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?

The people commenting things like: 'things that happened in the past don't effect me, so why bother to learn about them' aren't just ill-informed but actually rather unintelligent.

Every single thing that happened in history has shaped the world we live in today, and the way in which we choose to act. We learnt about the holocaust so that the same situation cannot happen again, not making sure your kids are aware of this and other events is just failing to equip them. Not teaching them about world tragedies is failing to teach them compassion and understanding for people we live amongst.
If you don't understand these things how can you accurately vote or make important decisions, or even just understand the impact of future world events?

I know I should know it and should be interested but I've got past a point where i feel I can't learn about it.

You are most definitely not past that point, no one ever is, there is always the possibility to learn something new.

I've got past a point where i feel I can't learn about it.

Sky, you really haven't! You are obviously fairly young (20s, 30s at most). You have years of life left. Learn with your son, it will be fun for both of you.

Start with small steps, you can do it.

I amazed a colleague when I told him that dinosaurs and people didn't actually live at the same time. He thought that people like Raquel Welch really lived alongside Tyrannosaurus Rex etc.

But looking at the faces of other people at the table, I think it might have been news to them as well.

I'm always surprised that not many people in the England know much about the UK languages apart from English. I know almost nothing about Welsh or Irish for example, and know very little about their history. But I have learned other languages and know a fair bit about European history.

I work as a mental health nurse in a single point of access team. We get new referrals from primary care, housing, police etc and make a decision about which secondary mental health service is most appropriate.

We had an email referral from IAPT (so, seemingly, a qualified psycholgist) for eating disorders services. One of the things we need for an eating disorder referral is the BMI. The psychologist wrote 'she said she is 66 inches but that would make her 3 foot and her BMI would be through the roof. I checked again and she still said 66 inches.' I responded that 66÷12 is 5.5 so 5 foot 6 inches giving her a BMI of 21. She responded, 'oh my manager said 66 inches was 3 feet.'

So both a psychologist and their line manager were incapable of doing basic maths then.

I used to teach with someone who thought Pride and Prejudice was the book version of the film.

skyremote why some people are aghast at your lack of awareness and politics is because you have the power to vote, and to affect our lives and our children's lives.

If you don't know and don't care what the Holocaust was, and how it came about, and you don't care about politics, then your vote might well usher in a far right political party who would set us on the road to another holocaust. It did happen within living memory.

If you don't even vote, then your apathy is handing power to others to dictate the course of your life and your son's life. You may well end up being the victim of some very unfair and discriminatory laws in the future. You may well end up not having access to education, or health care, or social security, or legal aid, or basic human rights.
It can and does happen, and people's apathy about how the world works now, and their refusal to learn from the recent (and distant) past, will contribute to that.

Bangs head on desk repeatedly

I'm always surprised that not many people in the England know much about the UK languages apart from English. I know almost nothing about Welsh or Irish for example, and know very little about their history. But I have learned other languages and know a fair bit about European history.

Me too. On an objective level, it's baffling. So, I started learning Welsh in my late twenties.

Learning about Welsh history has made me really notice how England-centric the BNP and UKIP are. National pride? Don't make me laugh. If it was about pride in UK heritage, instead of hating foreigners, they'd be campaigning for more funding for BBC Alba and SC4.

"If you want my honest answer, no I don't know which political party runs the council" that's really shocking.

"It's a bog standard admin job to do with the environment."

The fact your job even exists is because of politics.

How much you are paid, the terms and conditions of your employment, whether you get promoted or made redundant are all down to politics.

Your job description is very much directly down to which political party runs the council, if/when this changes you could well find that at the very least your job changes significantly and at worst you could lose your job altogether.

Whether the councillors running your council are doing so legally and with integrity also directly affects whether you continue to have a job or not, I've been witness to 2 councils who've been found to be acting so badly, so illegally that the entire council including all peripheral workers (that's people like you) were dismissed and barred from working in local govt again.

This is why it is important FOR YOU to know who is running it and how they're running it.

As I think I said upthread my parents left school at 15, they didn't get a great education but they were interested and so were my grandparents who left school at 14 at the latest!

I'm so genuinely sad for you that you weren't encouraged to learn more and weren't encouraged to take an interest in your world.

But I genuinely don't understand why you don't want to address that now.

Please reconsider, certainly before your child starts school so that you can support him to make the most of education.

This is the video I was talking about earlier in reference to my ex

m.youtube.com/watch?v=zruGBWLk9s8

I would urge you to watch it, because politics affects EVERYTHING.

Politics affect how much you're paid, how much tax and national insurance is deducted from that, how much rent/mortgage you pay, how much your bills are, how much your food costs, how much your clothes cost, how much your car or other transport costs, what transport you have available to you, your rights at work, what your job involves, what childcare is available to you, how much that costs, what help if any you get towards that, any benefits you claim (including child benefit and tax credits), what healthcare you receive (or don't), what education your son will receive...

It even affects what tv shows are available and how, how much a night out costs you...

Everything!

You are absolutely NOT past the point of learning.

I'm 47 next month and I'm still learning daily about loads of stuff. I left school at 16 with 4 GCSEs due to a shit home life in other ways (they encouraged education and learning but dad is an alcoholic and things were very tense and chaotic during my GCSE years)

I left home and lived in a bedsit, worked as a checkout girl and went to college nights. I got 3 more GCSEs and 2 A levels over the course of 3 years.

