40 People Share The One Question They Got That Was So Dumb, They Thought The Person Must Be Joking, But They Were 100% Serious
They say there are no stupid questions. Well, that depends on the setting. If it's a classroom full of eager-to-learn minds, then it might be true. But if we're talking about a conversation between two colleagues in front of the coffee machine...
So in an attempt to disprove this old saying, a now-deleted Reddit user asked everyone on the platform to share the dumbest things people have asked them. And they succeeded: the comment section was flooded with ridiculous submissions, stemming from ignorance in subjects like geography, religion, and the human body. Continue scrolling to see our hand-picked selection of the funniest ones!
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About 25 years ago I was explaining time zones to a 20ish year old intern at a large scientific agency. She wasn't getting it, so i got an orange I brought for lunch and used it as the Earth.
Me: Ok, pretend this is the Earth. The sun only shines on one side, so it's day on approximately half at any given time. Now since the Earth rotates (as i spin the orange)...
Intern: So wait. Hold on. So you're saying the Earth is round?
I wish i was joking.
"If you're an atheist, why don't you go around killing people?" I'm worried now that there are people out there who would just casually kill, but don't because they're scared of hell.
Which raises the question, how many people refrain from murder just because they are religious?
Why are you spying on me?
I was working in a call center for Dish Network and a guy called in, very upset. He wanted to know why Dish Network was spying on him. I tried to let him know that we were not in fact spying on him. Which he countered with, "if you are not spying on me then why is there a camera in the damn box?" "Sir, a camera? There is no camera in the receiver" I respond. "Yes there is" he screams "I know there is because I can see everything happening in my room on the TV right now."
I sat there and pondered that statement, trying to figure out what was happening. I asked, "sir, is your TV off right now?" In the background I hear the clear sound of a TV being turned on. I then said, "sir, that is called a reflection. Is there anything else I can help you with?" He hung up.
Why do we need farmers when we have supermarkets. Heard this in real life and blew my mind
I have a steak and sausage farm, and I love how they wrap themselves up these days and ship each other to supermarkets. We virtually have nothing to do.
Before I got married my doctor asked me...
Doctor: Are you sexually active?
Me: yes
Doctor: Are you married?
Me: no
Doctor: Then how can you be sexually active?
I used to be a tour guide in a cave and one summer we had a running contest among the guides to see who could get the dumbest question. Keep in mind, we only accepted questions from adults for entry into the contest. Some of the finalists were:
"Is this cave underground?"
"Will the stalagmites bite me?"
"Are the steps natural?"
"What time is the 4.30 tour?"
And the winner: "Does the water go all the way around the island?"
Are you sure that's how you spell your name
Ι have seen people miss-spell their names so... (and no, they didn't want an alternative spelling)
I’ve seen people misspell misspell, as well. Miss Spell is a super hero from Dexter’s Laboratory.
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People also do this with pronunciation of names. "Are you sure it's pronounced that way?" Yes, I know how to say my name, thanks.
I hate when people mispronounce my offline name. er I mean given name. It. has to do w/ my ptsd.
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I had that so many times. In spanish the V sounds like B (for whatever reason). My first surname starts with a V but sounds with a B (lets say Valerie would be Balerie). I had many ocasions here in Belgium where people corrected the pronunciation or spelling of my surname. Thanks, I am pretty sure that I know how I am called...
Tell me you're from Utah without telling me you're from Utah.... Ms. Bryttaeniq, but the 'q' is silent.
Ooh ooh I've got one. My name is a common nickname so people don't believe me when I tell them its not a nickname. I have been asked "ARE YOU SURE ITS NOT SHORT FOR ANYTHING?". Made more sense in elementary school when that kind of thing is possible but like in high school yes I know what my name is.
I've heard people get it wrong... and there wasn't any obvious reason.
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Out of curiosity, do you not pronounce it like "MY-kuh"?
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in our country we have between 1 and 5 clicks in each indigenous language - 5 in !Xam (the ! and X are both clicks), and 1 in Sesotho (Q). Usually C, Q, X and some punctuation marks represent them. The number of times our EU-language citizens ask our indigenous-language citizens to spell their names because of this is quite embarrassing. It's not just the clicks though, we have HL and DL as well, which are pretty awkward for non-indigenous speakers (fricative linguadental and voiced fricative linguadental consonants), and we have bilabial fricatives (FH and VH). To give an example,
The name Hlubi is pronounced with the HL fricative at the front. The praise name Gcwabe has an emphatic linguodental click at the front. Apparently it's hard to do.
