to think that asking if a peacock is male is a really stupid question?

[Vagabond]

I was sitting outside my local pub the other day admiring the local peacock (who was all a-preening). The ladies at the next table to were also admiring said peacock. When the waiter came over, they asked him if the peacock was male or female! I almost fell of my chair?

AIBU?

Phew! DH is Irish. He'd have killed me if I'd got it wrong.

YANBU. It doesn't suprise me though. I kee hens and the amount of people who think the eggs can hatch when I don't have a cockerel...

We were also talking to a woman recently about her trip to the zoo. Apparently the porcupine was running along with it's feathers all fluffed up...

My four year old proudly points out which are which (peacocks and peahens) and explains how you can tell (even in winter when the peacocks don't have their long tails). She even sussed out that ducks are exactly the same (colourful, not the big tail feathers).

I meant to add YANBU if a four year old can get it, it's not hard is it?

What's Erse then? I thought that was the Irish language, or is it the Irish people, or something else .

We weren't taught much about Ireland when I was at school (which, to be fair, was in the dark ages). I worked in Dublin for about 8 months and, apart from having a wonderful time, was shocked/sickened to find out the truth about the treatment of the Irish - and within living memory.

Having said that, the treatment of most of the British by the ruling classes in the same time period was hardly a model of compassion. We weren't taught much about that either...

Oh, and I know about peafowl (really like them and love their call) but it's the kind of thing my mum will have commented on by saying "Ah yes, typical male, all show and no use whatsoever..." which will have helped me to remember.

Yanbu, however there are a lot of thick folk around!

LOL!!

"I meant to add YANBU if a four year old can get it, it's not hard is it?"

No, of course it's not hard. Provided you've been told in the first place.

If these women have somehow never been told, how do you think they are going to know? As someone said, a woodcock describes male and female. No one refers to peacocks as peafowl as a matter of course do they? Peacock means the breed to most people and the ones you notice are the poncey male ones so there is no reason to assume that some of them aren't female. Unless you've been told the difference.

on a similar note,

i heard recently that cows can't produce unless they are pregnant {shock}

is that true?

was it an april fool, in november?

Well, I think it's a bit passive to suggest that you only know things you've been told. General knowledge is not explicitly taught - it's something you gain by reading, observing, asking questions and living life.

Maybe I had a lot of peacocks in my childhood books - I don't know where I specifically learnt it. It's just something I always knew - associated with the fact that the male of the species is always the more showy.

My 19mo shouts 'Cock!' when we go to see the local peacocks... How I wish the ground would open up. However, my friend and I do tell the girls that the pretty colours are like hair gel for men - they like to look good to impress the girls.

No Cows can't produce milk unless they have had a calf. So they have calves which are then taken away and usually slaughtered so that we can have the milk. That is why some people won't eat dairy products.

And on the peacock/peahething. I know the difference. But I don't think it's a big deal if someone else doesn't - they probably know loads of stuff that I don't.

Oh, and does that mean that all cockatoos are male? What's the female called then, a fanatoo?

Peacock is very dry and needs extra fat adding, either bacon or basting.
There's a recipe in Apicius' cookbook if anyone is fed up with the loudest squark in birdom.

Gosh, yes. of course you don't need to be told stuff to learn it, you just absorb it by osmosis from the atmosphere and by telepathy.

Of course you have to be told stuff. Whether this "telling" is literally someone saying This Is So or by reading it in a book, over hearing someone...

I bet there are things I know as a common fact which you don't. Does that make you stupid or does it just mean no one's taught it to you yet?

The cow thing isn't right but I can see where the idea came from. The milk is produced after the calf is born (as in humans). What is awful, though, is that the calves are taken from the cow quite early and you can hear the cows lowing for their young from the fields...

More detailed explanation here.

Stupid questions are a matter of perspective in the listener. If they didn't know and are asking, how is that stupid?

Agree, no such thing as a stupid question. If you are scared to ask in case you look stupid, how will you ever learn?

I'm sure there's a saying along the lines of 'there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'

Peacock is generally the term used when peafowl should be used isn't it?

So in general seeing they aren't common garden birds and not evey person in the country would have encountered one (for the record Vagabond a 'local peacock' isn't a standard thing ) and seeing not everyone in the world knows or is interested in animals wouldn't know about the general difference between male and female birds.

However the people from the pub know now don't they?

Peacock = a male peafowl (but is frequently used as the collective term)
Peahen = a female peafowl
Peachick = a baby peafowl

It's quite dense, but on the scale of stupid questions I have heard it is quite low down.

From your last post " General knowledge is not explicitly taught - it's something you gain by reading, observing, asking questions and living life."

Yes there are people who do not know everything but the people who are stupid are the ones who have no interest in finding out, these ladies did ask a question and you have no reason to believe they did not wish to find out.

YABU and judgy, along with a lot of others on this thread