# 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:** 15
**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, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/281 "2010-01-14T20:38:56Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > The USA would likely move up, but I imagine Brazil could leap into the number one spot. What? The Amazon basin covers nearly half the country, and two thirds of that is dense jungle. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/282 "2010-01-14T20:39:10Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > 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. This is one of those times when location and pronunciation are _everything_. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/283 "2010-01-14T20:43:08Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > The other day I used the word “iPhone” and a friend asked me what I meant. Ha! What a moron! A few years ago a friend was talking about some contest at her job where the winner would get a free Blackberry. I asked why they would get only one instead of, say, a pint of them. Yes, I was serious. ---
**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, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/284 "2010-01-14T21:06:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What? The Amazon basin covers nearly half the country, and two thirds of that is dense jungle. And how well does stuff grow in tundra and desert? Dense jungle can probably be tamed or farmed. Tundra and desert, not so much IMO. For that matter, even suburbs in former tropical jungle is probably better than suburbs in former tundra. Desert might be a wash if you have enough water you can bring in. ---
**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, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/285 "2010-01-14T21:17:56Z")
Desertification is reversible. It’s not really any tougher than turning jungle into arable land… or a subdivision. Anyway, the point is not whether you can “make stuff grow in it” or make it a subdivision. Useable land is land you can plant tomorrow, not in 10 years - and the Amazon makes much of the jungle inaccessible anyway. ---
**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, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/286 "2010-01-14T21:23:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Desertification is reversible. It’s not really any tougher than turning jungle into arable land… or a subdivision. Anyway, the point is not whether you can “make stuff grow in it” or make it a subdivision. Useable land is land you can plant tomorrow, not in 10 years - and the Amazon makes much of the jungle inaccessible anyway. Says you. You missed the whole point. It aint just about square footage. For that matter it aint just about right NOW. Its more complicated than that. That was the point which flew over your head. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/287 "2010-01-14T21:37:08Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > But it isn’t. > > Wind chill is the effective cooling RATE of an object, warm blooded, cold blooded, or inanimate. As you correctly stated, the “real” temperature is as cold as an object will get, but the “wind chill” temperature defined the speed at which it will get there. If it’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 – no warm-blooded anything involved. I confess I didn’t (heck, still don’t) know the technical definition of wind chill, but I thought that was odd as well: the idea that it’s only a perceived effect on warm-blooded creatures. If that were the case, how could they measure it? (Other than drawing straws out at the weather station to go stand outside: “Can you hear me, Bob? Yeah, it _feels_ like it’s minus ten below out here. Can I come inside now?”) ---
**Author:** ![jimmycolorado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jimmycolorado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmycolorado)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/288 "2010-01-14T23:41:14Z")
I work for a popular celebrity entertainment magazine you can find on your super market checkout line, so while my coworkers aren’t astrophysicists, they’re all college educated and very bright. A coworker and friend of mine over-stepped her bounds and tried her hand at redesigning a spread herself (she was not a designer, but rather worked in the photo department). After she was unsuccessful (and caught, and told not to mess with the layouts), I commented to her, “Ah, much like Icarus, you flew too close to the sun.” Blank stare. “What’s Icarus?” “Um,” I continue, “you see, your hubris got you into trouble, you thought you were a better designer…” “What’s hubris?” “You’ve never heard of Icarus? Greek kid, dad was an inventor? Wings made of wax? They… melted, and…” “You think I’m dumb!” She exclaimed. I didn’t, she’s definitely smart and does her job well (she’s just lousy with InDesign), but I definitely felt bad. For both of us. I mean, Iron Maiden wrote a song about it for Pete’s sake! ---
**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, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/289 "2010-01-14T23:45:27Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Says you. > > You missed the whole point. It aint just about square footage. For that matter it aint just about right NOW. Its more complicated than that. That was the point which flew over your head. Yes, I often have difficulty grasping points which are not actually expressed. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/290 "2010-01-15T00:32:09Z")
Some women don’t realize how willing men are to make spanky [QUOTE=Pandoranoid] I have picked up men for the specific purpose of sleeping with them a few times, and it was ridiculously, shockingly easy [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=LurkerInNJ] Speaking as a female, it is astonishingly easy to get a man to have sex with you. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![King\_Bobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@King\_Bobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Bobo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/291 "2010-01-15T00:49:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The normal term in the UK is “joined up”. I’m wondering if “cursive” was introduced by a particularly influential textbook or something. When I was a little one in UK school we called it “real writing” as opposed to printing. The Nuns made us do loops and curves with a fountain pen which we filled from ink wells which were placed in the desks. This was in the late 1970’s to early 80’s. They had their standards and my handwriting (if not my typing) is complemented to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/292 "2010-01-15T13:48:49Z")
> [@jimmycolorado](#): > > “You’ve never heard of Icarus? Greek kid, dad was an inventor? Wings made of wax? They… melted, and…” > > “You think I’m dumb!” She exclaimed. “No, I think you’re ignorant. moron” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/293 "2010-01-15T14:30:03Z")
> [@jimmycolorado](#): > > I mean, Iron Maiden wrote a song about it for Pete’s sake! I agree 100% - if Iron Maiden writes a song about it - we should all know what they’re singing about! 😃 I truly love Maiden! ---
**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 15, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/294 "2010-01-15T19:22:09Z")
Speaking of time zones . . . I once had a friend who thought people in different time zones actually lived at different times. E.g. he thought that you couldn’t have a phone conversation with someone in a different time zone, because you’d have to wait hours for their response. Otherwise you’d be answering their questions before they were asked. Yes, I have known some mind-numbingly stupid people over the years. ---
**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 15, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/295 "2010-01-15T19:32:10Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > 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. Around here “pasties” would be in the “sexual paraphernalia” section . . . not found in a standard supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/296 "2010-01-15T20:17:53Z")
I grew up never hearing the term cursive writing. We printed, or we wrote; that was it. It wasn’t till about 6 or 8 years ago when my daughter started writing that I heard the term for the first time. One of my good friends had a girlfriend who was clueless. Among the things she had never heard of (at the age of about 30 at the time): James Bond The Wizard of Oz Genghis Khan There are more, but that’s all I can think of now. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/297 "2010-01-15T20:25:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Speaking of time zones . . . I once had a friend who thought people in different time zones actually lived at different times. E.g. he thought that you couldn’t have a phone conversation with someone in a different time zone, because you’d have to wait hours for their response. Otherwise you’d be answering their questions before they were asked. Wow, that’s weird. But it would be totally cool. I’d play the lottery in different time zones, because I’d already know the winning numbers. Did someone in some thread once upon a time talk to someone who had never heard of Hitler? ---
**Author:** ![PaleAndTragic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@PaleAndTragic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaleAndTragic)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/298 "2010-01-15T21:54:59Z")
We have a friend who is married to real winner. When a group of us were playing a game she honestly had no idea what the San Andreas Fault was and asked if it was new!!! I wish I could say those were the stupidest words ever to come out of her mouth, yet sadly I would be lying. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/299 "2010-01-16T01:14:18Z")
I just asked Mrs. kidneyfailure how many states there are in the US. She said 56, then 52, then 50. She also thought the White House was in New York. She has an excuse, though. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/300 "2010-01-16T02:22:46Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Around here “pasties” would be in the “sexual paraphernalia” section . . . not found in a standard supermarket. Google has enlightened me. 😃 Different pronunciation, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=16)