Things you're shocked people don't know

[Trekker4747]

After experiences on the highway this afternoon...

That when it's snowing outside, windy, and visibility is low one should reduce their speed and turn on their headlights. Oh, and not crash into gaurdrails.

 

[RoJoHen]

After experiences on the highway this afternoon...

That when it's snowing outside, windy, and visibility is low one should reduce their speed and turn on their headlights. Oh, and not crash into gaurdrails.

I think you should drive as fast as possible to get out of the bad weather!

 

[Trekker4747]

After experiences on the highway this afternoon...

That when it's snowing outside, windy, and visibility is low one should reduce their speed and turn on their headlights. Oh, and not crash into gaurdrails.

I think you should drive as fast as possible to get out of the bad weather!

Phyisics and traction disagrees with you.

 

[RoJoHen]

Dude, if you go fast enough, your car will fly!

 

[trampledamage]

Dude, if you go fast enough, your car will fly!

You got that right!

Landing on the other hand...

 

[Cali]

The questions were as follows:

1. Of the five legitimate (as considered under the Non-Proliferation Treaty) nuclear-weapons states, which is the only state to maintain a policy of "no first use"? (China)
2. Which well known symbol originated as the symbol for the UK-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament? (☮)
3. Which ostensibly non-nuclear-weapon state hosts more nuclear weapons than are possessed by Pakistan? (Germany or Turkey)
4. Which nation disrupted an international security treaty in the 1980s by banning nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered vessels from its ports? (New Zealand)
5. Which is the only nation to have first developed, and then divested itself of nuclear weapons? (South Africa)
6. In 2008 the Nuclear Suppliers Group issued an export waiver for which non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty? (India)

I knew the answer to number 2.

 

[scotpens]

I'm still a bit shocked when I realize there are some people in the world who cannot swim. I mean, if you drop them in water over their heads, they'll thrash about uselessly for a few minutes and then drown. I always assumed that treading water or dog-paddling came naturally, that it was something everyone was born knowing how to do. I guess I was wrong.

How to drive when there's snow on the ground.

Snow? Here in Los Angeles, folks don't even know how to drive when it's raining.

Remember that joke in the movie Tommy Boy, where Tommy fills in “Herbie Hancock” as a noted signer of the Declaration of Independence? Well I know someone who didn't get the joke. Why? Because he had no idea who John Hancock was, so the joke was lost on him.

Before you ask, yes, he had graduated from high school.

At least he knew who Herbie Hancock was!

I am always shocked when an American doesn't know the rules to a major American sport.

I don't even like football, but I still know how the game is played.

I'm a native-born American who has no interest whatsoever in sports, and I know absolutely NOTHING about football.

So there.

My sister was shocked when I didn't know who Susan Boyle was.

I was shocked when my boss's wife, who's only a couple of years older than I am, had no idea who Gwen Stefani is.

In the US there is rarely any reason to speak more than one language.

Unless you live in Florida....

Or Southern California, or New Mexico, or Texas . . .

I would also like to include fission and fusion. Most people I talk to have no idea which is which . . . You would think, with all the atom bomb hysteria in the 50's and 60's, that folks would have a better understanding of basic nuclear reactions.

Hell, a lot of Americans think the reactor in a nuclear electric plant can blow up like an atomic bomb.

That pork isn't kosher.

It is, when it's in Chinese food.

At least they don't place the bloody coalas in Austria.

You mean Paul Hogan, Olivia Newton-John, Kylie Minogue, and those adorable kangaroos aren't from Austria?

I recently gave a presentation on global governance as relating to nuclear proliferation to a bunch of international politics students. At the conclusion of the presentation I offered a short quiz. . . .The questions were as follows:

. . . 2. Which well known symbol originated as the symbol for the UK-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament?

Aw, c'mon, that's easy! The “peace” symbol that became popular with anti-Vietnam War protestors in the 1960s.

The symbol was designed by a British art student in 1958, by combining the semaphore flag positions for the letters N and D (for “nuclear disarmament”) surrounded by a circle.

Shoot, I thought EVERYONE knew that.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I didn't.

 

[trampledamage]

I'm still a bit shocked when I realize there are some people in the world who cannot swim. I mean, if you drop them in water over their heads, they'll thrash about uselessly for a few minutes and then drown. I always assumed that treading water or dog-paddling came naturally, that it was something everyone was born knowing how to do. I guess I was wrong.

That's two different things. If you ask someone do they know how to swim and they say no, it's because they haven't taken lessons and so don't know how to swim properly. But doggie-paddle is pretty much instinctive, that's why kids do it.