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My last name starts with "I", you don't understand how many problems I've had with people "correcting" it to start with "L" because they don't understand sans serif fonts...
Apparently, Iesus had a similar, yet slightly different problem with the Romans (one among many).
Load More Replies... My nextdoor neighbor was renamed Robert by his grade school teachers. He kept that name until recently when he got his real name on his driver license. But he didn't know how to spell it so it came out Sebastain (which even autocorrect thinks is wrong).
Why would his teachers rename him? Where were his parents? Wouldn't it be spelled on your birth certificate and social security card (if American) which you need to get a driver's license. This doesn't make sense.
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my family name can be spelled differently, it depends of if you ask the german or french or italian part of the family :-)
I've heard this from teachers who are closed minded to uncommon/foreign names, including last names. I don't mind if they need clarification but I don't understand when they refuse to accept it's correct.
The stupidity of that greatly depends on if you've spelt it out loud or written it down, I've misspelt my own name when writing in a hurry before, (just never on anything important)
My last name is spelled Davison and I have lost track of the number of times people have actually had the audacity to tell me that I spelled my name wrong.
My second grade teacher wanted my parents to change my birth certificate because they had misspelled my name. My name is Marta and she wanted them to put an h-so it would be Martha.
I used to get this one a lot. In grade school I got an F on paper because I spelled my name "wrong"
I know a person named Shelia (pronounced Sheila). Her mother named her that, not knowing she misspelled it. She gets asked that question all the time.
"Are you sure?" - My friend I've known all my life when I told her my birth date. She was convinced it was the day after.
Are they asking a very young child? One with dyslexia perhaps?
I have a friend who changed the spelling of her name because people wouldn’t pronounce it correctly. They still don’t.
I had someone argue with my dad about how my name was spelled. The argument ended when my dad pointed out that he had named me.
If it's a romanized name, from Japanese for example, I can see this being asked.
My name is not that uncommon by any stretch but I have spelled it out and stood there and watched it being misspelled. It's as if the brain clicks off.
I had my physician, Dr Goode, ask me this - after the 3rd time bringing back the prescription because the pharmacy wouldn't fill it due to the last name not matching my insurance. "I have 70+ patients with that last name and you're the only one who spells it like that" to which I replied "then we don't have the same last name!" I changed to different physician at the same practice when I paid my co-pay - by check, made out to Dr. Notso Good; it never cleared😆
My friend is Brit-Cypriot and his name is so long and weird and people have said it in so many different ways over the years he swears he doesn't even know the correct pronunciation anymore.
Once on Discord I joined a server and [Username] Yarn said, and I quote "I'm gonna have to ban from this server cause you can't spell your goddamn name right". We argued about about it, ended up quitting the server and blocking all of my friends [some of them are my classmates irl] on discord cause they said "you didn't have to be so mean, you could have just let it go!"
FYI he thought it was spelled Candice. Like NO U IDIOT THERE ARE OTHER SPELLINGS GEEZ
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I've had that argument with people many times in my life. Yes I know my name isn't normal spelling but it's still how my name is on my birth certificate and all years later. Take it up with my mother.
I actually had this problem with a 5th grader my first year. Turned out her given name was misspelled in the computer when she entered PK. Her mom had written the Z with curved corners and hid had been misread as an S by the person inputting the data. She was in 5th grade 2001-2002 year. We didn't get computer-generated report cards for another decade. So On the handwritten stuff, the mom never noticed the s. I'm dysgraphic and used typed labels for the names and comment sections of the report cards. So she noticed I used an S, not a Z. I got called up on the carpet - bc misspelling a kid's name is serious. I picked up the roll sheet when I left the meeting and her name was spelled with an s. So pulled her file and found all the official - computer printed reports had it spelled with an s. I took that and the original enrollment form Mom had filled out with what looked like a backwards S to the principal. We had to fix 7 years of records and get her name changed on the upcoming state
I get this question a lot. Also, a follow up with "Is it sunny where you are today?"
