# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/141 "2017-07-02T21:53:40Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > To not know the dates of World War I is quite reasonable, as long as it’s not wildly off. 1914-1918 isn’t a particularly easy time frame to store in memory. > > What would be stunning would be if someone thought World War I took place after World War II, or something like that. What took me by surprise about both world wars and especially WW1 was that the wars had started long before America got involved and in the case of WW1, was going on a 3 full years before we came in in the last part of 1917. You see here in the US they really build up how the US lead the world in the wars and how the US basically by themselves, beat Germany and Japan when in reality we were latecomers in both and our allies did the majority of the fighting and dieing. In WW1 that would be the UK, France, and the others while in WW2 that would be the UK and Russia. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/142 "2017-07-02T22:10:17Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Why does it stun you that people don’t know the legal definition of a best by date? How did you find that out? More to the point, the “best by” date is not the “poisonous after” date, and many people seem to think it is. I know lots of people who automatically throw out anything if they’ve kept it after the “best by” date, believing it will make them sick. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/143 "2017-07-02T22:18:24Z")
I see that the OP is new to the Dope, starting three threads but not returning. Hey, we welcome all new posters, but you need to go through the initiation. Who’s got the goat? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/144 "2017-07-02T22:39:48Z")
OK, I must be stupid. What color is the sun? Wikipedia thinks it’s yellow: “it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf” > **[Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun)** > > The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation, and is the most important source of energy for life on Earth. > The Sun's radius is about 695,000 kilometers (432,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth. Its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, comprising about 99.86% of the total mass of the S... ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/145 "2017-07-03T00:28:05Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > OK, I must be stupid. What color is the sun? Wikipedia thinks it’s yellow: “it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf” > [Sun - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) [Link Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-type_main-sequence_star) \>\> The term yellow dwarf is a misnomer, because G-type stars actually range in color from white, for more luminous types like the Sun, to only very slightly yellow for the less massive and luminous G-type main-sequence stars. **The Sun is in fact white** , but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering. (my bolding) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/146 "2017-07-03T01:20:04Z")
> [@DrForrester](#): > > [Link Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-type_main-sequence_star) > > \>\> The term yellow dwarf is a misnomer, because G-type stars actually range in color from white, for more luminous types like the Sun, to only very slightly yellow for the less massive and luminous G-type main-sequence stars. **The Sun is in fact white** , but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering. > > (my bolding) You bolded the wrong part. **but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering** That’s all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/147 "2017-07-03T01:38:30Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > A few years ago a co-worker asked me what year 9/11 happened on. This wasn’t a post-millennial either. Well, I always think the speaker means 1974–the date of the coup in Chile. As for not not knowing the Revolutionary War came before the Civil War, as a Canadian I could imagine people first trying a civil, polite war, and if that didn’t work, well, maybe as a last, revolutionary resort, it could go gloves off. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/148 "2017-07-03T01:39:42Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > You bolded the wrong part. > > **but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering** > > That’s all that matters. The portion you have referenced has already been discussed repeatedly. I could’ve left it out of the quote, but I left it in, just because it reinforces the idea. I guess it comes down to how pedantic a person really wants to be. I, personally, would choose to be pedantic enough to say that our Sun emits white light, which is why snow and other white things appear to be white rather than some other color. This fact is not unreasonably complex or demanding. The full spectra and the effects of our atmosphere and so forth are well illustrated in the graphic I linked earlier. Other people are welcome to represent the Sun in whatever manner they choose. I would be content with those people understanding that their representations are artistic choices. I am reminded of a quote from Futurama in which a bureaucrat says, “You are technically correct! That’s the best kind of correct!” ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/149 "2017-07-03T01:49:14Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > My wife, who is geographically challenged, was talking to her friend in Nashville on the phone and said she would like to come up there some time (we’re in Minnesota). > After she hung up I said “You mean go DOWN there some time”. > She said “Is there a difference?” > I told her yes, typically up is north and south is down. That’s why people say they’re going camping up north or they’re flying down to Florida for vacation. > She had never heard of this before and found the whole thing to be silly. Considering the shape of the planet, saying “go around to” or “come around to” wherever should always be correct. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/150 "2017-07-03T02:31:27Z")
