or Santander having 64. Barcelona, whose City Hall is further from its local shore than Donosti’s, clocks in at a bare 12m… ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/124 "2012-07-16T08:05:27Z")
We visited my husband’s father and stepmother this week. The list of things my mother-in-law is ignorant of would be very very long. Things she said during our visit: “I’m disabled now, but ‘they’ told me I can’t draw disability because I haven’t worked in more than ten years. I want all of that money back that I paid in all those years ago.” Upon getting a postcard about the grand opening of a new Goodwill location in the next town: “Wow! They’ve made it up here all the way from Jacksonville!” (" All the way" being about 80 miles. But she had no idea that Goodwill is more than a local thing. She was shocked when I said that there are stores all over the country. She used to work for one of their stores…) “Won’t the baby get hungry without a bottle?” (Asked while I was nursing the baby.) And so on. She’s a nice enough lady, but dear Lord she’s dumb! ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/125 "2012-07-16T08:09:47Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Coworker (looking through a house plan): “Whats the difference between twelve square meters and twelve meters square?” > > Me: _pause_ “Not much.” > > I gather she had gotten a little mixed up between the same measurement written as both 12sqm (in the document) & 12m[sup]2[/sup] (on the plan drawing). Should I feel stupid? to me 12 sq metres means 3m x 4m (or whatever variation you like) while 12 metres square = 12metres x 12 metres… ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/126 "2012-07-16T08:54:36Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > People who think the US federal government created the states and can tell them what to do. If you live in Illinois, I have some bad news for you: [Northwest Ordinance - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Ordinance) > [@Kenm](#): > > Have fun with it. > > Tell him that it would leave _more_ oxygen in the air, leading to exploding forests from lightning that very quickly will destroy the entire earth. Yeah, let’s confuse climate issues in voters’ minds with Calvin’s-Dadding. :rolleyes: Then again, it’s sequestration, which is kooky anyway. > [@x1not0time](#): > > That America is a democracy. Yeah, wonder where they got that idea. [http://abundancesecrets.com/motivational-posters/index.php?item=5153415](http://abundancesecrets.com/motivational-posters/index.php?item=5153415) > [@ThreadPirateRoberts](#): > > Back on topic, my mother, a previous member of the teeming millions told me that glass was a liquid. If it as you say, is not could someone help fight the ignorance and tell me why old glass is thicker at the bottom than the top and looks as though it has drips in it? It’s formed as a liquid and vitrified instead of crystallized when it cools. I’ve got one. People who think “democracy” and “republic” mean arbitrary random things instead of the obvious “government by the people/nation.” I blame a particular political party for this. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/127 "2012-07-16T11:05:59Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Should I feel stupid? > > to me 12 sq metres means 3m x 4m (or whatever variation you like) while 12 metres square = 12metres x 12 metres… Not at all. Must be a local notational thing. Areas were either written in the standard format (XXm[sup]2[/sup]) or the room dimensions were given. … I guess it lost a bit in translation, or I’ve been hanging around with drafts-men too long :). In context it was like asking “What’s the difference between 3 x 4 and 4 x 3?” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/128 "2012-07-16T11:42:59Z")
I think it just lost a bit in verbalization. My first off-context reaction would be the same as **bengagmo** ’s, but the context does make it silly. Which reminds me of something people manage to get amazingly wrong. I’m reading a detective novel; the writer doesn’t seem to be able to decide whether he wants to be Dashiell Hammett\* or García Lorca, and he sure isn’t either one. The dimensions he describes are not quite impossible but often close: a 2m[sup]2[/sup] room with a desk, three chairs, metal drawers with hanging folders (the ones in this office are 70cm deep, I just checked)… and the door opens in. Sure, dude. Here: take 1€, go to a 60-cents-or-more store and buy a metric tape… (those 2m[sup]2[/sup] of his would have to be the best-distributed Tetris ever) \*I’m glad I looked it up: that’s a lot of double letters! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/129 "2012-07-16T11:59:01Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I have a faint memory of my Grade 2 teacher telling us that earwigs are so named because they try to get into your ears, and when they do they burrow into your brain and cause brain damage. This idea comes from a Roald Dahl short story (and was made into an episode of the Night Gallery in the early '70s). Because the idea is fiction–earwigs don’t do this–my father refuses to believe in the existence of earwigs at all. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/130 "2012-07-16T12:11:44Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#): > > So, the hundreds of times you’ve seen it done, was in your own window?:dubious: > > I know that’s not what you meant. You’re correct. That isn’t even close to being my point. > [@](#): > > But wouldn’t it be annoying if I had taken that one little thing, and told you that you were not making sense? And then answer one of your questions in a way that makes it obvious, that I understand the question. And once again, remind you that I don’t understand? I have no idea what any of that is supposed to mean. > [@](#): > > Is it so hard for you to believe, that you and I have seen different types of fan usage? No, that would be your issue. Your declarations on the right and wrong way to use a box fan are the reason people responded to you in the first place. Some posters dropped in to point out that there are various useful ways to cool a room with a box fan, and you argued with them. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/131 "2012-07-16T12:25:19Z")