I've been asked this. I have a fairly common name. The simple spelling. 😮💨
one of my best friends came to visit me in the hospital when i had my baby. i was laying there with my newborn and there was a banana on a tray next to the bed. he asked, “has he had lunch yet? is that for him?” everyone in the room just cackled so hard that i almost felt bad
I'm half Inuit. In 6th grade I did a social studies project on Inuit people/lifestyles. During my presentation, I brought up the fact that I'm half Inuit and pointed out different things my grandmother was teaching me. A boy in the class the goes "how can you be an indian?? I thought they were like.. extinct"
Someone asked me why I have a dark skinned baby if I'm white and couldn't comprehend how it is possible that my daughter is mixed race
Was in a maternity class with my wife. One of the husbands was an endless source of amazing comments. My favorite was while on the topic of breastfeeding. “So do you just poke holes in them or what?” There was a very long, very shocked pause from the instructor before she explained it to him.
Obviously, someone poked a hole through his ears and left an empty space in there.
"Do you work here?"
No, ma'am, I just... felt like stealing a work vest and working this shoe pallet for giggles.
Is the blue part on a map the sky or the water?
Repairing the scanner scale at a grocery store. I have the scale out of the checkstand, on it's side, bottom removed from the scale, one of the circuit boards removed from the scale and placed on the conveyor belt, I have JUST removed the board that the spinner part connects to (that spinning mirror thing in the bottom of the scanner scale), and someone walks up to the checkstand, places items onto the conveyor and asks "Are you open?"
I should be allowed to throw things at people this dumb.
Working on a tourist sightseeing boat on the ocean in Alaska. Person asks me what elevation we are at. I look down at the ocean and back to them and say, about 10 feet
“Who is the man and who is the woman”in regards to a relationship between two gay men.
I had the neighbors by for a quick chat a few years ago, and we happened to be standing by our goat pen, we had three at the time. For whatever reason, people don't really see goats as pets, and I'm often asked about their purpose, are they meat, etc.
Well, this guy asked if I milked them. I explained that they're all retired breeding males.
He followed that up by asking again if we milk them, and was so affronted by the look I could not help giving him that he left in a huff. I didn't mean to be rude, but I definitely looked at him as if he were an idiot and he was smart enough, at least, to figure that out.
Reminds me of the lady who asked my father why his cows are in a stable and not in the meadows. He told her that they were bulls and too aggressive to run free. Then she said: "But there are cows in there, too! Look, this one has an udder!" And he goes: "No, that thing is not an udder..."
I was having a disagreement with a customer in the workplace. At one point she said “why would I be arguing with you if I was wrong?”.
I mean….what do you say after that?
When people notice one of my tattoos "You know they are permanent Right?" Like sh*t I had no idea, if only I had known you before I got it
A tattoo artist friend once told me he lost count years ago how many "cover up" tattoos he did were on people who thought the tattoos they got would eventually fade away and completely disappear after a few years.
Context I’m a lesbian:
So do you like get turned on looking in a mirror?
In retail "Where is the paint in this stupid store? I was sent down here and they lied! " "Right behind you (literally dozens of paint cans 8 feet behind her) " "No they're not!" I walk past her and put my hand on the can, took her a good 10 seconds of ranting to accept the paint was infact there.
This is second hand from a diving guide in Bermuda: "how far do you have to dive to get under the island?"
What can I take for internal bleeding?
Answer: Hospital man. We’re just a f*cking pharmacy, not a trauma unit.
I have been asked and witnessed stupid questions but I am struggling to think of a good gem.
All I can remember is, "how does the paper get to the other fax machine?"
I tried explaining fax machines merely scan a copy and the image travels through wires and it prints a copy but they weren't getting it.
Another one, a girl was offering me soy sauce and I reminded her I am allergic to soy. "Oh. There's soy in soy sauce?"
After trying to pull my hair off:
Stranger: It's not a wig!?
Me: Uhhh no, it's my hair
Stranger: I thought maybe it was a wig because of cancer or something.
First, how can you touch someone's hair? Second, even if you do get their permission, how can you just pull their hair? Third, so it's okay if the wig comes off? Are you pulling their hair with that intention? In that case, your aim is to embarrass them, which is disgusting, and you are a prick.
A friend of a friend found out during a party that I was serving in the US Army Reserve asked me if I had ever killed anyone.
Sigh
No, I'm not combat arms and I've never even deployed.
Seriously stop asking ANY service member this stupid ass question unless you want a stupid ass answer back.
I would just say, "No, not yet." Then look them straight in the eye and finish with, "but the night's still young."
