# Things you're suprised people haven't heard of **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707 "2011-12-10T05:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/81 "2011-12-14T03:04:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > But, hey, c’mon, how many of you have heard of Georg Philip Telemann? There are simply too many things for anyone to know of them all! Without Googling I’m going to guess he wrote the Telemann Symphonia? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/82 "2011-12-14T03:26:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](#): > > I was at a Bible study yesterday with a group of very smart people and we were watching a video of a lecture from the previous week and the person presenting remarked that the particular historic period we were discussing was around the time of the foundation of Rome and made reference to the legend of Romulus and Remus. We couldn’t see the live audience in the video, but apparently only a handful had heard of Romulus and Remus. Is knowledge of that particular legend really that rare? I know the story but I would only give that a 1 in 5 chance of any given American knowing who they are. About the same number would know Ren and Stimpy but many more would be familiar with Beavis and Butthead. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/83 "2011-12-14T04:05:38Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Without Googling I’m going to guess he wrote the Telemann Symphonia? Come Mister Telemann tele me banana! Daylight come and me wanna go home. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/84 "2011-12-14T04:07:46Z")
> [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](#): > > I was at a Bible study yesterday with a group of very smart people and we were watching a video of a lecture from the previous week and the person presenting remarked that the particular historic period we were discussing was around the time of the foundation of Rome and made reference to the legend of Romulus and Remus. We couldn’t see the live audience in the video, but apparently only a handful had heard of Romulus and Remus. Is knowledge of that particular legend really that rare? Everyone knows that. Romulus founded the Romulan Empire and Remus was the old black guy who sang about bluebirds. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/85 "2011-12-14T04:12:37Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I know the story but I would only give that a 1 in 5 chance of any given American knowing who they are. Really? I don’t expect most would be able to give any details (suckled by a wolf, founded Rome, etc.) but surely more than 1 in 5 would at least recognize the names as being connected to Roman mythology. Then again, maybe I’m overestimating “average” intelligence and knowledge. I suppose it wouldn’t be the first time. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/86 "2011-12-14T05:37:50Z")
> [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](#): > > Really? I don’t expect most would be able to give any details (suckled by a wolf, founded Rome, etc.) but surely more than 1 in 5 would at least recognize the names as being connected to Roman mythology. > > Then again, maybe I’m overestimating “average” intelligence and knowledge. I suppose it wouldn’t be the first time. [Anyone who speaks Romulan would probably know those names.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulan#Remus) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/87 "2011-12-14T06:22:45Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > [Anyone who speaks Romulan would probably know those names.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulan#Remus) 😃 DAMMIT! I don’t even follow Star Trek but was dying to make that gag. That having been said, I only know of Romulus and Remus because I went to art school and there are multiple works based on it. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/88 "2011-12-14T06:27:15Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Come Mister Telemann tele me banana! Daylight come and me wanna go home. Nice! I’ll state for the record that I was correct, but spelled “sinphonia” wrong. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/89 "2011-12-14T13:50:10Z")
I found out yesterday that the guy I sit next to at work (he’s 30ish) didn’t know Liza Minelli is Judy Garland’s daughter (he does know who both of them are). I guess I’m not shocked that a 30 year old wouldn’t know that but I was a little surprised. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/90 "2011-12-14T15:49:49Z")
A couple years ago I was sick and my wife took me to the emergency room. After a few minutes a doctor came into the room. Besides the fact that she looked about 20 making me feel old…I ask… “Are you the sawbones?” She had no idea what that meant. Her nurse had to explain. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/91 "2011-12-15T17:55:37Z")
