Do other people ever astonish you with their lack of general knowledge?

[Ohnotanothernamechange]

Just recently I've spoken to a few people who expressed amazement when they disocovered that Chernobyl is a real place. I know that we all have gaps in our knowledge but how the hell you can not know about the Chernobyl disaster? It's a bit like the simpleton on a twitter some years ago who was amazed to discover that the Titanic was a real ship and not figment of James Cameron's imagination....

I remember one time a work colleague was going to Rome and when I told them I'd been they asked me if there was lots of stuff to see and do there. I was like well of course, it's Rome. And they asked me what they were. I then had to list the coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, The Vatican, the countless Roman Ruins etc not to mention the countless designer shops and fabulous restaurants. They genuinely had no idea what was in Rome. I was gobsmacked. This was someone I'd assumed was pretty intelligent as well.

I can't work out if I just know too much, or these people are just really ignorant?

You’re obviously clearly far superior than the rest of us plebs... thank god for posters like you educating us!

I can see how if you were younger 20 to early 30s- you wouldn’t know about Chernobyl. People don’t really talk about it often do they?

Oh yes OP it’s that you know too much.

You must be proud.

The threads on here that start with things like "I'm 42 and I've just found out that unicorns aren't real" make me cringe a bit too, but not everyone gets a great schooling or parents who encourage curiosity. Knowledge =/= intelligence.

I astonished myself with my woeful lack of knowledge around the Cold War and Russia. Watched an episode of Horrible Histories with the kids and couldn’t answer any of the questions they asked me.

Hit a raw nerve Somewheresorted?

I can't work out if I just know too much, or these people are just really ignorant?

Don't worry, I'm sure there are plenty of things you don't know about that they do and in great detail too.

I'm not all that surprised that people don't know some things, but I'm surprised at how quick they are too admit it. Like, posting on Twitter saying "I can't believe Titanic really happened!".

I'm always surprised when people don't know that dates of the world wars. Someone asked me the other day, an educated person too with a proper degree , 'when did WWI start, was it 1910?'. And I know people will say 'oh but if you didn't study history in school.....' but how can you not have absorbed 1914 - 1918 and 1939-1945 through cultural osmosis?

I've met people who wear ignorance like a badge of pride. Inverted intellectual snobbery.
My most jaw dropping moment was another school mum telling me that she never took any notice of Budget day because it had nothing to do with her

My eldest son genuinely asked me what a teapot was!

I didn't have all that great a schooling though. Just bog standard Village Primary and Secondary School.

I get that maybe Chernobyl is an age thing. But how can anyone not know what's in Rome?

YANBU, mostly. Yes, everyone has gaps in their knowledge and it isn't necessary for people to have extensive knowledge of Chernobyl, Titanic etc but to at least know OF them . I know plenty of very intelligent people whose general knowledge- geography, history etc, even pop culture before their time- is awful because they have no interest in something which doesn't directly involve them.

I do get surprised sometimes when people don't know about major events, but if I don't know about something I'm happy to listen and learn. Unless it's sport.

I do agree with worraliberty though OP- you obviously realise there is loads of stuff you’re ignorant of that other people know about, don’t you?

There are probably things they know and you don't and they would be equally shocked at your apparent ignorance.

You'll get a pasting for this thread, OP, but yes, some people do wear ignorance as a badge of pride. It's never been easier in human history to find things out, but I suppose (a) if you don't know you don't know something, it doesn't occur to you to look and (b) there's a skill to evaluating the sources of information you consult and not everybody gets that either. But even with those provisos there are some people who've had every advantage educationally but they still seem to have no intellectual curiosity and utterly woeful general knowledge. Put that together with credulousness and it's a recipe for disaster.

Everyone knows something other people don't.

Yes, Passthecherrycoke . My sporting knowledge isn't great for example.

But how can anyone not know what's in Rome?

How did you find out what's in Rome?

They won't have had that experience. There are billions of people in the world to whom the contents of Rome are irrelevant, but they would no doubt be shocked by your ignorance of things that are of central importance to them.

Chernobyl is not an age thing! I’ve just turned 30 and I knew about it.

@FiddleFaddleDingDong I’m embarrassed to say I never remember the dates of the wars, I genuinely always forget the exact year.

Massive big head here too, op.

Years ago watched many episodes of Who wants to be a millionaire and was incredulous at the ‘fools’ who got questions wrong or didn’t even attempt to answer what to me were easy questions to answer. If I’d been a contestant during those programmes I’d have walked away with a million each time.

All my family said I should enter and so I did.

I phoned up, my smug face lighting up the room as I held on to the phone waiting to answer a no doubt easy peasy question that would get me invited on to the show.

I was asked a multiple choice question about monkeys. I did not have a clue. Absolutely no idea and not even an inkling of trying to guess the answer.

I shut up after that. If you don’t know something you don’t know it, it really is that simple.

I don't think it's about education per se, or about age. It's about having a real curiosity about the world. Some people have it, and spend their whole lives acquiring knowledge for the sheer joy of it, and some people just don't.

I'm probably one of these people. My bad. But I'm always happy to learn about things that people want to share!

Yes, to celebrating ignorance! Ive known people in the past who didn't know who the Prime Minister at that moment in time was. That is just extrodinary isn't it?