# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/261 "2010-01-14T03:05:23Z")
[Rip-off.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11991065&postcount=26) šŸ˜› ---
**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 14, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/262 "2010-01-14T04:07:43Z")
I was once doing a crossword puzzle with a coworker, who was a very traditional and observant Catholic. One of the clues was ā€œSt. \_\_\_\_'s Fire.ā€ When I told her the answer was ā€œElmo,ā€ she cracked up, and denied that there was ever a St. Elmo. The only Elmo she ever heard of was on Sesame Street. I bet her $20. Wish Iā€™d bet more. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/263 "2010-01-14T05:21:09Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > They donā€™t always. Did you really cover the same things in history class every year? Mine focused on different things entirely Same here. Most of elementary school was just random bits and pieces that later turned out to be false/half truths (Columbus discovering America when everyone else thought the world was flat, Pilgrims/first Thanksgiving, etcā€¦) and local state history. 7th and 8th grade were ancient history (Greek, Roman, Chinese, Mayan/Incan/Aztec.) 9th grade was the fall of the Roman Empire up colonization of America. 10th grade was America from colonization to the end of the 19th century. 11th grade was 20th century. 12th grade was a mish-mash of US politics, economics, and current events. We also had AP US History as an option, which was all of US History, but a bigger focus on 20th century. Iā€™m also surprised by the lack of basic astronomy people got. I must have had some damn good elementary teachers, because by the time I left 6th grade (Hell, even before that) I knew all nine planets (back then it was nineā€¦still is to meā€¦), that the Earth had one moon that rotated around it, several other planets had moons (though I didnā€™t (and still donā€™t) know which ones have how many and their names,) the size of all the planets relative to each other, that the sun is at the center and is a star, thereā€™s an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a few basic facts about comets, the difference between a lunar and solar eclipse, and _sort of_ the difference between a meteor and a meteorite. I was told that any free floating rock in space that isnā€™t a comet or in the asteroid belt is a meteor, and if it hits Earth, itā€™s a meteorite. That last part is true (if by hit you take to mean strikes the surface,) but thatā€™s not quite the definition of a meteorā€¦thatā€™s a meteoroid. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/264 "2010-01-14T07:27:16Z")
I donā€™t know why no one else can get it, but [New England](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2699/4273735230_4af2f0e4ee_o.jpg) shows up on Google Maps for me, though it strangely asks ā€œDid you mean New England?ā€ after I spelled it exactly that way the first time. And I wonder how many Americans would even know what New England is if the Patriots hadnā€™t adopted the name? ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/265 "2010-01-14T07:33:50Z")
[Correct link](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4273002407_204d68afe1_o.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/266 "2010-01-14T08:50:28Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I tell you what else is weird: if you go to the Mirriam Webster online dictionary, the common English word ā€œgullibleā€ doesnā€™t have an entry. Seriouslyā€“go try and look it up! I actually got someone to do that recently. OK, so he was 11 years old, and I should perhaps be ashamed, but I hadnā€™t actually expected it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/267 "2010-01-14T12:49:58Z")
A few years ago I caught an episode of Password on the Gameshow Network that had a strange moment. It appeared to be from '65 or so (Allen Ludden made a big deal about how nice it was for the viewers to see the celebrity in color! ). The word they were going for was handwriting or something and the clue the contestant gave was ā€œcursiveā€. Ludden, the two celebrities and the other contestant had never heard that word before. When they came back from commercial, they had looked it up in a dictionary and gave itā€™s definition for the viewers. Was that really an obscure word back then? ---
**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 14, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/268 "2010-01-14T13:55:39Z")
The normal term in the UK is ā€œjoined upā€. Iā€™m wondering if ā€œcursiveā€ was introduced by a particularly influential textbook or something. ---
**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 14, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/269 "2010-01-14T15:46:36Z")
Back when I lived in NYC . . . At work, one of our clients sent us a nice map of the world, so we put it up on a wall. One of my coworkers was standing there staring at the map, and finally asked ā€œWhereā€™s Flatbush?ā€ (Flatbush is an area within Brooklyn.) I pointed at a black dot on the map, and told him it represented all the boroughs of New York City, and even all of Brooklyn was too small for its own dot. He was amazed. He also didnā€™t know that the U.S. isnā€™t the largest country. ---
