# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/81 "2010-01-11T01:22:47Z")
I get surprised at how much trouble people have with the US 2-letter postal abbreviations. Especially the ones that start with the letter M. I am referring to other people in the US, of course. I can understand why these wouldn’t be known worldwide. ---
**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 11, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/82 "2010-01-11T01:44:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think that one goes beyond “things some people don’t know” to “bizarre bits of misinformation.” > > Just speculating here, but maybe someone told her the bit about birds being reptiles, and she later misremembered it as being about amphibians. That could be. That’s the only thing I can think of that might explain what she was thinking. I would be nice to know that people aren’t _that_ stupid. Oh, and I keep being surprised by what words people don’t know. I read a lot, and I guess I have an unusually advanced vocabulary, but sometimes say something that sounds perfectly normal to me and no one knows what I’m saying. (I fondly remember a moment in tenth grade when the teacher came up with two words I hadn’t heard of yet). Not that I’m one to judge. I mean, I still haven’t completely mastered spelling. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/83 "2010-01-11T02:02:23Z")
Okay, so where the hell do pineapples come from if not from a tree? For some reason, I’m thinking that they come from a palm tree, but now that I think of it, I’ve never seen a pineapple in a palm tree. And on second thought, that’s coconuts. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/84 "2010-01-11T02:06:25Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Woah, woah, woah… There’s a _new_ Mexico? The old one sucked, so they figured they would give it another go elsewhere…the same thing happened with Braska. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/85 "2010-01-11T02:10:21Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Now wait a second here, who would need to use a typewriter in the year _2000?!_ Anyone who had to fill in multi-part forms, especially if they dealt with the government. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > 1. You really don’t need to warm up a car that’s been sitting in a garage all night. Why not? Oh, you mean your garage is _heated_? I wish my garage was heated. If it’s 20 below zero outside, it’s 20 below zero in my garage. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/86 "2010-01-11T02:17:05Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Oh, also, I am perennially amazed by people who think _arse_ rhymes with the General American pronunciation of _farce_. Enlighten me then. To me, they rhyme - but I’m not American. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/87 "2010-01-11T02:20:32Z")
> [@Ms. Meta](#): > > In conversations with a Boomer male, I was surprised to have to explain: 1) Pez . Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/88 "2010-01-11T02:26:56Z")
At my old job, I worked with a girl who was a bit…clueless. I’d heard of some gems she’d come up with before, but was still caught off-guard when she came up to me and asked, completely out of the blue, “so, if all these people were poor during the Depression, why didn’t they just make more money and give it to them?” I stared at her for a second (because, like I said, she’d caught me completely off guard), and then she said “…there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” All I could say in response was “…Yeah.” Then there was the girl in my Honors Our World class senior year of high school who, upon seeing a list of topics we could do our final presentation on, leaned over to her friend and whispered “what are landmines?” I exchanged glances with the girl sitting next to me, and she whispered “did she seriously just ask that?” All I could do was nod. I’m also shocked that so many people could argue against the theory of evolution when they _don’t even know how it works_. I’m talking about the “I didn’t come from a monkey!” and “okay then smartypants, how about we drop a cat into some water and see how long it takes for it to EVOLVE into a fish then, HMM??” school of thought. Just…what the fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/89 "2010-01-11T02:32:42Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > So I was at my mom’s on Christmas. My brother and his girlfriend live there. They are both twenty years old. > > We got talking about music and then supergroups and, finally, the song “We Are the World”. Turns out they’ve heard it but never seen the video. So I put it on youtube for them and asked them how cool they thought it was that all those artists and singers got together to make a song. > > Only one problem. It was hard for them to think it was so cool because they didn’t know/recognize anyone. > > I stopped the video. Went back to the start. > I asked them to name those who they recognized. > Final count? > > 1. They recognized Michael Jackson. Nobody else. > > This astounded me. How in the hell can a 20 year old NOT KNOW ANYONE (save for MJ) from the We Are the World video?! To say I was surprised is putting it mildly. Shocked the hell out of me. It also made me feel very, very old (I’m only 30). Eh, I didn’t recognize half of them at the time, when I first saw it in what, 1985? It seemed like a bunch of “older”, 60s-vintage artists (plus Dan Aykroyd 😕 ) jumped on that bandwagon. Somebody had to tell me who Bob Dylan was and why he was talking so funny. ---
**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 11, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/90 "2010-01-11T02:37:09Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Okay, so where the hell do pineapples come from if not from a tree? From the tropics. 😃 [Here you go](http://www.etawau.com/HTML/Agriculture/Pineapple.htm). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/91 "2010-01-11T03:21:41Z")
On the French version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, the question is “What revolves around the Earth?” The French contestant isn’t sure, and finally answers, “The SUN”! Worse yet, 56% of the French audience agrees! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmLwnSXNpFU) And lots of people think France is superior to the USA! ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/92 "2010-01-11T03:37:37Z")
Well, this isn’t as bad as thinking Hawaii or New Mexico are different countries (do people really think that…??) or _not knowing where France is_ but… When I was in college I studied abroad for a semester in Vienna. The semester before I left, I was stunned at the number of classmates who did not know where Vienna was. This was at a very “good” college, too (at least as ranked by US News - whatever that matters). I don’t think I expect a lot from people, cultural literacy-wise. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t heard of the Hapsburgs or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or if they didn’t associate Freud with the city. But I would - and do - expect a college student in the US to be able to say something like “Vienna…Austria…lots of classical music there, right?” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/93 "2010-01-11T03:42:21Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > . But I would - and do - expect a college student in the US to be able to say something like “Vienna…Austria…lots of classical music there, right?” And thier sausages are to die for 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/94 "2010-01-11T03:43:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > From the tropics. 😃 > > [Here you go](http://www.etawau.com/HTML/Agriculture/Pineapple.htm). Man. To look at that thing, who would thing there is such sweet, delicious heavenly bliss inside! Mmm, pineapple! ---
**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 11, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/95 "2010-01-11T04:15:10Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Man. To look at that thing, who would thing there is such sweet, delicious heavenly bliss inside! Mmm, pineapple! And who knew this? > [@](#): > > The diamonds on the surface of a pineapple form two interlocking spirals, eight go in one direction, thirteen in the other - both of which are Fibonacci numbers. This is one of many examples of Fibonacci numbers appearing in nature. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Recliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Recliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recliner)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/96 "2010-01-11T04:29:56Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > You were genuinely surprised somebody didn’t know the world crenellations? Do you live in Oxbridge or something? 🙂 Hell, I wouldn’t presume most people would know “viaduct”! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/97 "2010-01-11T04:39:40Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Never heard of it. It’s a hard chalky candy that are shaped like tablets which you put in plastic dispensers with heads on them. The heads are usually of some fictional character. ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/98 "2010-01-11T04:46:10Z")
I recognized most of the people in the WATW video. It took me a while to get Al Jarreau (if it was him), and there was a mess of Jacksons, the only one I could definitely identify (other than Michael) was LaToya. To me, Vienna always seems to want to be in Italy. I have to think about it for a second every time. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/99 "2010-01-11T04:50:32Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353/100 "2010-01-11T05:05:15Z")
> [@nicole1912](#): > > What is the General American pronunciation of farce? Because arse and farce rhyme in British English. (Unless I’m completely missing your point, in which case, don’t mind me, do carry on…) > [@amarone](#): > > Enlighten me then. To me, they rhyme - but I’m not American. Almost all American accents are [non-rhotic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rhotic), in contradistinction to most dialects in Britain. This is the reason why _pawn_ and _porn_ sound different to Americans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-shocked-to-find-out-some-people-dont-know/524353.md?page=6)