Things you're shocked people don't know

[Nardpuncher]

Gravity isn't nullified in orbit either -- the weightlessness is the same kind as that you'd experience in free fall (neglecting air resistance). Anyway, let us blame Hollywood.

This kind of thing right here needs its own thread: Surprising Things Most People Don't Know
I heard about this once on a Discovery channel show or something...they said something along the lines of " We'll tell you after the break how astronauts floating in space AREN'T doing it due to lack of gravity!" I was going half bugs waiting for the commercials to end to find out WTF they meant.

What about the people that tell you toilets flush the opposite way in the southern hemisphere? We need a thread for long-held misconceptions!

 

[Count Zero]

It's pretty simple in most cases actually (there are a thousand exception of course), and it is something people could/should know imo. 9 out of 10 cases it's like this:
At the exact time when the passing player touches the ball before passing it, there still has to be at least one member of the defending team (+ the goalie) between the player who receives the pass and the goal.
The intent of that rule is to prevent players from hanging around the opposing goal the entire time, which would result in the defenders also staying there and the game would then consist completely of the teams kicking the ball back and forth between the two goals with no actual tactics or gameplay.

Now explain 2nd phase and/or 'becoming active'.

Well, if you're in an offside position but don't participate in the action, it's passive offside. The moment you do anything meaningful, like getting passed the ball, you become active and it's offside. I don't know what '2nd phase' means. Never heard of it.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Here's another one; a lot of mental illnesses while curable are still a disease you can't get over, like a bad cold.

The United States is bad about this, and a lot of insurance companies do not support mental illness as a sickness. I've also heard many people simply say to people that are depressed to 'get over it' or 'they are faking it'. Yes, there are a few that get overdiagnoised but for the most part, mental illnesses are very misunderstood by the general.

Unfortunately, I think it'll take time before people fully understand and accept this fact; there is just so much misinformation, misunderstanding, and taboo surrounding mental illness. People are precious about their brains and forget that the brain is an organ that functions via physiology like the rest of the body, and when something goes wrong it is just as real as any other disease.

Yep. It's something that'll take a long, long time to get people to change their perceptions over what mental illnesses are.

 

[RAMA]

I must have been in an exceptionally good school district, because I remember being taught a lot of these things people are saying were omitted in their middle or high school years. YES I learned other periods of history between Ancient Egypt and The American Revolution!! Of course I was also really into history anyway and usually answered most of the questions in class because I did my own reading at home.

RAMA

 

[bluedana]

That people don't know how to make change. If the cash register computer doesn't tell them how much money to give you back, they're stumped. My dad spent a whole evening when I was a child teaching me how to count up the balance from pennies to dollars. My mother is horrible to go shopping with; she hates getting back pennies. So, she'll give you $20.01 for something that costs $4.26, but almost always after the person puts in $20.00 ("Oh, I think I have a penny...") Now the cashier is baffled, because she or he can't figure out what the change should be. I've seen people void the whole transaction and start over.

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ I don't get that either. Even my right-centric artistic brain can count change. (And your mom would have gotten $15.75 back. I did that in my head and without using my fingers.) I also find it baffling that folks can't calculate a tip in their head either.

As for history, I moved around a lot as a kid so most of my education consisted of relearning stuff I had already learned. But somehow I managed to take in the Middle Ages, several wars and the French Revolution. The only part of world history I am spotty on is Africa and China.

 

[RoJoHen]

Some people's brains just aren't trained to do mental math.

I can count back change now, but before I started waiting tables I never had reason to do so.

 

[John Picard]

Some people's brains just aren't trained to do mental math.

I can count back change now, but before I started waiting tables I never had reason to do so.

Yes you did. Never trust what a clerk counts back unless you understand it. Several times, I've had a clerk short me counting back change, the most recent of which was a couple of weeks ago.

 

[RoJoHen]

Clerks rarely count back money. They usually just read the screen and give you a handful of cash. If the dollars are correct, I'm good to go. I don't stress over loose change.

 

[AstroSmurf]

Some people's brains just aren't trained to do mental math.

I can count back change now, but before I started waiting tables I never had reason to do so.

Yes you did. Never trust what a clerk counts back unless you understand it. Several times, I've had a clerk short me counting back change, the most recent of which was a couple of weeks ago.

If the clerk doesn't do it, I won't leave the counter until I have counted my money. I think it is rude that people don't do this anymore! (And if they are worried about time, it can be done in no time flat. In fact, they could do in place of asking if I want a charge card and no time would be wasted at all.)

 

[Major Chord]

Basic geography. My 14 year old sister, who has taken the exact same classes in school as I have has proclaimed these things to be true.

• Canada has no capital because it doesn't have states.
• England is in fact inside London.
• The capital of both NY and the US is New York City (we live in New York).
• The continents include East and West America, and Alaska.

I once asked her to find the US on a globe, and she asked "Isn't the whole thing the US?"



She's not a child of diminished mental capacity, so I'm just gonna chalk all that up to ignorance. It seems to be typical of teens now, sadly. They could care less about anything that's not sent in a text message.

Speaking of which, I'm quite surprised that so many people nowadays don't realize that it's improper to write school essays and papers using text speak. I've actually had teachers make it a point to remind us that w/ bc, lol, and various emoticons do not belong in our written assignments.

