# Things you were stunned that people didn't know **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146 "2017-06-29T17:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/41 "2017-06-30T07:08:09Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > I have a friend, American, who once commented that Italians weren’t “white” (Caucasian). She hadn’t got past Gr 9 and was raised in a pretty redneck family, but she’s actually quite intelligent. In the early part of the 20th century, this was the general view, so it’s possible she was raised to believe that. Italians were the “other”, along with Greeks, Irish, Poles (or really, any Slavs), Jews, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/42 "2017-06-30T08:12:04Z")
It was Cinco de Mayo and I was sitting with a dude at the window table at the bar, girl watching. Some really hot chick walks by, and I go “Nice tutu.” It was in Mexican colors and all; red, white and green. He goes, “What’s a choo-choo? Do you mean her ass?”. I respond, “No, I meant tutu, you know, the skirt that ballerinas wear.” He had never heard of a tutu nor recognized what one was. I said, “Shit, at Burning Man, everybody and their grandmother has one. Actually, everyone and their grandfather has one, because it’s mostly dudes who are wearing them. Hell, I have one.” ---
**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:** [June 30, 2017, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/43 "2017-06-30T08:28:24Z")
I had to show my Senior Director of Programs how to copy/paste into a Word document. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/44 "2017-06-30T11:05:02Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Nah, as mentioned, there’s an OT reading, a NT (non-Gospel) reading, and a Gospel reading. And it Easter Vigil, four or five OT readings if you’re lucky, two or three if not. To be pedantic, there is an OT reading, a non-gospel NT reading, a responsorial Psalm (technically OT), and a Gospel reading. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/45 "2017-06-30T11:26:42Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I met a little kid named Frank Wright, and I asked his mother if his middle name was Lloyd. She asked why, and it turned out she’d never heard of Frank Lloyd Wright. I once had a coworker named Carmen Miranda. I pointed out to him that he should wear a pile of fruit on his head. He had never heard of Carmen Miranda. You’d think at some point in his life someone would have told him he had the name of a famous person. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/46 "2017-06-30T11:42:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > To be pedantic, there is an OT reading, a non-gospel NT reading, a responsorial Psalm (technically OT), and a Gospel reading. To be even more pedantic, during the Easter season the OT reading is replaced by a reading from Acts. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/47 "2017-06-30T11:49:51Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I had to show my Senior Director of Programs how to copy/paste into a Word document. When I showed a cow-orker how to sort a list alphabetically in Word you would have thought that I changed water into wine before her eyes. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/48 "2017-06-30T11:52:03Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > I have a friend, American, who once commented that Italians weren’t “white” (Caucasian). She hadn’t got past Gr 9 and was raised in a pretty redneck family, but she’s actually quite intelligent. Well, at one point they weren’t. Whiteness is socially defined and has changed over time. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/49 "2017-06-30T11:58:14Z")
I was once talking to a moon-landing-denier. He claimed to have done lots and lots of research and reading on the subject, and was convinced that the moon landing was faked. I countered with what I always do in those circumstances - was it just the first one that was faked, or did we fake it all six times (seven if you count Apollo 13)? He didn’t know there had been more than one moon landing - faked or not. He couldn’t even answer when I asked him what he thought the film Apollo 13 was about. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/50 "2017-06-30T12:15:25Z")
Three years ago a co-worker of mine asked me when WWII had been. He genuinely did not know which years it covered. And then he asked me the dates for WWI despite the fact that, it being 2014, discussion of the centenary of WWI was pretty much constantly on British television. Thirty-something, intelligent, well-educated man. I dunno, some people… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/51 "2017-06-30T12:17:08Z")
A few years ago a co-worker asked me what year 9/11 happened on. This wasn’t a post-millennial either. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/52 "2017-06-30T13:23:38Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Nah, as mentioned, there’s an OT reading, a NT (non-Gospel) reading, and a Gospel reading. And it Easter Vigil, four or five OT readings if you’re lucky, two or three if not. I would personally reverse the lucky/unlucky labels on that . . .🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/53 "2017-06-30T13:38:21Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Years ago a friend of mine went to the dentist for the first time in her life. This is something I didn’t know! There are adults walking around that have _never_ been to a dentist! Maybe that should be on your Adult Membership Card (AMC) punch list: Item #124 - Go to the dentist. At least once. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/54 "2017-06-30T13:43:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I once had a coworker named Carmen Miranda. I pointed out to him that he should wear a pile of fruit on his head. He had never heard of Carmen Miranda. You’d think at some point in his life someone would have told him he had the name of a famous person. I actually don’t know who this is. The Chaquita banana lady? > [@Ludovic](#): > > A few years ago a co-worker asked me what year 9/11 happened on. This wasn’t a post-millennial either. I mean, “9/11” doesn’t have the year in the title, and we’re closer to it happening 20 years ago than we are to it happening 10 years ago. How often is the actual year referred to? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/55 "2017-06-30T14:46:37Z")
I may have mentioned this in an earlier thread. About ten years ago, an elderly relative of mine was surprised to learn that black women were allowed to drive cars. Not a hateful bone in her body, just ignorance. She spent her whole life in the same New Hampshire town that until recently was almost 100% white. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/56 "2017-06-30T15:05:29Z")
I can’t beat **bibliophage’s** , but I was once explaining to a co-worker what went into a dish I was eating and she had no idea what ginger was or where to get it. She also didn’t know what ground cloves were. The ginger, I kinda get since most people buy it dried and ground in the spice aisle rather than fresh in produce, but cloves are something you use in a ton of baking recipes. I’d never met anyone who didn’t know what those were. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/57 "2017-06-30T15:11:03Z")
What’s baking? ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/58 "2017-06-30T15:17:53Z")
My sister had been pronouncing the L’s in tortilla chips forever. I finally told her how it was pronounced. She was flabbergasted. Also there are a lot of people that are shocked to find out that when you’re eating meat you’re eating the muscle of the animal. They think there’s a layer of “meat”!! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/59 "2017-06-30T16:47:46Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’m always shocked by what people don’t know about Judaism. There are too many examples for me to list. > > Another one is when people name a kid something, and it sounds like they’ve named him after a famous person, and then it turns out they’ve never heard of that person. My mom (70’s) 11 years ago named her Shih Tzu puppy Lucee Loo-not knowing about the actress Lucy Liu. Yes, said the same. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/60 "2017-06-30T16:49:27Z")
I’ve mentioned this in previous threads. I have an adult second cousin who thinks that all dogs are male and all cats are female. She believes that a dog impregnates a cat, who has a litter of mixed puppies and kittens. She also thought that Alaska and Hawaii were right off the coast of California, since that’s where they were in her classroom maps. When I showed her where they were, she was amazed that her classroom maps were “wrong”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146.md?page=4)