Once my mom had to have part of a lung removed due to cancer. Afterwards, the doctor showed us the imaging that showed the remaining cancer spread through the rest of her lungs, which we already knew about. My dad asked him why they didn't remove all of her lungs.
“What was it like to grow up in a third world country?” My step grandmother the first time I met her after moving to the the US from Canada...
”Why don’t they schedule New Year’s Eve so that it’ll always be on a Monday?”
"Continents would float away if they weren't anchored down, right?"
Edit: This was asked by an 18 y/o girl in a top-level secondary school.
Is Thailand in alaska.
No, they just have one ethnic minority in common, the bigfoot, you must have heard.
I worked at an ice cream store and someone came in, looked at the ice cream cone I was handing to someone then looked at me and asked "what kind of soups do you have"
A lady asked if the bubble lights on the Christmas tree were "filled with colored champagne."
Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
have inherited depression I get "what do you have to be depressed about". then I always have to explain that's not how it works
I get that all the time too with my anxiety. People will be like well what do you have to be anxious about to stop worrying. Great idea like I haven't tried that before.
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Yeah, I have adhd and on top of that I’m socially anxious, so I often say things I don’t mean/that make no sense when I’m flustered, thanks for pointing that out :D
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My dad: "Are you sure you don't want to just be a nurse or a teacher?" (Yes, he said "just".) That sticks with me after thirty-plus years b/c he repeated it so often. I still find I grind my teeth if I think of it. "Just a nurse, just a teacher" is bad enough, but it was in context of "I want to be a doctor or a forest ranger" statements I'd make.
what is your dad? Fortunately mine was a mechanic, so when he asked me this s**t I said yes so I don't end up being like you. That was the last time he asked.
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My Ex and I were driving over Donner Pass on a four-lane highway and went by the monument. My wife said she didn't know about the Donner Party, which I thought was strange as she was valedictorian of her high school. So, I proceeded to tell her the story of the Donner party and how they were stranded and ended up cannibalizing each other and when I finished, there was a long pause and then she said, "Why didn't they just follow the road out?" I thought the covered wagons and date would have been the first clue about roads.
Not defending the road comment, but is the story of the Donner Party widely taught? I’m from California and learned California history in 4th grade. I don’t remember if the Donner Party was taught in regular US history, or just in California history, the way Sutter’s Mill and Junipero Serra are taught in California history but maybe not American history.
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In Germany, a U.S. Army soldier saw another soldier in a different uniform and asked him where he was from? The second soldier said he was from Canada. The U.S. soldier said "Wow, it must have taken you over a week to drive here, right?
I've told this one before: We're watching a film in a college oceanography class. There's a scene of a humpback whale and her calf swimming along, when one of the students suddenly asks, "Wait a minute - is this **underwater**??!!?"
"Before trying chemo are you going to give cannabis a chance?" No f***wit, I'm not.
You know, I love smoking (and eating) cannabis/THC, and it pains me every time a moron like this furthers the stereotype of cannabis users being so stupid. Cannabis will not cause your f*cking cancer to go into remission. It can do wonders for some folks' appetite after they've had chemo and feel nauseated, but it is not the absolute miracle panacea that so many people believe it to be (nor does it HAVE to be in order for its use by responsible adults to be acceptable).
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"Is cuckoo a bird? Are you sure? That's a type of clock!" Yes I'm sure a cuckoo is a bird and, wait for it, the clock was named after it!
"You don't need to wear a bra right?" I told him I definitely did and he was so confused. Apparently he thought I was completely flat chested and I had to prove him wrong by holding my shirt tight on my back so you could see easier. He was so shocked. I mean, I wear looser shirts but you can still tell I'm not flat. I just have a smaller chest.
Overheard at the chemist just this afternoon: the chemist is explaining to Grandma that toddler Grandson's antibiotics need to be taken 30 minutes to an hour before food, or 2 hours after. Grandma asks "oh, we were just going to go for an ice cream straight after this, does that count as food? Its just a little one." Chemist "err yes ma'am, it does"
Some of these are completely idiotic, I agree. But I have many, many years of teaching and librarianship and other kinds of education behind me, and I have learned that the education system has failed so many people that they don't even know what they don't know. I have never treated anyone as stupid for not knowing something. I have seen so many people considered failures that they are too scared to ask or find out, because they don't think they are smart enough. I worked with a 9 year old who was about to be sent to special ed. Turned out he missed nearly a year of early school because of illness and was never given any reading catch up. In three months he was a straight A student. I had a 45 year old employee who wouldn't read anything and insisted on being told everything verbally because he had been told he was a lousy reader and dumb. He loved westerns and raunchy stuff, so I bought him a Louis L'Amour book. 25 years later, he reads at least two library books a week.
