# Things you're shocked to find out some people don't know. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353 "2010-01-10T02:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/221 "2010-01-12T20:14:01Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > We have a Swedish post-doc on our floor, we intentionally confuse Sweden and Switzerland just to bug him. It was all fun and games until an undergrad repeatedly had the two confused and kept asking Patrik if he lived in the Alps… Act like Sweden and Norway are pretty much the same place…he’ll find that funny, trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/222 "2010-01-12T20:18:57Z")
Several years ago an old friend (as in we’ve known eachother since primary school) and I were talking, and somehow, we ended up on the subject of World War 2. She honestly didn’t know what a concentration camp was! That quite shocked me. Especially considering this is Luxembourg, a tiny-assed country pretty much in the middle of western Europe. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/223 "2010-01-12T20:24:03Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Act like Sweden and Norway are pretty much the same place…he’ll find that funny, trust me. Oh, yeah. This one time? I went to Norway, Sweden… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/224 "2010-01-12T22:39:10Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Sometimes one is blinded by one’s own perspective and experience. Or at least this seems to be true for me. I have a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and work with a bunch of similarly overeducated folks. I have an interest in all sorts of technology and machinery, and just generally enjoy understanding things. > > Some things are good to understand because they help ensure your survival and minimize expenses. The other day the news folks were talking about icy roads, and showed several scenes of people skidding sideways in their cars. The front wheels on these skidding cars were pretty much pointed straight toward the front of the car, i.e. the drivers were making no attempt to steer into the skid and regain any semblance of control over the vehicle. Now that most cars are front wheel drive, do driver-education instructors think this is not so important? Do parents these days no longer take their kids to an empty, snowy parking lot and show them how to straighten out once the car gets sideways? A couple of weeks before Christmas, Chicago had a big snow on a Wednesday. I took a cab to the branch location where I was helping out that day, which is the only reason I remember it was a Wednesday. The cab driver had to detour onto a side street for traffic-flow reasons, and the side street hadn’t been plowed yet. He slid right through the first stop signed intersection. I cringed in the back seat, having thought this might happen as soon as I realized the street was still inches deep in snow. He looked down at his feet, bewildered, and said, I kid you not, “the brakes aren’t working. The brakes, the brakes, they are not working.” I asked him if he really thought it was the brakes, and not maybe the fact that his wheels were locked and that the car was _sliding through the intersection_. He seriously had no idea. Had never even seen snow before this winter in Chicago and _this was the first time he had ever driven in it_. I was the lucky first passenger! I put on the seat belt. The rest of the route consisted of one more turn and then back onto main roads. When we got to my destination, I had him turn onto a side street that I knew ended in an alley and another street that was not much used, and proceeded to lecture him on how to drive in snow and told him I had him turn onto this street so he could go practice before he killed himself and someone else. He couldn’t tell me whether or not he had ABS, so I assumed not due to the sliding. I lectured him for about 5 minutes, on how to pump brakes and steer into the slide, etc., and he seemed receptive and listened, so I hope he really did go practice. Or home. I really wish I hadn’t been running late. I would have offered to give him some real instruction if I had the time. I felt he was that much of a danger on the road. My mom did make me practice skids and donuts in a parking lot before I could get my license. Those skills have saved my life and others on three occasions. ---
**Author:** ![kskatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85f322/32.png) [@kskatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kskatz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/225 "2010-01-13T00:19:32Z")
A lot of people seem unaware of the fact that ‘New Mexico’ is part of the United States. As a former resident, I find this rather amusing. My all-time shocking example of stupidity is this: I work the graveyard shift with a 26 year old young woman here in Kansas. I went to visit my daughter in CA last summer, and I called my co-worker at work one night and remarked “It’s just 9:30 here…” to which she responded, “In the morning, or at night?” :eek: I was literally speechless for several seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/226 "2010-01-13T00:30:31Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > The Vietnam War is controversial. But I think the real explanation is that most history teachers just run out of time toward the end of the semester. It still doesn’t make any sense. Do math teachers teach you how to add, subtract, multiply and do long division every single year? No! They move on with new concepts and figure you were taught these things in previous years. Why is it only history teachers go over the exact same ground year after year? ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/227 "2010-01-13T00:37:28Z")
I was working offshore in the North Sea Part of the subsea control system involved Hydraulic fluid lines passing from the installation through the Moonpool down to sea level and then subsea to the valves on the subsea manifold. Air temperature was about 5 Degrees C. Sea temperature never less than 5 Degrees C. Production Manager. Temperature tonight is expected 4 degree minimum and wind forecast tonight is about 45 knots we had better pump some glycol into the hydraulic lines to stop them freezing. Me. Huh? PM. Yes Wind chill will take it down to - 8 or -10 Degrees C. Me. No it won’t. If its 5 degrees air temp then it can blow as hard as it likes and it will only ever be 5 degrees. PM I think you are mistaken there. Me ( thinking) I think you are off your tiny head! Me ( saying) but wind chill is just a perceived effect on warm blooded creatures… PM No the wind will reduce the actual temperature. By now am looking around the meeting and no one else is taking this idiot up on this. He’s supposed to be an engineer FFS! Me okay whatever. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/228 "2010-01-13T00:51:06Z")
