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!?

@AstiniMartini

I have an Australian colleague and another colleague who is truly not all that bright. Last Christmas my less than bright colleague asked my australian colleague if she ever got confused. 'Because it is what- June in Australia right now?'

After a little bit of confusion it turns out that she thought that because Christmas in Australia is in the summer, that it means it was also June in Australia.

She was perfectly serious too.

TBH I think that is a little - well- sort of clueless.

I not ashamed to admit that when I was younger I used to think this too, but the basis for me thinking this is that when I watched Home and Away (back in the days it was on ITV) there was obviously a delay in broadcasting to the UK so Christmas was always around May/June time.

In my defence, I was about 10

@BuddyRun- in this case it wasn’t because she didn’t want to wee on the string. She genuinely thought women urinated from their vaginas and the tampon would stop the urine coming out, hence why I had to explain it to her.

@artiefufkinpolymerrecords but there is no reason they cant do that this year, the bubbles are already mixed because of the siblings! If one class goes in with all their siblings it makes no difference because all those siblings will be going home together anyway.

Someone we knew thought almonds grew underground. This person had previously worked in the military as an intelligence agent. Not the UK military.

A girl I was in school with asked us one day how the pee came out if we were wearing tampons. She thought there was only 1 hole. She was 17 and had been in biology classes for 5 years...

My brother came home from school one day after learning about the worlds population and that 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. He asked my Mom how come none of us were Chinese??

MIL thought all wars were between Britain and Germany.

@DizzyPigeon

A local childrens nursery got some money to put towards green projects, like reducing the use of plastic. What did they do? Got rid of perfectly good reusable plastic items (including toys and cups) and replaced them with eco-friendly ones.... They also dumped their stock of single use plastic cutlery. Dumped it! Honestly.

My work did this. We're not allowed to use the old plastic cups, of which we have thousands. Instead we have to use the new paper ones, which now have been manufactured, transported and disposed of needlessly seeing as the plastic ones are being thrown away anyway.

A couple of recent examples from my DH: while out walking he singled out a tree and said "Look at the size of the berries on that tree! They're bigger than tomatoes!" I pointed out it was an apple tree. Then last night I booked us tickets for the Blenheim Palace Christmas illuminated light trail. I told him I'd booked the tickets for 6pm and his face dropped - "But it'll be dark by then". Well yes, that's kind of the point. He's far more academically qualified than I.

My mum read somewhere that by the time you've developed the necessary cognition to ride a bike, you should have developed the necessary cognition to understand good and bad behaviour. She thought this meant that riding a bike made you a better person and that children who don't learn to ride a bike can't understand right and wrong. She made all of us feel very grateful that she taught us to ride bikes so we didn't end up being murderers.

@itchyfinger

Our school isn't letting siblings do joint school photos this year because it means mixing bubbles. Like the siblings dont already live together and travel into school together

Born in the 70s so TV detector vans roamed the streets and new if you didn't have a TV licence!
And I believed Zippy couldn't undo the zip on his mouth when it was closed... I mean wtf didn't he just open the damn zip himself.

@zukiecat

cdtay

I am well aware that straw was used for flooring in the past.

I don't think the council would be too happy if I used straw and hay for my bedroom flooring.

This is the same toxic mother that told me to only drink water and eat bread, cut mine and DDs hair short to save on shampoo.

She also told me it was my own fault that my ex husband was abusive and violent.

Even now, after some extremely difficult years, she hates that DD2 and me have a new lovely council flat. We don't deserve it apparently

What a bitch! Why is she like that @zukiecat ? Is there a golden child / scapegoat dynamic?

@boringcreation

A girl I was in school with asked us one day how the pee came out if we were wearing tampons. She thought there was only 1 hole. She was 17 and had been in biology classes for 5 years...

I never knew we had different holes until very recently 🤦‍♀️

@GoldfishParade

You sound jealous shes on a pool holiday tbh

She really didn't

"I've never eaten a bird" said in a musing voice by an old friend. She's not a vegetarian.
In fairness it was a foolish slip, she did know chickens, ducks, turkeys etc are birds, she just somehow didn't think of them when wondering whether she'd eaten a bird or not.

@cdtaylornats

my mother told me to put hay and straw on my bedroom floor until I could afford a carpet

What do you think they did before carpets?

Way to miss the point @cdtaylornats .

My sister once asked if David Jason played the Hogfather in the book.

Standing at a very large fresh water pond with exH and thought the water was closer slightly than before I came out with the immortal line "Is the tide coming in?"

As soon as the words fell out of my mouth I knew what an idiot I was but it became a source of much amusement between us Usually I'm not totally stupid, my mouth just freewheels sometimes before my brain can stop it.

[quote HandfulofDust]@Cadent

Did you read the OP? Nothing embarrassing in it. What on earth is an essential item which can't be delivered (even medication can be picked up by a friend)? Even if you had something essential you HAD to collect that's very different from a day without quarantine where you swan around going to coffee shops as these people were suggesting. Also OP's friend overheard other people talking she didn't say this herself so how on earth is OP jealous? Your post is embarrassing![/quote]
So the OP did return to her thread then... How embarrassing for you.

Actually the OP said nothing about people suggesting they go to coffee shops.

How do you know they suggested coffee shops unless you are the OP, @HandfulofDust ?

knowing who TS Eliot and George Eliot are certainly isn't "general knowledge". At all ... I did a combined honours undergraduate degree and studied eight English Lit modules (as well as my A Level and GCSE). I never studied either of these writers. If it's not taught to people who have a reasonably high level of knowledge in an area then it certainly is not general knowledge.
I didn't study English beyond O Level but I know who the Eliots are.
The BBC produced a list of the nation's 100 favourite books - GE was in there at number 27. The Telegraph produced a list of 100 novels that everyone should read - GE was also there. At number 1.
I'd say that George Eliot counts as 'general knowledge'.

Today I googled if my unborn baby could hear what I was listening to through my headphones.... It's one of the stupidest things I've ever done

@ArabellaScott

I do also recall a woman I used to know asking if there were dinosaurs about when Jesus was alive.

Of course there were, as this compelling visual evidence proves.

@tobee

"slashlover www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

In England, you are allowed to leave your accommodation in exceptional circumstances. This includes such things as:

accessing basic necessities like food and medicines where you cannot arrange for these to be delivered
Interesting slash

Well that’s embarrassing OP. Not everything is deliverable.

You sound like a jealous frenemy OP."

What? What? The embarrassing thing is you not reading the OP. (And subsequent posts)

@tobee what are you even on about? I have read the OP. Your post is vague because you’re making shit up.

If it's not taught...

I think the problem is lack of curiosity, not lack of teaching.

If you look at lists of authors from centuries past, it should cross your mind that very, very few of them are women. Same goes for lists of female composers, scientists, and political figures of yore.