My partner who is an executive director for a major company was talking to his his boss who is the GM & CFO about rehiring an employee who failed a drug test. They were going to rehire him because the company policy changed and they were no longer testing employees for THC since it was now legal for medical use in our state. They spent months in meetings making the decision to stop testing for THC. While discussing rehiring this employee the GM asked him what THC was and if it was cocaine.
Wow! He screwed himself over. If you're going to use at least know what you're putting in your bodies!
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One evening at a bus stop, I was in my 20's and wore a long black coat and I was putting my black leather gloves on and this random guy asked, very concerned and a bit scared: "Are you a secret agent?". He thought I was Jennifer Garner in ALIAS.
Wait which math class do you have? Oh wait you sit right behind me in math.
I had to explain to someone that even with a surge protector, they will loose power in a black out. On a work trip with co worker who says because it's raining I needed to pull over and wait for the rain too stop. No one drives in the rain. Had someone tell me their color printer isn't working. I told them you don't have a color printer, she pointed at her color monitor. Today had a user demand I log in as her to fix an issue. I told her I don't have her password. She was still confused why I couldn't log in as her. Had a co worker who refused to use the driver that came with the scanner, instead he used another installer that wasn't compatible. Then had the nerve to tell me my instructions don't work. Then he lied and said our other coworker told him to use the wrong installer.
Not a dumb question, but a puzzling statement from an ex-coworker. She was a college grad, normally pretty well informed, but when another lady said she was going to Chile on vacation, the Puzzler said “Ew, no, I couldn’t stand being in a jungle like that.” I didn’t bother breaking it to her.
Can I add to this: Just about every third question that a customer asks the service industry. I have too many examples to start listing them.
First thing I learnt as an instructor was there are no stupid questions. People might know loads of things you don't, but not understand something you think is just plain obvious. Many of these though are just people being condescending c***s because someone didn't understand something that they probably should, but had never learnt about.
My evil stepmother's car overheated & she drove it home. My dad was being impatient & wanted to spray it with the hose to cool off the hood so he could open it. She snarled, "but that would just make steam." She was a teacher.
>“Do the chicken lettuce wraps have chicken in them?” That might be a fair question, depending on the restaurant.
Mr garrison on South Park says "There are no stupid questions just stupid people."
Oh Lord, I haven't laughed this hard and long in ages. Needed to go and get tissues.
I have a few. My two favorites are: 1. "Is a bat an insect?" 2. *talking about Tom Holland* "He's from like, England right? Isn't that where Canada is?"
Okay, I have two. First- when I was 17 I had a friend (15 years old) come over to my place from youth group. She walked up the hallway and said, "do you know where the toilet is in this house?" Not "where is the toilet". DO YOU KNOW. No, I've lived in this house my entire life, but I've yet to find it... Second: my mother and I ran into our old (retired) family doctor while having coffee. He treated my brother and myself as kids, my parents and my grandparents- and went to church with my grandparents. He said "and did you know that Barbara [last name] died a few years ago?" Barbara was my grandmother. Yes, yes we were aware...we kind of planned the funeral for her that you attended...
My wife once asked me why male dogs have nipples. She later figured out what she had said and asked me why I didn't just laugh at her.
I lived on the back road to Disney World. Just three houses on the road. People would constantly ask me how to get to Disneyland. Go back the way you came. Get on I-4 towards Orlando. Head north until you get to Georgia, then turn left and drive until you hit California, then follow the signs. These idiots would drive THROUGH my yard and come pound on my door while people with them tried to steal my oranges. There were exceptions...and I would be nice, sometimes.
I did a group AMA thing a few days ago for students to ask adults questions, and one of the questions was “how do I get a girl fried”. Not girl friend, girl fried. The answer was to start with some spelling lessons.
I once forgot how to spell "who" and walked around my house yelling "H-O-O... HOO.. no..". my poor family probably thought I was possessed by an owl :D
I was buying kitty litter and the cashier asked if I had a cat? I answered “No, this is for my company coming to dinner tonight!”
