# You'd think everyone would know about **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800 "2025-08-07T06:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/281 "2025-08-12T23:19:32Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I know what that is, but wouldn’t be shocked if someone else didn’t. Not sure if I’ve ever tasted one or not. Are you from a major Sausage Town? I had to google kielbasa, I had heard the word but didn’t know what it was, although it’s only about 650 km to the Polish border from here, and there are a lot of people with Polish roots living here. But then I’m a vegetarian, maybe that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/282 "2025-08-12T23:36:21Z")
All this talk of cursive, all I know is I can’t read letters written in the 1800s. And I can’t read my own writing. So any technological advancement that makes communication easier should be embraced, not rejected. If people want to type journals, then good for them. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/283 "2025-08-12T23:47:46Z")
Yep, I told my kids cursive was not something they were going to miss if they didn’t learn it. Moderately hypocritical in my case; I have to often reference land survey records written in the 19th century in cursive… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/284 "2025-08-13T00:23:40Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Holland This isn’t too surprising. The term “Holland” actually only applies to two provinces of Netherlands: North Holland and South Holland. I know I was an adult before I learned that the term “Holland” only applied to those two provinces. They are the two most populous provinces, so often the term “Holland’“ is applied mistakenly to all of Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/285 "2025-08-13T00:34:31Z")
It has to with cursive, because I was speaking of a paper diary or journal. You know the kind you write in with a pen. Using your hand. When I fill up a journal I have a stack in my closet(I have 100s), it goes there. And I start a new one. I’ve always done this. It’s not a chore. It’s a record of my life. Do I think the world revolves around me and my every word? Yeah, kinda do.😊 Do I think any one, save my kids, will care? Nope. When I’m dead will I care if they throw them in a bonfire? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/286 "2025-08-13T00:37:54Z")
Sure. That’s great. Just seemed like you where saying that a person couldn’t do a journal unless it was in cursive. I’m going to have to start mine up again, we are moving to a new house after 33 years. And then we will be retiring soon. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/287 "2025-08-13T02:20:31Z")
Maybe he’s faceblind. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/288 "2025-08-13T03:02:00Z")
That’s not the first thing I’d think. I’d more likely believe he had lots on his mind or had a tummy ache. Perhaps just didn’t give a hoot. Don’t know the stats, but I imagine in the broader scope it’s fairly rare to be really face blind. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/289 "2025-08-13T03:48:37Z")
Currently considered to be two to three percent of the population. Which is quite a lot of people. And it’s a significant problem for us to have people assume we just don’t give a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/290 "2025-08-13T04:14:56Z")
On the globe in question, it did not show provinces within the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/291 "2025-08-13T04:26:48Z")
How’s a person to know the difference. If you suffer from this, I’m sorry. Maybe if a person knows they have it they choose not to work in a job or industry where it’s important to remember faces. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/292 "2025-08-13T04:35:09Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It has to with cursive, because I was speaking of a paper diary or journal. You know the kind you write in with a pen. Using your hand. And what does _that_ have to do with cursive? I prefer to write on paper for most things and the only time I ever use cursive is signing my signature. Why do you think handwriting is synonymous with cursive? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/293 "2025-08-13T05:00:39Z")
Here’s a map showing the provinces: > **[Netherlands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands#/media/File:Map_provinces_Netherlands-en.svg)** > > – in Europe (light green & dark grey)– in the European Union (light green) The Netherlands,\[k\] informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, ... ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/294 "2025-08-13T05:11:32Z")
Re Cursive….once in a while would come across something written by great aunts etc in Spencerian which was the way it was taught when she was young. ( I’m 77 so that’s pre 1900 ) > **[Spencerian script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencerian_script)** > > Spencerian script is a handwriting script style based on Copperplate script that was used in the United States from approximately 1850 to 1925, and was considered the American de facto standard writing style for business correspondence prior to the widespread adoption of the typewriter. Spencerian script, a form of cursive handwriting, was also widely integrated into the school system as an instructional method until the "simpler" Palmer Method replaced it. President James A. Garfield calle Pla... soooo elegant ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/295 "2025-08-13T05:17:10Z")
Well, umm…we were discussing writing in a journal as opposed to writing on a device. Nothing mysterious or nefarious. I promise. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the OP. Except someone upthread was surprised his grandson couldn’t sign his name. In cursive. I was surprised so many folks dismissed the whole idea that writing with pen and paper was important. I offered my opinion. And asked didn’t anyone journal anymore. I wasn’t prepared for how many people say they do it online. Did not know that. That’s fine. I have no issue with it. I say do what pleases you. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/296 "2025-08-13T05:50:14Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > They are the two most populous provinces, so often the term “Holland’“ is applied mistakenly to all of Netherlands. This is true in some contexts and untrue in others. For example, in Germany, one says “die Niederlande,” as you’d expect, and while you might hear “Holland” there is an understanding of the misapplied nomenclature. However, in Luxembourgish, one says “**[Holland](https://lod.lu/artikel/HOLLAND1),**” full stop. In that language, that’s the only correct way to refer to the country. Country names in various languages, of course, operate by their own rules. In French, this country is called “Pays-Bas,” which basically means “the low lands” or “the low country.” (Which creates an interesting mental hiccup when you go back and think about what “nether” means in “Netherlands.”) The point is, while it’s correct to say that _in English_ one may observe a differentiation between the two terms, it is inaccurate to say that “Holland” has no officially correct usage as the name of the country. You could argue that Luxembourg, as an entire language, is making a mistake and should be fixed, but it is the language and that’s the usage. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/297 "2025-08-13T08:45:04Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Yeah, add me as another who has never heard of “Hiroshima Day” before. Obviously I know what Hiroshima is, but I’ve never heard it called that before. I would have been confused as well. > > Is “Hiroshima Day” a thing in Australia? It is not a memorial day, but if you are a person who reads the center-left press the term would be familar. You would typically get a small protest somewhere, and perhaps some church service for the ‘peace’ branch of your (church) denomination. You’d have to look for it. In contrast, I’m surprised that the name is not well known here, given the rabid center-left nature of this community. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/298 "2025-08-13T09:00:14Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > For example, in Germany, And on a personal note, whenever the “true name” subject comes up, “Germany” is always the first thing that comes to mind. The GDR was really\* “Verfassung der **Deutschen** Demokratischen Republik”. \*for some values of “really”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/299 "2025-08-13T11:04:05Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Well, umm…we were discussing writing in a journal as opposed to writing on a device. Well, we are talking about writing either on a device (I don’t type on my tablet, I print with my hand), or printing on paper. It doesn’t matter if it’s cursive or print on paper (or on a device for that matter, but many probably type) It doesn’t have to be cursive if you are writing on paper. I’ve been printing on paper way, way, way longer than I had any kind of device. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/300 "2025-08-13T11:06:31Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Maybe he’s faceblind. Yeah, I don’t know. I think he’s so used to writing up a ‘ticket’ when you check in, he doesn’t pay attention to the car type or the person. And he forgot to write up a ticket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=16)