Are Americans really this stupid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Because everyone who graduates highschool should know the names and locations of continents and oceans FFS.

Why?

Why know anything? Why even learn your own name?

Why not respond to a very simple question with rhetorical questions rather than take the time to think about it?

Why can't you respond to questions? It cuts both ways.

I asked the question first. And, more importantly, I asked the person making the claim to explain their reasoning. You are asking the equivalent of “well how do YOU know God DOESN’T exist?!”

You (or a different PP) said that “everyone who graduates high school should know the names and locations of continents and oceans”. Can you even explain what a continent is? Where does one continent end and another begin? What an ocean is? Where does one ocean end and another begin? What is the purpose of these designations?

And then explain why those of us who graduated high school 20 years ago would have named four oceans while those graduating high school now will name five? And yet, at the time of graduation, we were all “correct”? Did a brand new ocean spring out of the ether?

I graduated from HS in '94 and could have definitely named the Atlantic, maybe the Pacific, and wouldn't have known two others. I could not have named the continents. Public school on Long Island, NY.

Off the top of my head, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Indian. Upon reviewing a modern Mercator projection, I see we now have a Southern Ocean. It arrived in around 2002.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I met a 30 yo who said she could not go jogging because her GPS was not working.

We were in a city with a grid. But she thought she needed a phone to find her way back when she could have jogged in a square or used a paper map.

When maps were a thing, people weren't very good at reading them. They mostly asked someone local how to get from A to B.

I do have a set of paper backup maps in the car since some areas are a bit tricky with cellphone reception and while I know exactly where I am, I can't tell what's around me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Yes.

When I moved here from Pittsburgh for a job, I told my new DC & MD colleagues at work that I was from PA.

What part? Pittsburgh.

Oh cool, I know someone from Philly...maybe you know them...their name is XYZ.

Seriously.

To be fair that's a lot of P-words to keep track of.

lol...it really is. Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. Philadelphia.
It's too much.
Why do we need to know them all anyway?
My brain can't take it.

Harrisburg, the State capital, is between them. Most people know about Harrisburg because of TMI. You know, the city that doesn't exist because it was completely leveled in the 1970s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was out in public yesterday and overheard the following conversation:

Woman 1: “I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to get out more. I am going to Boston and then to Rhode Island to see the ocean. Is it the Pacific that’s there?”

Woman 2: “I have no idea.”

There’s no hope!

Where did you hear that OP?

In a waiting room. I don’t want to say where it occurred or what the regional accent was because I don’t think it matters. I was in a completely different region of the country a few years ago and when I mentioned Washington, DC, one person asked me whether DC was a state.

Good question, actually.

[Anonymous]

Years ago, I was buying travel toiletries from the Bed Bath & Beyond in Chinatown. The checkout woman asked me if I was going on a trip. Yes, i said! She asked where I was going. Hong Kong, I replied. She asked: Is that far away? Can you get there by car?

That was in 2005, and to this day I recall that as the stupidest interaction I've ever had. She was so nice, but what becomes of people like that in an unforgiving world?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

NP, I think it’s you two who OP was taking about. Quintessential American attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago, I was buying travel toiletries from the Bed Bath & Beyond in Chinatown. The checkout woman asked me if I was going on a trip. Yes, i said! She asked where I was going. Hong Kong, I replied. She asked: Is that far away? Can you get there by car?

That was in 2005, and to this day I recall that as the stupidest interaction I've ever had. She was so nice, but what becomes of people like that in an unforgiving world?

Or she didn't hear/understand you and assumed you were traveling somewhere closer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

NP, I think it’s you two who OP was taking about. Quintessential American attitude.

DP. No, the accent is notorious.

https://youtu.be/NMS2VnDveP8?si=MK7marvXr3oOYiPr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago, I was buying travel toiletries from the Bed Bath & Beyond in Chinatown. The checkout woman asked me if I was going on a trip. Yes, i said! She asked where I was going. Hong Kong, I replied. She asked: Is that far away? Can you get there by car?

That was in 2005, and to this day I recall that as the stupidest interaction I've ever had. She was so nice, but what becomes of people like that in an unforgiving world?

The world is not inherently unforgiving. People are. People like you (see: your post).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Because everyone who graduates highschool should know the names and locations of continents and oceans FFS.

Why?

Why know anything? Why even learn your own name?

Why not respond to a very simple question with rhetorical questions rather than take the time to think about it?

Why can't you respond to questions? It cuts both ways.

I asked the question first. And, more importantly, I asked the person making the claim to explain their reasoning. You are asking the equivalent of “well how do YOU know God DOESN’T exist?!”

You (or a different PP) said that “everyone who graduates high school should know the names and locations of continents and oceans”. Can you even explain what a continent is? Where does one continent end and another begin? What an ocean is? Where does one ocean end and another begin? What is the purpose of these designations?

And then explain why those of us who graduated high school 20 years ago would have named four oceans while those graduating high school now will name five? And yet, at the time of graduation, we were all “correct”? Did a brand new ocean spring out of the ether?

You really think you're thinking some deep thoughts. It's amusing.

Almost as amusing as how triggered you are that a couple of extremely simple questions (deep thoughts for you, perhaps?) reveal that you are not nearly as smart as you thought you were…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

NP, I think it’s you two who OP was taking about. Quintessential American attitude.

ITA. American in Ireland, has problems understanding the accent, concludes that it's a different language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

NP, I think it’s you two who OP was taking about. Quintessential American attitude.

ITA. American in Ireland, has problems understanding the accent, concludes that it's a different language.

DP. I've known several Irish people and there are some Irish accents that they have difficulty understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC but am originally from Scotland. Back when I was single I went on a date with an American that I met online. Nice guy, but when he complemented me on my English I knew it wouldn’t last.

I work with some Scots. You don't speak English. Even the guys in Reading ask the Scots to repeat themselves.

I agree. That accent is a tough one.
I was in Ireland and had a tough time a few times, as well.

NP, I think it’s you two who OP was taking about. Quintessential American attitude.

DP. No, the accent is notorious.

https://youtu.be/NMS2VnDveP8?si=MK7marvXr3oOYiPr

Uhm they still speak English.