Back in sevenths grade we were reading Hound of the Baskervilles, and we had too write a paragraph on why the books were so popular at the time, and one bloke said “ well, most of the Sherlock Holmes books seem to be mysteries” and I hit my head really loud on the table
I had a girl friend ask me twice what the difference between Mexico and New mexico was.. I knew it was time to cut ties
During one of my phusicals my doctor says to me, "You do realize that you are over weight?" I said " Dr. S...I am fat, I am not blind." It's the first time I ever heard him laugh.
Well, we laugh, but all in all this is more than a little disturbing.
Someone once asked me what half of 6 is, so I think I've got all these beat. And no, it wasn't a child. It was a grown-*** woman in her 40s. I honestly don't understand how she made it to that age. I would think someone that stupid would've long ago starved to death trying to find her way out her own front door in the morning.
Contrary to popular belief we do not have a monopoly on stupidity. Our politicians and several wing-nuts who want their five minutes just make it seem like we do.
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I was working at a restaurant with a floor show. A co-worker said, "You know, that band isn't very good, they just play the same bunch of songs every night."
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The dumbest question I've ever been asked was quite memorable, and appropriately came from one of the top 5 dumbest people I've ever known: my dad's 3rd wife. I was ranting a little bit one day about how much I hated cars/trucks of all sorts, and that if they all disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear. She thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Well, I guess you'd have to move closer to the grocery store then, wouldn't you?" We all looked at her to see if she was joking and she was dead serious. "You know, so you wouldn't have to walk so far to get your groceries home!" I was 16 (22 years ago), and I will never forget that as long as I live. 😳
Her question/comment made perfect sense given your rant.
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have inherited depression I get "what do you have to be depressed about". then I always have to explain that's not how it works
I get that all the time too with my anxiety. People will be like well what do you have to be anxious about to stop worrying. Great idea like I haven't tried that before.
Load More Replies... Yeah, I have adhd and on top of that I’m socially anxious, so I often say things I don’t mean/that make no sense when I’m flustered, thanks for pointing that out :D
Load More Replies... My dad: "Are you sure you don't want to just be a nurse or a teacher?" (Yes, he said "just".) That sticks with me after thirty-plus years b/c he repeated it so often. I still find I grind my teeth if I think of it. "Just a nurse, just a teacher" is bad enough, but it was in context of "I want to be a doctor or a forest ranger" statements I'd make.
what is your dad? Fortunately mine was a mechanic, so when he asked me this s**t I said yes so I don't end up being like you. That was the last time he asked.
Load More Replies... My Ex and I were driving over Donner Pass on a four-lane highway and went by the monument. My wife said she didn't know about the Donner Party, which I thought was strange as she was valedictorian of her high school. So, I proceeded to tell her the story of the Donner party and how they were stranded and ended up cannibalizing each other and when I finished, there was a long pause and then she said, "Why didn't they just follow the road out?" I thought the covered wagons and date would have been the first clue about roads.
Not defending the road comment, but is the story of the Donner Party widely taught? I’m from California and learned California history in 4th grade. I don’t remember if the Donner Party was taught in regular US history, or just in California history, the way Sutter’s Mill and Junipero Serra are taught in California history but maybe not American history.
Load More Replies... In Germany, a U.S. Army soldier saw another soldier in a different uniform and asked him where he was from? The second soldier said he was from Canada. The U.S. soldier said "Wow, it must have taken you over a week to drive here, right?
I've told this one before: We're watching a film in a college oceanography class. There's a scene of a humpback whale and her calf swimming along, when one of the students suddenly asks, "Wait a minute - is this **underwater**??!!?"
"Before trying chemo are you going to give cannabis a chance?" No f***wit, I'm not.
You know, I love smoking (and eating) cannabis/THC, and it pains me every time a moron like this furthers the stereotype of cannabis users being so stupid. Cannabis will not cause your f*cking cancer to go into remission. It can do wonders for some folks' appetite after they've had chemo and feel nauseated, but it is not the absolute miracle panacea that so many people believe it to be (nor does it HAVE to be in order for its use by responsible adults to be acceptable).
Load More Replies... "Is cuckoo a bird? Are you sure? That's a type of clock!" Yes I'm sure a cuckoo is a bird and, wait for it, the clock was named after it!
