# 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:** 21
**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 19, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/401 "2025-08-19T15:41:56Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > My all-time favorite in the stuff-you’d-think-everyone-knows category dates from the ‘80s, when Mrs. J. was working as reference librarian at a state university. A student asked her “What war was going on in 1943?” > > He was a journalism major. This happened in Australia in the 80s? Your wife should have played this song for him: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/X9eap_cKLP4/maxresdefault.jpg "Midnight Oil - Forgotten Years (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9eap_cKLP4) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/402 "2025-08-19T15:54:22Z")
“This happened in Australia in the 80s?” The guy who didn’t know what war was going on in 1943 was attending a midwestern American university. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/403 "2025-08-19T18:23:40Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > We learn mostly through pain, pleasure and most importantly, observation. Those that do not learn through observation, learn through pain. As attributed to Will Rogers: > There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. ---
**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 19, 2025, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/404 "2025-08-19T18:44:24Z")
Twain said “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot…” I interpret that to mean you _know_ by observation and experience. Which I’m not sure I can agree with. Some things you need to get your hands on, others you can learn from studying and reading. Just gotta be careful who you’re reading. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/405 "2025-08-19T18:53:47Z")
I take Twain to be criticizing someone who has an advantage to learn (ie by reading), but chooses not to, thereby giving up an important tool and putting themselves in the same class as illiterates. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/406 "2025-08-19T18:56:37Z")
…but to further quote Twain (well, paraphrase): We must be careful to take out of an experience only what we should. A cat that tries to lie on a hot wood stove will never make that mistake again, but will never lie on a cold wood stove either. ---
**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 19, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/407 "2025-08-19T18:58:22Z")
That sounds like a better way to interpret it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/408 "2025-08-19T19:00:51Z")
It’s really important to factor in _opportunity_ though. If you have not had adequate opportunity to learn a thing, you probably just didn’t get to learn it. That perhaps puts you at a disadvantage, but people automatically treat it like it’s a character flaw or moral failing. ---
**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 19, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/409 "2025-08-19T20:59:01Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > …but to further quote Twain (well, paraphrase): We must be careful to take out of an experience only what we should. A cat that tries to lie on a hot wood stove will never make that mistake again, but will never lie on a cold wood stove either Nitpick: I used to have a cat who disproved that. He landed on a hot stove once, his first winter; he was running across the room and jumped up on it, presumably moving too fast to realize the heat before it was too late. He came back off that stove even faster (and unhurt; I went after him, caught him, and inspected paws. He must not have been in contact long enough to get burned through calluses and fur.) In the summer, the top of that stove was one of the coolest places in the house. And he used to lie down on it sometimes – ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/410 "2025-08-19T21:30:27Z")
[This went hilariously viral in 2017](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-just-to-say). I bet more of Teh Kids know it now than at any other point in the past 91 years. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/411 "2025-08-19T21:32:15Z")
You buried the lede! > The first early evidence of parody being written online is an allusion to a thread that existed on the “Straight Dope” message board, but was deleted in 2002. [ ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/412 "2025-08-19T21:36:09Z")
I missed that, and don’t remember the deleted thread. (Damn you, Winter of our Missed Content!) That’s wonderful, and OF COURSE we did it first. How could we not have. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/413 "2025-08-19T21:40:06Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > They call it _keyboarding_ now. > > It’s taught in school. > > I think the rules are out the door. You type on a keyboard, like we’re all doing right now. > > No one cares what finger you’re using to type which letter key. No one cares, but youse (the generic youse) definitely should care because the touch-typing many of us learned as children transfers over to computer keyboards. I learned it because I loved typewriters, but today it allows me to type in seconds what a hunt-and-peck typist would take minutes to accomplish. When I type on a computer keyboard, text flows across the screen like the rapids in a raging river! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/414 "2025-08-22T22:01:09Z")
My wife had me explain what was meant by “Pythonesque” last night, having never heard of Monty Python before. I showed her some clips she would enjoy (philosopher’s playing football, the Communist quiz show, “Biggus Dickus” from _Life of Brian)_ and she now wants to watch LoB tonight. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/415 "2025-08-24T16:45:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > having never heard of Monty Python before 😲 > [@JohnT](#): > > she now wants to watch LoB tonight. Good job! I’d like to watch _Life of Brian_, but my wife thinks it mocks God. I have the complete TV series on DVD, as well as _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, _The Meaning of Life_, and Terry Gilliam’s _Jabberwocky_ (my wife couldn’t make it past the first King Bruno scene). I have _Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl_ on VHS (adding the DVD to my shopping cart), and I _might_ have _The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball_ on VHS. ETA: I’ve just ordered the DVD of _Live at the Hollywood Bowl_, and the DVD boxed set of _Pleasure At Her Majesty’s_ (1976), _The Secret Policeman s Ball_ (1979), _The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball_ (1981), _The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball_ (1987), and _The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball_ (1989). (There was only one left, so I ordered it.) ---
**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 24, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/416 "2025-08-24T17:00:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’d like to watch _Life of Brian_, but my wife thinks it mocks God. Of course it does! That’s the beauty of it! ---
**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:** [August 24, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/417 "2025-08-24T17:02:38Z")
Yes. But she takes her religion very seriously. ---
**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 24, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/418 "2025-08-24T17:03:32Z")
And LoB ist the best anodyne for anyone taking religion too seriously. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/419 "2025-08-24T17:31:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@JohnT](#): > > > > having never heard of Monty Python before > > 😲 His wife is neither American, Canadian, nor from the UK. I forget where she’s from, but not 'round here. And IIRC, a rather recent immigrant to the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/420 "2025-08-24T17:37:55Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’d like to watch _Life of Brian_, but my wife thinks it mocks God. Well, it did say “Jehovah.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=22)