> [@Not\_a\_Platypus](#): > > Why is it only history teachers go over the exact same ground year after year? You dont know the most famousest quote ever?! “Those who teach history are doomed to repeat it.” ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/229 "2010-01-13T02:50:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Then how come the water doesn’t leak out the bottom of the map? Huh? Huh? Because it freezes when it hits Antarctica. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/230 "2010-01-13T04:56:16Z")
> [@manila](#): > > I was working offshore in the North Sea > > Part of the subsea control system involved Hydraulic fluid lines passing from the installation through the Moonpool down to sea level and then subsea to the valves on the subsea manifold. > > Air temperature was about 5 Degrees C. Sea temperature never less than 5 Degrees C. > > Production Manager. Temperature tonight is expected 4 degree minimum and wind forecast tonight is about 45 knots we had better pump some glycol into the hydraulic lines to stop them freezing. > > Me. Huh? > > PM. Yes Wind chill will take it down to - 8 or -10 Degrees C. > > Me. No it won’t. If its 5 degrees air temp then it can blow as hard as it likes and it will only ever be 5 degrees. > > PM I think you are mistaken there. > > Me ( thinking) I think you are off your tiny head! > Me ( saying) but wind chill is just a perceived effect on warm blooded creatures… > > PM No the wind will reduce the actual temperature. > > By now am looking around the meeting and no one else is taking this idiot up on this. He’s supposed to be an engineer FFS! > > Me okay whatever. Had the same general experience when I drove de-ice trucks on the old U.S. Navy Base in Keflavik, Iceland. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/231 "2010-01-13T06:52:38Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > I saw [this](http://picasaweb.google.com/mattmcl.montrealais/Vienna#5352120943623226994)in a souvenir shop in Vienna. Yes. I bought a t-shirt with that on it. I immediately knew what it meant, and verified it with my hotel clerk. He said it didn’t used to be a problem, before the internet, when people had to go through travel agents. However . . . I did see kangaroos in the Vienna Zoo. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/232 "2010-01-13T06:56:52Z")
I have a cousin who doesn’t know that cats have kittens and dogs have puppies. She thinks that all cats are female and all dogs are male. The dog and cat mate, the cat gets pregnant and gives birth to a litter of mixed puppies and kittens. She also thinks that Alaska and Hawaii are right off the coast of California. That’s where they were in a map that used to hang in one of her classrooms. This cousin is in her mid-50s. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/233 "2010-01-13T06:58:40Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Because it freezes when it hits Antarctica. Right. That’s why Antarctica is this \*\*\*ginormous \*\*\*thing that goes all across the bottom of the world in so many maps. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/234 "2010-01-13T07:03:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have a cousin who doesn’t know that cats have kittens and dogs have puppies. She thinks that all cats are female and all dogs are male. The dog and cat mate, the cat gets pregnant and gives birth to a litter of mixed puppies and kittens. Not to diss your cousin, but – wow. My three year old would never have that kind of misconception. Are you sure she’s not yanking your chain? Otherwise, that’s like down to the level of some kind of mental impairment. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/235 "2010-01-13T12:55:18Z")
…why can’t I find NEW ENGLAND in Google Maps??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/236 "2010-01-13T13:05:53Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > …why can’t I find NEW ENGLAND in Google Maps??? 😕 I just tried too and couldn’t find it. New Hampshire, no problem, but New England (even adding USA) only takes me to a tiny town in North Dakota. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/237 "2010-01-13T13:13:15Z")
I was listening to a couple of teenage schoolies on the bus the other morning, they were discussing some of those lateral thinking type problems. They were at least 14-15 years old, and the girl was telling her male friend that she had no idea of the answer to the problem about the rooster who laid an egg on a perfectly pitched roof, the question being which way did the egg roll? After discussing the fact that the roof didn’t slant more one way or another, and going through the discussion of whether an egg naturally rolls clockwise or anti-clockwise, he finally saw the light and said “but roosters don’t lay eggs!” Cue her perplexed look because she didn’t know what a rooster was. ---
**Author:** ![Neverending\_Elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/238 "2010-01-13T13:17:23Z")
> [@ScareyFaerie](#): > > Cue her perplexed look because she didn’t know what a rooster was. Telling her it’s the same thing as a cock probably wouldn’t have helped much … ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/239 "2010-01-13T14:58:19Z")
> [@RunnerPat](#): > > I’ll bet some of them didn’t know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. > [@Fritz](#): > > Who is Paul McCartney? > > 😛 All right, you two - that’s not funny. 😃 When Daughter of SWMBO was a senior in high school, we were at the dinner table for Thanksgiving. The topic of conversation swung around to music, and SWMBO said something along the lines of Paul being in a little garage band before he was in Wings. Guess what DoS’s response was? Deja vu on The Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/240 "2010-01-13T15:16:33Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > There are quite a few immigrants and/or people living overseas who are firmly convinced that the US has 52 states. I always thought that odd: I mean, sure, it’s not your country, I couldn’t name the number of Canadian provinces or German Staaten and will freely admit that. But if I believed I did know something about a country’s number of subdivisions and had a fixed number in my head, and it was the _wrong_ number – where does that come from? This was actually in the Genus III (IIRC - it was a set we bought in 1989 or so) UK edition of _Trivial Pursuit_. I was also taught in school (exclusive, prestigious UK public - that is, private - school) that there were 52 states. > [@](#): > > I just tried too and couldn’t find it. New Hampshire, no problem, but New England (even adding USA) only takes me to a tiny town in North Dakota. You got whooshed. New England is a region, not a state, which is why it doesn’t appear. Presumably you’d get the same results if you tried to locate the West Country or Oop Norrrth on Google Maps UK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=13)