 

[RoJoHen]

Basic geography. My 14 year old sister, who has taken the exact same classes in school as I have has proclaimed these things to be true.

• Canada has no capital because it doesn't have states.
• England is in fact inside London.
• The capital of both NY and the US is New York City (we live in New York).
• The continents include East and West America, and Alaska.

I once asked her to find the US on a globe, and she asked "Isn't the whole thing the US?"

Wow. Those answers would be cute if a 4-year old said them, but a 14-year old?! That's simply unacceptable.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Because of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor I boycotted products from that country from country. In fact i still do and will continue to do so until the West Papua situation is solved.

One of my friends had been to Bali twice and was trying to talk me into going with her to Bali for her third visit. I told her that I was boycotting Indonesia. She said 'We are going to Bali, not Indonesia". She obviously had never looked at her passport to see what country she visited when visiting Bali.

 

[Trekker4747]

Co-worker was talking today in the BR, profoundly confused why so many people today had "dirt on their foreheads."

I swore she was taking the piss but she was serious -and she's not nearly bright enough to act this stupid. She really is this stupid. I just didn't think she was that stupid.

So she was confused and wondering why so many people had this dirt on their foreheads and thought maybe there was a shelf or a door or something in the store that was dirty and people were resting/touching their heads on it while getting product.

Me: "It's Ash Wednesday."

Her: "What's that?"

Me: :facepalm:

This woman is in her late 20s, possibly early or mid 30s.

Her elevator obviously doesn't go to the penthouse.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Co-worker was talking today in the BR, profoundly confused why so many people today had "dirt on their foreheads."

I swore she was taking the piss but she was serious -and she's not nearly bright enough to act this stupid. She really is this stupid. I just didn't think she was that stupid.

So she was confused and wondering why so many people had this dirt on their foreheads and thought maybe there was a shelf or a door or something in the store that was dirty and people were resting/touching their heads on it while getting product.

Me: "It's Ash Wednesday."

Her: "What's that?"

Me: :facepalm:

This woman is in her late 20s, possibly early or mid 30s.

Her elevator obviously doesn't go to the penthouse.

I only learned about it a couple of years ago and I'm 24. She, like me, probably hasn't come into contact with many people who celebrate it before. I'd say that the majority of people I grew up around were Mormon or Atheist and I know practically nothing of religious ceremonies/traditions.

 

[trampledamage]

I only learned about it a couple of years ago and I'm 24. She, like me, probably hasn't come into contact with many people who celebrate it before. I'd say that the majority of people I grew up around were Mormon or Atheist and I know practically nothing of religious ceremonies/traditions.

It's certainly something I saw only when I moved to Ireland. I couldn't work out what was going on either - I had the sense to keep my mouth shut about it though!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Co-worker was talking today in the BR, profoundly confused why so many people today had "dirt on their foreheads."

I swore she was taking the piss but she was serious -and she's not nearly bright enough to act this stupid. She really is this stupid. I just didn't think she was that stupid.

I got the same thing at the drive-through tonight. The clerk asked me if I knew I had dirt on my forehead. I told her I'd just come from church and that it's Ash Wednesday. Plus if I had anything on my forehead, I think I'd know.

For her part, Ash Wednesday did come rather early this year. I wouldn't expect most people to know it was this early. But still, who'd get this on their forehead and NOT KNOW about it?

 

[Snaploud]

Co-worker was talking today in the BR, profoundly confused why so many people today had "dirt on their foreheads."

I swore she was taking the piss but she was serious -and she's not nearly bright enough to act this stupid. She really is this stupid. I just didn't think she was that stupid.

So she was confused and wondering why so many people had this dirt on their foreheads and thought maybe there was a shelf or a door or something in the store that was dirty and people were resting/touching their heads on it while getting product.

Me: "It's Ash Wednesday."

Her: "What's that?"

Me: :facepalm:

This woman is in her late 20s, possibly early or mid 30s.

Her elevator obviously doesn't go to the penthouse.

I have never in my life been witness to that tradition (either in real life or television). I've heard of Ashe Wednesday but never it's corresponding traditions.

So, I guess I'm one of the ignorant...It wouldn't be the first time. I tend to black out those embarrassments (though, hopefully not the new information).

Edit:

Interesting tid-bit:

British TV host Kay Burley Wednesday mistook Vice President Joe Biden's Ash Wednesday ashes for a bruise on his forehead.


"What's happened to his head?" Burley asked on Sky News. "I'm sure that's what everyone's asking at home...it looks like he's walked into a door!"


Her co-host speculated that he may have fallen on the ice at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/17/kay-burley-british-tv-hos_n_466501.html

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think if one mentioned Ash Wednesday in Australia people would think that you were remembering 16th February 1983, the day when 75 people died in bushfires across South Australia and Victoria.

I have never met anyone who has put ashes on themselves on the first day of Lent.

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ Well you may not have met her in person but... CrusherDisciple did... then went to a bar (for a going away party and did not drink). She is a brave soul.

And I know this is a little weird (since it is more of a pop culture reference) but I am shocked that more people haven't heard of Dusty Springfield. I absolutely adore her and I just can't get enough of her music.