Many people simply don’t give a hoot about celebrity. I know he was a successful musician of my era. I recall hearing his name. I have no idea what songs are his or what genre he worked in. I probably like some of his or at least could recite some of the lyrics if you started me out.
I enjoy many sorts of music; I simply don’t care whit one about who made it. And since it’s free over the air, I never need to know a name to buy it since I don’t buy it.
And that’s for somebody of the appropriate era. As **Hermitian **says, young folks aren’t much listening to their parent’s or grandparent’s music.
I’m the same way about movie/TV actors. The names of the performers are utterly immaterial. The story is either intriguing and I go see it, or it’s not and I don’t. I have no idea who performed in the last movie I saw. Just don’t care.
In keeping with the pineapples example, peanuts. People who have never shaken peanuts or seen peanuts growing in a field often think they are nuts and therefore grow on trees.
& While we’re at it, outside of the south I run into people who have no idea that you can boil them and eat them as a soft-textured morsel.
Yes, unless they are familiar with the Canadian usage (as I am, being Canadian-by-marriage hehe), the vast majority of Americans will think you are using a quaint word for the water bill, or water tower, etc.
Road Runners vary from a little larger than a robin, to a bit smaller than a big crow. In no case do they stand upright, nor tower over even a small coyote. They have a rather pointy beak, and are variegated with white, tan, and black flecks…no purple at all. They occassionally squawk if harassed by a dog, they can and do fly short distances. Their diet is mostly insects and lizards, so are unlikely to step into an ACME brand trap baited with birdseed. They are pretty common in New Mexico, and are the state bird.
I once had a girlfriend who had never seen one. I pointed several out to her, but she couldn’t see them, because she was looking for the cartoon version I guess. I’ve seen this happen with deer as well, when people who have never seen them can’t see three of them standing right F__ing there.
I’m amazed that some people think the moon is never visible during the day. Don’t they ever look up? There are also lots of people who think we see by emitting light out of our eyes. :eek:
In the legal arena, the difference between a verdict and a settlement. A news reporter last week reported on a big jury verdict, and repeatedly called it a “settlement.” A lot of things in the law are complicated, but I was very surprised to see this basic concept screwed up.
Indeed. When I first saw a real roadrunner (on some nature show on TV), I was quite disappointed to learn it was nothing at all like the Looney Tunes version :).
Tazmanian Devils, OTOH, really do look a lot like their cartoon counterpart. They even have a similar disposition (except for the tornado-spin-attack thing, of course).
A woman I know told me her pug was going to have puppies and she was looking for homes for the pug pups. I asked her who owned the male, and she said she didn’t know, a roaming male pug knocked her up.
When I pointed out that any male dog could be the sire, she didn’t believe me at first. She thought that only a male pug could inseminate a female pug.
I’m Canadian and I know exactly who he is/was, but had no idea that he died! It must have been on a busy news day.
The man truly was an icon.
ETA: I knew he was in his 90s but only a year or two ago I heard him and Arlo Guthrie being interviewed on the radio and Pete was completely coherent and very interesting to hear. Bummer.
Based on my experience it is a strange usage even for parts of Canada. I spent most of my youth in Manitoba and Alberta with summers in BC and Saskatchewan and never heard the usage until I moved to New Brunswick when I was 18.
I have a friend who couldn’t tell the different between a German shepherd, a lab, a golden retriever, a collie, etc.
I can understand when it’s a less common breed, or not being able to tell a miniature pinscher from a manchester terrier.
Right up there with the people who used to ask me when my pony was going to grow up to be a horse.
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael]
In my experience, most people in the United States think they use real maple syrup, but in fact have never even been close to the real thing.
I once ran into a person from the South (for me, that is anything South of Rutland, Vermont) who insisted that no one could eat real maple syrup, that it was so sweet it could only be used by blending it with other syrups. This was one of the few times that I could insist with perfect authority that “you simply so not know what you are talking about”. And to prove it, I brought him back a pint of the good stuff on my next trip home. He was gracious enough to admit he was wrong after sampling it.
Yes, it is more expensive (unless you make it yourself…we tapped a couple of hundred trees and made 40 gallons one year), but there is simply no comparison.
It’s pretty good cold, but it’s best to heat it just to boiling before you use it, which releases all of the flavors and aromas.
Excuse me. I think I hear some waffles calling…
[/QUOTE]
We always say quarter to, quarter after and “X”-30.
The first time I heard a quarter of was in New England somewhere and it confused me. I know what it means now, but it really makes no sense linguistically. A quarter of is 15 minutes, so how can a quarter of 6 mean 5 hours and three quarters?
That’s my wife. When we’re in the the car talking directions it’s “your way” and “my way” not right and left. As in, “Turn your way at the next light.”
It’s not a brain malfunction. It’s usually shown by someone who is either left-handed or cross-dominant. Not having a strong dominant hand weakens the immediate identification between right and left which righties tend to have.
