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?

*A sizeable minority of millennials.

Most struggle with direction, can’t tell north, south, east or west even on a sunny day at noon. Nor can many memorise an 11 digit number, such as a phone number. Or the size of Russia relative to Europe. And other stuff.

Too much reliance on phones.*

Lovely bit of baseless ageism there.

We went to Lancaster a while ago. We were chatting about the history of the place and DP thought that the War of the Roses was between Cheshire and Lancashire.

He's Phd educated and a scientist but knows very little about history and general knowledge.

When living in NY I was once asked what language we speak in England. He wasn’t sure if we spoke Irish or English.

A friend expressed surprise when I told them that all of the chickens we eat are female... he's v intelligent but just hadn't thought about it

I have a Scottish friend - very smart. Had no idea which country John O’Groats was in

The holocaust was never a topic I covered at school. I know a lot of people died but I couldn't tell you when/how/where or why they died. I don't know when any of the wars took place off the top of my head. My history is appalling but it's not something that interests me at all and I've never needed it in a conversation so it's not put me at any disadvantage for not knowing anything about it.

it's not put me at any disadvantage for not knowing anything about it

I'd say the very fact that people are forgetting the holocaust is one reason for the rise in fascism today.

That affects all of us.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

I know shit all about the novels of Austen or the line up of the FA cup winning team from 1978 but know a surprising amount about the leaders of ancient Persia and I have almost perfect recall of Austrailian soap actors from the 80's.
So if you don't judge me for not knowing my Mr Darcey from Kevin Keegan, I won't judge you for not being instantly able to recall the full names of all three actors to have portrayed Lucy Robinson from Neighbours. I can also explain to you in gloriously dull detail how a plane can fly but if you were to press me on exactly what a Stormzy is.... not a clue.
You know what you know. And yeah, I also assumed the Elgin Marbles were small round spherical things for a lot longer than I care to admit 😂

I am quite shocked that there are reasonably intelligent people who don't know what the Holocaust is.

I met a full grown man in his 40s a while ago who thought females could 'hold in' a period and was genuinely sceptical that they couldn't.

I did a visit to a concentration camp memorial site today. Something I have felt, for a long time, that it's my duty as a human being to do.

"Never Again" is what the survivors wanted us to know.

That is why we should never be complacent about not knowing our history, about not being able to describe what the Holocaust is/was.

Some 'general knowledge' is neither here nor there (I've never been to Rome and as the Vatican is in the Vatican City I may have got that a bit wrong...) but matters of humanity, of learning from horror, lest it happens again, of ensuring that millions didn't die in vain... if you don't know then look it up. Google and Wikipedia are a few clicks away. It's as important as Remembrance Day, if not moreso.

I did a visit to a concentration camp memorial site today. Something I have felt, for a long time, that it's my duty as a human being to do

DD2 went there on a school trip some years ago, she said that she felt a profund sadness and the evening they vistied most all of her mates were sobbing and couldnt belive that man could be so cruel to another man!.

Most struggle with direction, can’t tell north, south, east or west even on a sunny day at noon.

Surely it’s easier to tell north, south, east, west from sunrise or sunset?
Provided that you know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west of course.

I am very good at general knowledge, because I read a lot as a child and I have the sort of brain that acquires Interesting Facts like jam sandwiches acquire wasps.

However, I can't really get with judging people who don't know what's to see in Rome. The only thing I think I could name in that list is the Trevi fountain, and generic "Roman ruins". I only know about the Trevi fountain because I took a beginners Italian course! If you're not expecting to be able to go to Italy, why would you accumulate a mental list of historical buildings in its capital city?

I don't speak a word of Spanish, and unsurprisingly enough I couldn't name you a single thing of significance within Madrid, either. I'm 100% sure there are lots of things, because it's a capital city that has existed for a very long time, but that's it. If I ever find out I'm going there, I'll get a guide book.

Surely it’s easier to tell north, south, east, west from sunrise or sunset?

That's what I thought. Then I wondered if I was missing something. Got to be honest with you though. Every time I want to know the direction whenever it isn't sunrise/sunset, I get the compass out of the kitchen drawer. So I'm probably the kind of person that poster was talking about.

skyremote Where did you go to school? Everyone should know about the holocaust. As a pp said “so that we learn and never make the same mistakes again”. I wasn’t a huge fan of history in school but I took in what was being taught to me and I’m glad I did. There’s a difference between having no interest and just not caring

@OkPedro I went to school in the north and I left education 7 years ago. I only did 3 years of history/geography/RE and haven't studied them for 12 years. I didn't pay much interest to them when I was in school but I remember mainly what I was taught and the holocaust was not something I learnt about.

Just because I didn't learn about them doesn't mean I'm going to repeat the actions.

I have a job, a husband, my own home and a little boy. I'm no worse off for not knowing these things.

I did GCSE history - continental Europe to 1945,and obviously we learnt a lot about the Holocaust but the word itself wasn't used - it was the Nazi extermination programme, extermination of the Jews, concentration camps, etc. And we'd learnt general details in primary school assemblies. I looked it up and turns out the word Holocaust wasn't widely used until a late 70s US documentary and even later in the UK.

A lot of my general knowledge is from school assembles (hymn, prayer, inspiring story about someone or something, daily for 10 years), and watching random magazines or reading random magazines out of boredom. I do worry my kids may end up knowing loads about their interests and little else, now books are so cheap and TV on demand.

I know a great deal about history as I have always been interested in it and have been to Rome and other places several times. I am also quite good on natural history, birds etc. I’m also good at geography.

I know nothing about football, except anyone involved is obscenely overpaid, cricket, tennis and other sports. I find people going on about films and TV and the obsession with ‘celebs’ totally boring and know nothing about that.

It depends in what interests you

You’re not sky, but the country is as a whole if we have a generation that lack knowledge of the holocaust. As pp says, it makes us more vulnerable to the rise of fascism if we aren’t aware of what the result of this was in the past.

Have you tried reading any books on the subject? There are lots of really good ones. For page turners you could try the boy in the striped or the book thief. For something a bit deeper, primo Levi’s If This is a Man is the definitive book on life in a concentration camp. There is also the diary of Anne frank, which was also recently serialised on radio 4 and probably still downloadable.

Loads of films too- schindlers list, the pianist, boy in the striped pyjamas, life is beautiful.

I think the Holocaust is something everyone should know about. Genocide is not a new thing in the history of humanity but the holocaust is the most extreme example of what happens when an organised state takes on a common prejudice and uses it as a means to power. It needs to be remembered.

'We didn't learn about it in school' keeps coming up time and time again on this thread. Schools don't have the time to teach you every single thing that's ever happened. Go and read a book or a newspaper or watch a documentary or just bloody Google it and expand your minds!

Not knowing about the events of the holocaust or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is such appalling ignorance I don't even know where to begin. Oh I definitely learned about both in school (1990's) and I know for a fact that both are still taught now.

People should read.

I'm 39 and I dont mind admitting that I didn't realise how much of a tragedy Chernobyl was until i watched the series.I was 7 when it happened so was probably shielded from it on news etc by parents.I am usually very good with general knowledge and current affairs but this totally passed me by and I do feel crap that I didn't know about it.

To be fair, I'm very well read, have a Masters degree, well travelled, know lots of stuff/obscure facts. However, it's only recently dawned on me that an onion is, in fact, a vegetable. I think I just always saw it as an ingredient, like a spice. It never occurred to me it could be added to my daily count of fruit/veg..... Everyone can be a little daft sometimes.

Schools don't have the time to teach you every single thing that's ever happened.

Life doesn't have the time to teach you every single thing that's ever happened.