> [@DrForrester](#): > > The portion you have referenced has already been discussed repeatedly. I could’ve left it out of the quote, but I left it in, just because it reinforces the idea. > > I guess it comes down to how pedantic a person really wants to be. I, personally, would choose to be pedantic enough to say that our Sun emits white light, which is why snow and other white things appear to be white rather than some other color. This fact is not unreasonably complex or demanding. The full spectra and the effects of our atmosphere and so forth are well illustrated in the graphic I linked earlier. Other people are welcome to represent the Sun in whatever manner they choose. I would be content with those people understanding that their representations are artistic choices. > > I am reminded of a quote from Futurama in which a bureaucrat says, “You are technically correct! That’s the best kind of correct!” I guess the issue I have with a lot of these posts is this attitude that these people are _so_ stupid, they don’t know \. If I kid draws the Sun as Yellow, I don’t need to go into the physics of the color spectrum, or the chemistry of the Cones of the eye, or the Astronomy of the Classification of Stars to explain to him that he’s wrong - the Sun DOES appear yellow! It also appears White and Red and Purple, and a myriad of other colors. Just look at a sunset sometime. The same with the machinist tolerance issue. If the part has a dimension of .350-.360, .3603 is out of spec. Period. No amount of “I took high school Math and learned about significant digits” is going to change that. There are a lot of posts in this thread that fit the criteria for the OP, but those two (and probably the stupid Map one, too) don’t. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/151 "2017-07-03T02:53:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I guess the issue I have with a lot of these posts is this attitude that these people are _so_ stupid, they don’t know \. Sometimes, people like having a little more than a basic understanding of the world around them. Sometimes, they don’t. Sometimes, “God did it.” is enough. Sometimes, taking a moment to explain about light spectra or significant digits really will open a person’s eyes to a larger world. The word “stupid” carries a lot of baggage that is unfortunate here. There aren’t all that many stupid people. However, there are many willfully uninformed. For this thread, we’re probably more interested in the inadvertently uninformed. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/152 "2017-07-03T04:03:51Z")
The sun rises in the east. Yes, that’s true in other states, too. Also: other countries. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/153 "2017-07-03T04:35:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was raised a Catholic and in every Mass I attended, there were two scripture readings; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. Not me. It was usually an excerpt from an epistle (usually Paul, but sometimes Peter), and a reading from one of the gospels. Both MRT (Most Recent Testament. The so-called “New” Testament is actually pretty old). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/154 "2017-07-03T04:38:15Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not me. It was usually an excerpt from an epistle (usually Paul, but sometimes Peter), and a reading from one of the gospels. Both MRT (Most Recent Testament. The so-called “New” Testament is actually pretty old). That seems odd to me. You didn’t have two readings before the gospel? And you’re Roman Catholic, not some other denomination? I thought it was fairly standardized. OT first reading, responsorial psalm, NT second reading, alleluia, gospel. (Although the two readings may change depending on time of year, but in ordinary time, that was the sequence.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/155 "2017-07-03T05:08:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not me. It was usually an excerpt from an epistle (usually Paul, but sometimes Peter), and a reading from one of the gospels. Both MRT (Most Recent Testament. The so-called “New” Testament is actually pretty old). I googled. There’s an official schedule (it’s true; you can find anything online) of what passages are to be read in Catholic Masses. Here’s a current list: June 11: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 June 18: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 June 25: Jeremiah 20:10-13 July 2: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 July 9: Zechariah 9:9-10 July 16: Isaiah 55:10-11 July 23: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 (Just to remind everyone they’re Catholics) July 30: 1 King 3:5, 7-12 Cite: [http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070317.cfm](http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070317.cfm) ---
**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:** [July 3, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/156 "2017-07-03T05:31:04Z")
I feel like these kinds of threads are about as pedantic as the board gets. People are always arguing about what constitutes ‘‘stupid’’ and seem to take issue with every other offered example. I’ll confess with a lot of these examples I’m usually in the ‘‘stupid’’ boat, or at least the ‘‘I could theoretically have not known that,’’ boat. I don’t always have the best common sense.But it doesn’t really bother me because I know that on the whole, I am not stupid. I’m just limited in certain areas. 😛 [QUOTE=susan] The sun rises in the east. Yes, that’s true in other states, too. Also: other countries. [/QUOTE] Contender for thread winner, right here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/157 "2017-07-03T06:01:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That seems odd to me. You didn’t have two readings before the gospel? And you’re Roman Catholic, not some other denomination? I thought it was fairly standardized. OT first reading, responsorial psalm, NT second reading, alleluia, gospel. (Although the two readings may change depending on time of year, but in ordinary time, that was the sequence.) Recovering Catholic. 30+ years since I attended Mass regularly. And the fact that I can’t remember the number of scripture readings in a standard Mass suggests that my recovery is nearly complete. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/158 "2017-07-03T06:53:56Z")
“Just One More” does not mean what you think. This is code for, “Keep ‘em comin’!” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/159 "2017-07-03T10:30:07Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > You bolded the wrong part. > > **but appears yellow through Earth’s atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering** > > That’s all that matters. [An interesting PDF](https://www.osa-opn.org/Content/ViewFile.aspx?id=11147). ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146/160 "2017-07-03T10:57:04Z")
Here are a few examples of things that I did not know for far too long (probably because of my hearing problems). “card sharp” - someone who is very good at card games… I had always heard this as “card shark”, and I still actually prefer “shark” in this context because it gives that sense of predator and prey that can be present when the skill sets at the game are unequal. “shot caller” - the ranking member of a particular gang in a given prison yard. I’ve always heard this as “shock collar”. And… I’m still partial to my version… It conveys the hard, sharp shock that violence is meant to communicate in prison. “shot caller” is bland - might as well call the guy “leader”. Joy. But, if Jim was the shock collar, I would stay away from Jim, I promise you that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-were-stunned-that-people-didnt-know/790146.md?page=9)