To share the stupidest thing I have ever heard

[Sparklfairy]

My friend is away in a country that a few days into her holiday brought in quarantine restrictions upon returning to the UK. No big deal to her, she can wfh and organise deliveries etc.

She just told me she was chatting around the pool and people are confused about when quarantine actually 'starts'. Most have convinced themselves it's the day after you land 'to give them time to go shopping and get food and everything ready and stuff'.

So you're quarantined, but you have a magical window of time where you can get supplies and merrily skip round the supermarket infecting everyone saying 'Oh, I'm not in quarantine until tomorrow'.

I'm not sure if they're spectacularly thick or just so entitled they've twisted the rules to suit themselves. I don't normally get annoyed about CV or what other people do but really!?

'General knowledge' is very broad and often differs by generation, country, class, educational background, etc

Au contraire, the point of calling it 'general knowledge' is that it is knowledge which is generally known, not 'knowledge that is only known in certain circles'.

I think it was The Numskulls?

Thank you all who answered that was it!

Loved them, can you find strips online I wonder? Off to look

There was a Suggestions Box in the Brain Dept., they used to feed a paper with an idea written on it for the host human to have a thought, and the Eye Dept had blinds in front of the windows to roll up and down for blinking... I loved them too, although I was aware it wasn't remotely realistic. I had exactly the same thought when I read that poster's message!

Yes!

I'm off on a total nostalgia trip now!

Youth was arrested and later charged with theft.He argued that although he had stolen two items,it was but one get one free so he should only be charged with one.no matter how long was taken explaining it he still refused to accept it.😀

I remember when faxes came in (yes as if you didn't already know I was ancient) it reminded me of the suggestions box thing

I once asked for a cut and blow dry and the hairdresser just wet my hair with a sprayer, cut it then dried it!

After then I always asked for a wash, cut and blow dry, to ensure it got washed first!

@mathanxiety

'General knowledge' is very broad and often differs by generation, country, class, educational background, etc

Au contraire, the point of calling it 'general knowledge' is that it is knowledge which is generally known, not 'knowledge that is only known in certain circles'.

In that case, I wouldn't include George Eliot as general knowledge then, really. For example, I do not know her impact outside the UK among the general public

@Sevo7

My friend who told me she couldn’t be bothered with tampons as it was too much of a faff taking it out and using a new one every time she needed a wee . I had to explain to her that you pee out of your urethra not your vagina and they are infact separate holes! She was mid twenties at the time!

Many women take their tampon out to pee so they don't get urine on the string.

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

I wouldn't say that knowing George Eliot was actually a woman, or that Evelyn Waugh is a man, is general knowledge tbh.

I never suggested it was. But I would expect anyone halfway through a degree in English, to know enough about the basic shape of 19th and 20th literature to know that George Eliot and TS Eliot are not the same person.

@mathanxiety

'General knowledge' is very broad and often differs by generation, country, class, educational background, etc

Au contraire, the point of calling it 'general knowledge' is that it is knowledge which is generally known, not 'knowledge that is only known in certain circles'.

That was the original idea but unfortunately many people think everything that they know is "general knowledge" so they can feel superior.

That was in reply to @InsertHilariousUserName

@StCharlotte

An Oxbridge educated lawyer: "is infertility hereditary?"

Yes. It quite often is

I'm Irish, living in the US, and I know there are many more English speaking countries on this earth, @Navillerax.

I suspect that people who go to school in many of these countries have had a brush with either the works of George Eliot themselves, or the historical topic of oppression of women.

The reasons for her decision to use a masculine nom de plume and the popularity of her novels at the time they were published are often used as examples to illustrate the inequality women suffered.

Also ^ @BuddyRun

@GrandAltogether no, but someone else did.

I worked with a girl who thought an egg was a vegetable

Just asked DH (who has a PhD, albeit in sciences) who George Eliot is. He thought about it, then said "have you been on my Facebook?". I smirked and he said "is he a rugby player?".
I'm concluding from this very limited research that it is not general knowledge.

Many women take their tampon out to pee so they don't get urine on the string.

How would you know that? I mean surely it wouldn't come up in general conversation, and certainly not enough for you to conclude that many women do it.

@mathanxiety

I'm Irish, living in the US, and I know there are many more English speaking countries on this earth, *@Navillerax*.

I suspect that people who go to school in many of these countries have had a brush with either the works of George Eliot themselves, or the historical topic of oppression of women.

The reasons for her decision to use a masculine nom de plume and the popularity of her novels at the time they were published are often used as examples to illustrate the inequality women suffered.

Fair enough. That's more well travelled than I am. But what about outside English speaking countries? That would still be under 'general knowledge often depends on country etc'. Perhaps 'general knowledge among countries where English is the primary language'. But even then...

I personally was never taught about George Eliot at secondary school. English Lit in general was extremely poorly taught at my secondary school, so I cannot speak for others. I never did any of her books at uni. I even did a module on feminism and literature in the 1800s! No Eliot on the list though.

And by the way, infertility is indeed hereditary. How do I know? Well, think about it.

If your parents didn't have any children, it's highly unlikely you will!

EDIT: 1700s/1800s. So there were 200 years to get through and only 18 weeks, to be fair

DP overheard a group of teenagers the other day saying that they hate the government because they have made it rain so that people stay in because of Covid

My cousin. Says he voted for Brexit because he’s fed up of seeing so many Indians and Pakistanis around him.

My late Nan, bless her, wasn’t the brightest it’s fair to say. Once she told us that fresh orange juice cures diarrhoea. Another time she said she was frightened to go on the train on her own because of paedophiles. She was in her 70s.

@ShopTattsyrup

As a child I had been explained the nervous system as being "messages" passed around the body. E.g. "hot surface - move hand away". As a child I imagined tiny little notes papers flying around my body ... I do not care to admit how old I was when I realised that this was illogical and improbable

My late MIL would never leave a socket switched on with nothing plugged in because the electricity would leak out.

@SharpLily

My cousin. Says he voted for Brexit because he’s fed up of seeing so many Indians and Pakistanis around him.

I used to work with some women who couldn't wait for Brexit so the 'foreign girls' would have to go home. They meant the Nepalese ladies. Apparently the Spanish ladies who worked on another ward were 'allowed" to stay. They didn't seem to realise that Nepal isn't in the eu, and even if it were that losing half of our staff (when we were always understaffed anyway) was not going to be good!