I've since obtained 2 degrees, the 2nd time I started uni I was 32 and far from the eldest on the course! The eldest student was in his 70's.

I read loads, if something comes up on a tv show or that quiz I mentioned earlier that I play on my phone that I know I don't know much about I'll google it to get at least basic info, if it's an area that interests me then I'll look for other material to read about it, or documentaries on it (there's loads of stuff on Netflix, YouTube...) sometimes something on an mn thread piques my interest.

Why don't you start by finding out who your bosses are? (Who runs your council) and what their views are on things that matter to you like childcare, local environmental issues?

@katseyes7

"loads of streets called eingangstrasse".

Are you sure they weren't called einbahnstrasse which translates to one way street ?

I used to teach with someone who thought Pride and Prejudice was the book version of the film.

Technically it is, isn't it? It's just the book came first, by over 100 years.

I have a friend from Mali - my knowledge of Africa has increased exponentially since we met. I was woefully ignorant - and not proud of it at all.

I had gone on the assumption of savannahs and jungles and deserts... no - she was born in Bamako - pop 2 million-ish - a city like any other city, she worked in banking on the 15th storey of a tower block, her dad worked in the city's hydro electric power station, her mum was a doctor.

I have a friend who has an utterly astonishing lack of general knowledge. She's bloody useless in a pub quiz unless it's pop culture She's by no means stupid, she's just not interested in 'boring' historical stuff and paid zero attention in history at school (I know, because she was in my class and I remember telling her to shut up on numerous occasions so I could listen!). She always says she's never read a book after leaving school, except for reading her children bedtime stories. We're 34 now and she's no different.

She could educate me on the ins and outs of reality tv shows though! And I've never met someone with as much common sense, innate people management skills or spot on parenting or friendship instincts as her.

We just have different interests and strengths. I'm a real nerd, and I read (and always have done) all the time. I read at least two books a week until I had DC and had no time. I watch documentaries. I like to learn. I honestly think if you're a keen reader then you absorb so much - often useless - information. I know all sorts of random facts, even just from reading loads of fiction.

One of the many things I’ve learned from my time watching Pointless is that the vast majority of Brits are shockingly bad at African geography beyond the pyramids, Kenyan safari animals and edited highlights of South Africa. I’ve made an effort to learn a tiny bit about all the different countries, partly because I know a fair number of people from various African regions, but I know I’m still really really patchy beyond knowing what’s good to eat in different restaurants.

"my mum or dad didn't have much of an education." Neither did mine. My dad left school at 14. They would be embarrassed if I took the position you did.

My parents taught me the difference between a frog and a toad and a hare and a rabbit, we lived in the Cotswold's.
However I remember being shocked as a teenager when the concert live aid happened as I had no idea people were starving and there were droughts in parts of Africa.
My parents weren't particularly interested in that and thought (and still do) that each country should sort themselves out just like the U.K. has done over the last two hundred years.
So I have made sure my kids have learnt about other countries and people and what happens in different places. I haven't remembered however to teach them the difference between a frog & a toad or a hare & a rabbit though 🤷🏻‍♀️

I haven't remembered however to teach them the difference between a frog & a toad or a hare & a rabbit though

Toads are fatter and bumpier and uglier. (but lovely in their own way)

Hares are taller and more muscular with longer ears

"and thought (and still do) that each country should sort themselves out just like the U.K. has done over the last two hundred years." Er...where on earth did they get that idea?! Are you not even slightly embarrassed that they think so particularly in the context of the poverty in ex colonies which were plundered by the British?!

I was working with Y4 & 5 children last week and hardly any of them could tell me what tree an acorn came from.

I think I have terrible general knowledge compared to my husband and I know what you listed.

I have now come across the second mention of the Spanish Steps I've ever seen in my life. Two times I've heard of them, less than 24 hours apart!

At this rate, I'll be in Rome this time next week to see them for myself!

www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/travel/rome-tourist-rules-spanish-steps-16440492?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wales_main&fbclid=IwAR2gJbkAGjpkY0lm9fWu20rlnrTN2qhonedskhzjoh78RR91J_Z4Z6Ut1Wk

Ticket touts offering 'skip the line'-type deals should also beware and organised pub crawls are banned. People cannot pull wheeled suitcases or prams on historic steps, such as the Spanish Steps. And the no more messy eating rule means you probably can't tuck into a gelato on the Spanish Steps like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

skyremote
You’re never too old to learn new things. I know a 75 yr old who finished an Open University degree just last year. They didn’t need to do a degree, they did it just for the fun of learning. They’re already talking about doing a few more OU courses.

Amen to those rules. I might visit now! Wheeled suitcases at tourist attractions... grrrrrr . I last saw a tour party all wheeling cases through Liberty's in London. It's a SHOP!!!!

Sorry, totally off point of thread.

But actually I don't think travel broadens the mind nor does it improve knowledge of the place. Whenever I see school parties/large tourist parties they are trudging along en masse not looking at anything . The exception is Germans. They all look like they are mugging up for the final round on Pointless.

You sound rather insufferable and pretentious.

I don't think travel broadens the mind nor does it improve knowledge of the place.

I think that depends mostly on the traveller in question. It certainly can do those things, but like general knowledge, you need to have an open, curious mind.