Having said that if you dropped someone who doesn't know how to swim properly - or even hasn't swum in a long while - into water over their heads, the panic would probably kill them before they tried swimming.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Swum? Is that the proper past tense form?

Or is it swam? Swem? Swom? Swüm? These are the kind of things I think of when I'm home alone and the power goes out.

 

[trampledamage]

^ Swum? Is that the proper past tense form?

Or is it swam? Swem? Swom? Swüm? These are the kind of things I think of when I'm home alone and the power goes out.

Lord only knows, I make this stuff up!

There's

I will swim in the river
I am swimming in the river
I swam in the river
I have swum in the river

... I think

 

[Amaris]

]At least he knew who Herbie Hancock was!

Actually, no. He didn't get the joke because he didn't know who John Hancock was. Since he didn't know who Herbie Hancock was either, he didn't get why people were laughing at the scene.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I'm always shocked that some people don't realize that America isn't necessarily the bestest country ever. A lot of people just seem to assume that we are automatically the most awesome and deserve better than any other country just because...well I'm not sure why. I'm shocked when they don't seem to acknowledge that citizens of other countries are just as human as we are.

How right you are. Of course, even mentioning something likes this to most will get you burned at the stake for being unpatriotic.


I would also like to include fission and fusion. Most people I talk to have no idea which is which. You would think, with all the atom bomb hysteria in the 50's and 60's, that folks would have a better understanding of basic nuclear reactions.

I'm shocked that there are people that don't know that there are some things people should know, and things that it's pretty much OK not to know, such as the difference between, such as fission and fusion.

That is if these people are not scientists or perhaps working with the power/military industries or something.
If you're meeting your normal Joe and act befuddled as to why he doesn't know the difference then you're going to make a lot of people look at you funny.
My Guess: Fusion being when two atoms or particles are put together, fission being the opposite and they release energy, like in an atomic bomb. I can't tell you any examples of a fusion reaction that I know of, but I'm sure it's going to be something I see every day but didn't know it.

 

[scotpens]

My Guess: Fusion being when two atoms or particles are put together, fission being the opposite and they release energy, like in an atomic bomb. I can't tell you any examples of a fusion reaction that I know of, but I'm sure it's going to be something I see every day but didn't know it.

Yes, the sun. Or any star for that matter. Also the so-called “hydrogen” bomb, more accurately called a fusion or thermonuclear bomb.

 

[TrekNut87]

There are several things, but the ones that surprised me the most:

My cousin not knowing that there were nine innings in a baseball game, despite being a frequent follower of the game.
A friend of mine not knowing the difference between Persia and Korea.
A family member asking me "Who is Samuel L. Jackson?"

 

[Sci]

I have a coworker who did not seem to understand that the former dictator of Iraq was a man named Saddam Hussein, not Osama bin Ladin, and who did not know that Saddam Hussein was executed years ago whilst Osama bin Ladin is still at large. She did not understand that Iraq was not involved whatsoever in the 9/11 attacks, did not know what al Qaeda was, and did not know that al Qaeda was based out of Afghanistan prior to moving to western Pakistan.

She also did not know what the Union Jack was when I asked her if a certain product we see had the Union Jack on it.

 

[RoJoHen]

She also did not know what the Union Jack was when I asked her if a certain product we see had the Union Jack on it.

The only reason I knew this was from watching Doctor Who.

I mean, if I asked a British person what "Old Glory" was, would they know I was talking about the American flag?

 

[Rosalind]

She also did not know what the Union Jack was when I asked her if a certain product we see had the Union Jack on it.

A "Union Jack" is the Union Flag when raised on a ship or "in sea", otherwise, it's called a Union Flag. At least that's how people in the Royal Navy calls it since they love their tradition, most people though just call it the Union Jack whenever and wherever.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I would hope that most Brits would know that 'Old Glory" is the American flag.

That said, I would say that Union Jack is a much more official term than Old Glory is. Old Glory is a nickname whereas Union Jack is an actual name of a particular flag. One of the definitions of jack is nautical term for a flag i.e. pilot jack or yellow jack are both flags (the yellow jack was flown by a ship under quarantine).

 

[RoJoHen]

I guess for me a lot of things like that have to do with whether or not you need to know it. I have never needed to know that the Union Jack was called the Union Jack (as I said, I only learned that recently from watching Doctor Who). I would probably just call it the British Flag.

Then again, I'd actually be surprised if Americans knew that the American flag had other names.