# Things you are shocked people don't know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348 "2016-09-19T14:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/61 "2016-09-20T04:27:16Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > What do you mean by this? The only thing he really has to do is cast a tie-breaking vote, which I don’t think has happened in my lifetime, and count the votes of the electoral college, which really I didn’t even know until I just now looked it up. I’d be shocked if the majority of people did know that. As for what he actually does, isn’t that largely worked out between the president and the vice? So their role could change dramatically between presidencies, or they could basically have no role, like in the 19th century when it was largely seen as irrelevant. You’re kidding, right? I’m talking about the VP’s official job under the U.S. Constitution. You’d be surprised how many adults will say “he waits for the President to die so he can be President”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/62 "2016-09-20T04:45:31Z")
“My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." - John Adams as Vice President. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/63 "2016-09-20T05:06:37Z")
My first **smarter** than me phone was the one one that taught me that my phone choices have no manual. I am supposed to go online to learn how to operate it. I have not heard about all **smart** phones but so far, that is what everyone I know has had to do. Saves a lot of money I guess.l ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/64 "2016-09-20T05:28:40Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Some people don’t know that flags on land fly at half-staff. Only flags on a ship fly at half-mast. Some people don’t know that this is a hypercorrection, and that flags on land have been described as being at half-mast for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/65 "2016-09-20T05:35:47Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > You’re kidding, right? I’m talking about the VP’s official job under the U.S. Constitution. It doesn’t help that the VP doesn’t actually _do_ it except for once or twice a year. The Senate, by its rules, excludes its presiding officer from doing anything useful, so it’s treated as a chore for junior majority senators to handle (each day, a few are appointed acting president pro tempore and they rotate in and out of the chair while all the boring stuff happens). > [@Arcite](#): > > Also, I don’t know how shocking this is, but I don’t think I knew until I was in my thirties that dishwasher detergent has bleach and abrasives in it, and that that’s the main reason certain things aren’t dishwasher safe. Until then, I think I’d always unconsciously assumed there was just something about being squirted with jets of hot water for an extended period of time that was bad for certain materials. I didn’t know that until I read this post. I also assumed it was about the heat. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/66 "2016-09-20T05:42:15Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Some people don’t know that this is a hypercorrection, and that flags on land have been described as being at half-mast for centuries. Some people don’t know that the “half staff”/“half mast” thing is an infinitely regressive recursive conflict: No matter which choice you make, you’re wrong, and someone will be by to tell you that you’re wrong shortly. It’s useful to keep people in their place. The difference between “boat” and “ship” functions in the same fashion. A surprising number of people have no idea how a graduated income tax works, and _demand_ that the tax rate applied to their income in the highest bracket applies to their entire pay. Of course, there’s a political motive for this ignorance, so it is carefully fostered in some circles. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/67 "2016-09-20T06:02:13Z")
I was working in a restaurant, and we had been busy for hours. The dishwashers were barely keeping up. I watched a co-worker look for a coffee spoon to take out with her sundae. We were completely out, so she heaved a giant sigh of disgust and ran it out to the table with a fork!! :eek: Why she didn’t take a tea spoon or soup spoon, I’ll never know. At the dollar store where I work, we keep a little display of one or two dollar DVDs by the register. The other day a woman pointed at them and complained to me that she had bought three of them, and none of them worked in her VCR. > [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > Two come to mind. My stepdaughter was making Manwich as a teen and failed to brown the ground beef first. > [@pulykamell](#): > > While it’s normal to brown the meat first, it’s not really a big deal if you don’t. It won’t be as beefy, but you’ll get a more tender product in the end. If you cook a pound of hamburger, you’ll get about 5 ounces of grease. You’re supposed to drain that off. I think that’s what **Buttercup Smith** meant was the problem. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/68 "2016-09-20T06:10:21Z")
I can deal with regular people not knowing this, but I have conniptions when _teachers_ do not know the difference between lay and lie, or how to use the pluperfect, or the subjunctive. I get notes from my son’s current classroom teacher riddled with these mistakes. His teacher last year would not have done this. I miss her. “Johnny didn’t get all of his lunch ate, because he chose to spend time laying in the quiet area at the start of lunch time.” I swear I got that in a note the other day. I can’t think of a real-life subjunctive mistake, but I get them pretty regularly. Also, I get stuff like “Not getting their clean-up done on time, Johnny was one of several students who missed part of recess.” His teacher is young and full of enthusiasm, and he likes school, but if he ends the year thinking it’s OK to dangle participles like string in front of a kitten, someone is getting an earful. Also, I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t understand that you create a vacuum when you put hot food in a container, and put it in the fridge. Makes it very hard to open. If the container has a screw top, good luck getting it opened without running it under hot water or microwaving it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/69 "2016-09-20T09:24:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, wait. I was talking owner’s manuals, not assembly instruction manuals. I might have my terms confused. I mean the manuals that come with the washer, dryer, fridge, even video games. Yeah, building something without reading the assembly instructions is kinda dumb, unless you’ve built it before (and even then, I’d look at the instructions.) The people I know who don’t read manuals tend to not read any. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/70 "2016-09-20T09:32:10Z")