I was not especially surprised when some young cow-orkers didn’t get a reference to Simon Legree. I “reminded” them that this was the cruel overseer in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Nope, still blank stares. Harriet Beecher Stowe? The abolitionists? "What’s an abolitionist?’ \*\* Sigh \*\* OK, ever hear of the Civil War? Hmm, I think we had a unit on that in school… ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/92 "2011-12-15T18:01:52Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > I was not especially surprised when some young cow-orkers didn’t get a reference to Simon Legree. I “reminded” them that this was the cruel overseer in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Nope, still blank stares. Harriet Beecher Stowe? The abolitionists? "What’s an abolitionist?’ \*\* Sigh \*\* OK, ever hear of the Civil War? Hmm, I think we had a unit on that in school… Okay, now I think my brain is broken. That’s a truly impressive lack of knowledge right there. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/93 "2011-12-15T18:35:10Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Okay, now I think my brain is broken. That’s a truly impressive lack of knowledge right there. My ex-wife… She was not dumb. On the contrary…she was very smart when she was motivated and in her day-to-day needs. However, unless it affected her today or maybe tomorrow, she was just not interested. Complete lack of curiousity. Her lack of knowledge about the world never ceased to amaze me…though I never pressed her on it or even expressed any amazement or dissapproval to her…she was my wife and I wasn;t going to make her feel dumb. - She had heard of the civil war but wasn’t sure which states were against which. She thought the North won but wasn’t 100% sure. - Never heard of the Spanish American war. We fought SPAIN!? - Never heard that Texas was part of Mexico and had a rebellion. This came up when we were watching an Alamo movie. - Thought Italy was on the Allied side in WWII. (now maybe not so bad…they were Allied in WWI and did switch in WWII…but she thought they started Allied) - No knowledge of the Roman Empire. Complete blank look. - Thought Islam was dominant in China…and that it was born there. - This one completely blew me away…and I got into some trouble over it cuz my poker face wasn’t good enough…she thought Vietnam was a British conflict…U.S. was not involved. - Was generally anti-science in that she was super skeptical. Wasn’t sure there really was such things as dinosaurs…the Big Bang etc…because ‘they are just guessing’. Well, tbh…that might not be way off the mark 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/94 "2011-12-15T19:36:47Z")
My other half had never heard the term “my bad” until about a month ago. I found that to be amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Animastryfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Animastryfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animastryfe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/95 "2011-12-15T19:51:23Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > Niels H. D. Bohr or Paul A. M. Dirac. “Einstein” is so commonplace that you can almost make an argument for using a small ‘e.’ But mention either of these guys (any place but SDMB) and you might get a lolwut. About half a year ago I found out that Linus Pauling wrote a general chemistry textbook. I then found out that very few of my friends have heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/96 "2011-12-15T20:36:34Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > And I’m not sure which comic people are referring to as ridiculously obscure … Not intended pejoratively: Awards or not, no contemporary comic not published in a newspaper, IMHO, has true popular-culture saturation. What “popular-culture saturation” means to me is “people light-years from the scene still have at least heard of it.” All of non-newspaper comics in 2011 – both print and web – are niche. Webcomics doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/97 "2011-12-15T20:46:27Z")
Just a little reminder that we’ve tried to move past the comic portion of this thread, **bordelond** … there was a mod note on page 1. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/98 "2011-12-15T20:53:49Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Just a little reminder that we’ve tried to move past the comic portion of this thread, **bordelond** … there was a mod note on page 1. **Ellen** , _mea culpa_. I went and skipped over most of the thread when I replied. I see your note now :smack: Feel free to delete. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/99 "2011-12-15T21:59:07Z")
I had a co-worker once ask me which came first, the American Revolution or the Civil War? Think about the depths of ignorance of American history implied by that question. It would be one thing to not know if the Napoleonic Wars, for example, came before or after the American Civil War. But to somehow not understand that the American Revolution came before the Civil War. What did he think these wars were being fought about and what did he think the results were? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707/100 "2011-12-16T02:38:08Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I’ve gotten a few blank states for saying _Gesundheit_ after someone sneezes. And I get blank stares when I answer “gesundheit” with “danke”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youre-suprised-people-havent-heard-of/605707.md?page=4)