**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 14, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/270 "2010-01-14T15:48:44Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > A few years ago I caught an episode of Password on the Gameshow Network that had a strange moment. It appeared to be from '65 or so (Allen Ludden made a big deal about how nice it was for the viewers to see the celebrity in color! ). The word they were going for was handwriting or something and the clue the contestant gave was ā€œcursiveā€. Ludden, the two celebrities and the other contestant had never heard that word before. When they came back from commercial, they had looked it up in a dictionary and gave itā€™s definition for the viewers. Was that really an obscure word back then? We called it cursive when I was in second grade, in 1952. I canā€™t believe Allen Ludden didnā€™t know that. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/271 "2010-01-14T17:22:20Z")
> [@manila](#): > > Me ( saying) but wind chill is just a perceived effect on warm blooded creaturesā€¦ But it isnā€™t. Wind chill is the effective cooling RATE of an object, warm blooded, cold blooded, or inanimate. As you correctly stated, the ā€œrealā€ temperature is as cold as an object will get, but the ā€œwind chillā€ temperature defined the speed at which it will get there. If itā€™s 5 degrees with a wind chill of -10, a warm object will cool to 5 degrees at the same speed as it would if there were no (or minimal) wind on a -10 degree day. Heck, the effect was originally measured by freezing water in a suspended container ā€“ no warm-blooded anything involved. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/272 "2010-01-14T18:09:11Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > He also didnā€™t know that the U.S. isnā€™t the largest country. Itā€™s in the top five, isnā€™t it? Russia, China, Canada, U.S. and something else? ---
**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 14, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/273 "2010-01-14T18:23:06Z")
Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/274 "2010-01-14T18:25:50Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Itā€™s in the top five, isnā€™t it? Russia, China, Canada, U.S. and something else? [url=[List of countries and dependencies by area - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area)]Third or fourth, dependent on certain country definitions. 1. Russia 2. Canada 3/4. China 3/4. USA 3. Brazil ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/275 "2010-01-14T18:45:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The way to not go there is to treat my post as the joke it was intended as. Werenā€™t you supposed to say ā€œNo offence, butā€¦ā€ in that case? Everyone knows thatā€™s the standard boilerplate that excuses everything. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/276 "2010-01-14T18:48:37Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > [url=[List of countries and dependencies by area - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area)]Third or fourth, dependent on certain country definitions. > > 1. Russia > 2. Canada > 3/4. China > 3/4. USA > 3. Brazil I wonder how that list would rank for ā€œusableā€ land rather than just square mileage. Obviously usable is somewhat subjective. The USA would likely move up, but I imagine Brazil could leap into the number one spot. And Iā€™ve always heard it called cursive writing here in the deep south. Once I left school my cursive went to hell (not that it was very good) with the typewrites and mainframes and computers and whatnot. Now I can barely write cursive and I must do it slowly if its to be readable. For fast remotely legible writing I have to go to print. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/277 "2010-01-14T18:49:34Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back when I lived in NYC . . . At work, one of our clients sent us a nice map of the world, so we put it up on a wall. One of my coworkers was standing there staring at the map, and finally asked ā€œWhereā€™s Flatbush?ā€ (Flatbush is an area within Brooklyn.) I pointed at a black dot on the map, and told him it represented all the boroughs of New York City, and even all of Brooklyn was too small for its own dot. He was amazed. > > He also didnā€™t know that the U.S. isnā€™t the largest country. He probably had [this map](http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/72-the-world-as-seen-from-new-yorks-9th-avenue/) in his head. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/278 "2010-01-14T18:54:40Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > **Chefguy** ā€™s Velcro story reminded me of the other day when my roommate and I went to the local Walgreens to ask if they had cookie cutters. The staff member who helped us did not know what we meant until we explained. We went next door to the supermarket (which is sort of a high-end ā€œgourmetā€ type supermarket), and the staff there also did not know what cookie cutters were. OK, this is not as bad as velcro and cookie cutters (_cookie cutters???_ who doesnā€™t know cookie cutters?). However, I was a little stunned the other day when three separate Target workers did not know what distilled water was. OK, I can understand not knowing the difference between distilled and purified water (which is what the fourth worker sent me after), but I thought that people would have at least heard of distilled water and could take a rough guess. The instructions on my humidifier seem to think that itā€™s something one ought to know aboutā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/279 "2010-01-14T20:05:41Z")
In a similar vein to the velcro and distilled water stories, my local supermarket went through a long phase of moving the pasties to different sections ever few days. I was buying a lot of them at the time and always ended up having to ask for help. None of the staff knew what a pasty was. Many of them insisted that I meant pasta and would not believe me that pasty was a different word. This is a very common product in England, btw. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/280 "2010-01-14T20:37:40Z")
The other day I used the word ā€œiPhoneā€ and a friend asked me what I meant. I repeated it a couple of times assuming she had simply misheard me. No, she was unfamiliar with the product. This woman is not a recluse eitherā€“she has lots of friends, two kids, two jobsā€“oh, and a cell phone. But she watches no TV (obviously, with two kids and two jobs). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=15)