**Rivkah** , you need one of [these](https://www.google.es/search?q=triangulo+abrebotes&espv=2&biw=991&bih=660&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjukvHu0Z3PAhXG0hoKHaSCDyQQ_AUIBigB). Beautiful invention. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/71 "2016-09-20T09:53:22Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Some people don’t know that flags on land fly at half-staff. Only flags on a ship fly at half-mast. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by \*\*Wikipedia \*\*- While the term “half-mast” is commonly used colloquially in place of half-staff (for the record I am aware of the distinction) mmm ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/72 "2016-09-20T11:10:17Z")
I’m amazed by how few people know the meaning of “best by” date. It is the last date on which a retailer will guarantee the product to be fresh and refund your money if it’s not. Many people believe it to be the last date on which the product can be eaten without causing instant death. Every product remains safe, nutritious and palatable for weeks or months after the best-by date, even after it is opened, provided it has not been handled or stored negligently. It does not suddenly go from perfect to inedible at 12:01 AM EST on the best-by date. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/73 "2016-09-20T11:30:00Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > **Rivkah** , you need one of [these](https://www.google.es/search?q=triangulo+abrebotes&espv=2&biw=991&bih=660&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjukvHu0Z3PAhXG0hoKHaSCDyQQ_AUIBigB). Beautiful invention. Actually, all you need is one of [these](https://www.google.com/search?q=screwdriver&biw=1162&bih=1031&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX9Iyp653PAhXLsB4KHZvDBFoQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=flat-head+screwdriver). Gently pry up the lid in one or two spots, until you hear the vacuum escape. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/74 "2016-09-20T11:41:43Z")
I’m a Canadian. Once a Canadian (and my boss!) asked me earnestly if Alaska was part of Canada or not. Canadians really don’t know science. A fifth still believe the autism/vaccine link. But Canada is not unique in this lack of knowledge. Link: [Many Canadians are less informed than they think on science issues, finds new survey - Cantech Letter](http://www.cantechletter.com/2016/09/many-canadians-lunch-science-issues-finds-new-survey/) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/75 "2016-09-20T11:42:18Z")
The triangles tend to work better, IME. You haven’t lived until you’ve watched three different women lose their grip on a screwdriver or knife and send it flying. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/76 "2016-09-20T12:21:26Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > (for the record I am aware of the distinction) > > mmm It’s only a distinction in any way in US English, and even in US English it’s one of those fake rules that only exists for the purpose of correcting people. It’s not even like masts are inherently nautical. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/77 "2016-09-20T13:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **pkbites** > > You’re kidding, right? I’m talking about the VP’s official job under the U.S. Constitution. > > You’d be surprised how many adults will say “he waits for the President to die so he can be President”. Why should that be common knowledge? His duties as president of the senate are largely irrelevant and not commonly reported on, and what he actually does can change from presidency to presidency. I’d be more surprised about people not being able to describe the role of the speaker of the house, or even the whip. Hell polls come out fairly often showing that most people don’t know the three branches of government, or what party controls what branch, never mind the official role of the vice president. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/78 "2016-09-20T13:29:48Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I didn’t know that until I read this post. I also assumed it was about the heat. The heat certainly helps. I’ve cleaned items by hand in the sink with dishwasher detergent, and hot tap water (maybe 130F) doesn’t work nearly as well as water from the electric tea kettle (185F). Abrasives may or may not be present, depending on whether you buy the cheap shit or not; [most of the action is chemical in nature,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishwasher#Detergent) and heat definitely makes those reactions happen faster. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/79 "2016-09-20T13:31:25Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > 1. Putting a plastic tray in an oven. There are thermoplastics which are designed to be put in an oven. Ready meals often come in them. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/80 "2016-09-20T13:32:48Z")
I am amazed at how many people don’t know it’s illegal to set a lower limit on a credit card in New Jersey. I tell a random customer ever day that “No we don’t have a limit on the card because that’s illegal.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348.md?page=5)