> [@ThreadPirateRoberts](#): > > \can someone please link to this thread? pretty please? For future reference, all you have to do is google [url=[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851)]The Horror of Blimps (title of original thread). back on topic: My brother met a fellow in college who believed that it got cold because it snowed. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/132 "2012-07-16T12:55:39Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > This idea comes from a Roald Dahl short story… RD may have used the idea, but he certainly didn’t invent it. The OED has precedents going back to the year 1000. [Snopes article.](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/bugear.asp) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/133 "2012-07-16T13:06:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Tourists frequently ask for a town’s elevation? Really? Who on earth, stupid or smart, would be interested in that, or think to ask that question? It’s a very common question if you live in the mountains. In Colorado, we don’t put the population on the town sign. We put the elevation. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/134 "2012-07-16T13:23:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > For future reference, all you have to do is google [url=[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851)]The Horror of Blimps (title of original thread). > > back on topic: > > My brother met a fellow in college who believed that it got cold because it snowed. On a related note, people who grew up where it never snows often equate “snow” with “cold”. It’s difficult for them to understand that it only snows when it’s actually pretty warm, northern-winter-wise (like, between about 20 and 35 degrees F). When it gets truly cold, it DOESN’T snow (though it’s true there still may be snow lying on the ground). Related to this is the assumption of some people from some climate regions that “sun”=“warm” and “clouds”=“cooler”. In temperate climates, from late fall to early spring, pretty much the opposite is true. Clear days and, especially, clear nights, usually mean FREAKIN’ COLD. Cloud cover in winter means “not so cold, usually” – because the clouds trap the energy re-radiating from the Earth, like a blanket. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/135 "2012-07-16T13:27:49Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Should I feel stupid? > > to me 12 sq metres means 3m x 4m (or whatever variation you like) while 12 metres square = 12metres x 12 metres… Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/136 "2012-07-16T13:35:55Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > On a related note, people who grew up where it never snows often equate “snow” with “cold”. It’s difficult for them to understand that it only snows when it’s actually pretty warm, northern-winter-wise (like, between about 20 and 35 degrees F). When it gets truly cold, it DOESN’T snow (though it’s true there still may be snow lying on the ground). > > Related to this is the assumption of some people from some climate regions that “sun”=“warm” and “clouds”=“cooler”. In temperate climates, from late fall to early spring, pretty much the opposite is true. Clear days and, especially, clear nights, usually mean FREAKIN’ COLD. Cloud cover in winter means “not so cold, usually” – because the clouds trap the energy re-radiating from the Earth, like a blanket. Me, I love assumptions that the weather changes drastically at the lines in the map (rather than at, say, mountain ranges) or that there’s places where the weather is exactly the same every single day: even in tropical locations, there’s days it rains and days it doesn’t… “Oooh, you’re from Navarre! That’s the north! It’s cold!”… uuuh, except when not, I mean, usually in the southern half it only gets below 0ºC once a year (exactly once a year) and summer temperatures in that same southern half exceed 36ºC routinely, but hey, if all you can think of is the fact that we have one (count it: 1) sky station, go ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/137 "2012-07-16T14:45:57Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > “Oooh, you’re from Navarre! That’s the north! It’s cold!” You know, in Canada people live in igloos and polar bears roam the streets. 😃 (I live about four miles from the border. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/138 "2012-07-16T14:49:15Z")
And all of you ice-skate to work? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/139 "2012-07-16T15:09:45Z")
Not me. I’m four miles _south_ of the border! Anyway, I think most of them commute on snow machines nowadays. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/140 "2012-07-16T15:16:18Z")
I realized that little detail after posting… so what is the weather like where you are, rain all day was it? Question brought to you courtesy of the following story: a coworker from our Washington State factory mentioned going down to the beach. Someone else asked “:eek: there’s beaches there? :eek:” Silence. Then a third coworker said “Washington State, not DC. It’s on the sea, yes there’s beaches.” “But it rains all the time!” That’s when the people from Washington took offense, having held back so far… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958.md?page=8)