"You don't need to wear a bra right?" I told him I definitely did and he was so confused. Apparently he thought I was completely flat chested and I had to prove him wrong by holding my shirt tight on my back so you could see easier. He was so shocked. I mean, I wear looser shirts but you can still tell I'm not flat. I just have a smaller chest.
Overheard at the chemist just this afternoon: the chemist is explaining to Grandma that toddler Grandson's antibiotics need to be taken 30 minutes to an hour before food, or 2 hours after. Grandma asks "oh, we were just going to go for an ice cream straight after this, does that count as food? Its just a little one." Chemist "err yes ma'am, it does"
Some of these are completely idiotic, I agree. But I have many, many years of teaching and librarianship and other kinds of education behind me, and I have learned that the education system has failed so many people that they don't even know what they don't know. I have never treated anyone as stupid for not knowing something. I have seen so many people considered failures that they are too scared to ask or find out, because they don't think they are smart enough. I worked with a 9 year old who was about to be sent to special ed. Turned out he missed nearly a year of early school because of illness and was never given any reading catch up. In three months he was a straight A student. I had a 45 year old employee who wouldn't read anything and insisted on being told everything verbally because he had been told he was a lousy reader and dumb. He loved westerns and raunchy stuff, so I bought him a Louis L'Amour book. 25 years later, he reads at least two library books a week.
My partner who is an executive director for a major company was talking to his his boss who is the GM & CFO about rehiring an employee who failed a drug test. They were going to rehire him because the company policy changed and they were no longer testing employees for THC since it was now legal for medical use in our state. They spent months in meetings making the decision to stop testing for THC. While discussing rehiring this employee the GM asked him what THC was and if it was cocaine.
Wow! He screwed himself over. If you're going to use at least know what you're putting in your bodies!
Load More Replies... One evening at a bus stop, I was in my 20's and wore a long black coat and I was putting my black leather gloves on and this random guy asked, very concerned and a bit scared: "Are you a secret agent?". He thought I was Jennifer Garner in ALIAS.
Wait which math class do you have? Oh wait you sit right behind me in math.
I had to explain to someone that even with a surge protector, they will loose power in a black out. On a work trip with co worker who says because it's raining I needed to pull over and wait for the rain too stop. No one drives in the rain. Had someone tell me their color printer isn't working. I told them you don't have a color printer, she pointed at her color monitor. Today had a user demand I log in as her to fix an issue. I told her I don't have her password. She was still confused why I couldn't log in as her. Had a co worker who refused to use the driver that came with the scanner, instead he used another installer that wasn't compatible. Then had the nerve to tell me my instructions don't work. Then he lied and said our other coworker told him to use the wrong installer.
Not a dumb question, but a puzzling statement from an ex-coworker. She was a college grad, normally pretty well informed, but when another lady said she was going to Chile on vacation, the Puzzler said “Ew, no, I couldn’t stand being in a jungle like that.” I didn’t bother breaking it to her.
Can I add to this: Just about every third question that a customer asks the service industry. I have too many examples to start listing them.
First thing I learnt as an instructor was there are no stupid questions. People might know loads of things you don't, but not understand something you think is just plain obvious. Many of these though are just people being condescending c***s because someone didn't understand something that they probably should, but had never learnt about.
My evil stepmother's car overheated & she drove it home. My dad was being impatient & wanted to spray it with the hose to cool off the hood so he could open it. She snarled, "but that would just make steam." She was a teacher.
>“Do the chicken lettuce wraps have chicken in them?” That might be a fair question, depending on the restaurant.
Mr garrison on South Park says "There are no stupid questions just stupid people."
Oh Lord, I haven't laughed this hard and long in ages. Needed to go and get tissues.
I have a few. My two favorites are: 1. "Is a bat an insect?" 2. *talking about Tom Holland* "He's from like, England right? Isn't that where Canada is?"
Okay, I have two. First- when I was 17 I had a friend (15 years old) come over to my place from youth group. She walked up the hallway and said, "do you know where the toilet is in this house?" Not "where is the toilet". DO YOU KNOW. No, I've lived in this house my entire life, but I've yet to find it... Second: my mother and I ran into our old (retired) family doctor while having coffee. He treated my brother and myself as kids, my parents and my grandparents- and went to church with my grandparents. He said "and did you know that Barbara [last name] died a few years ago?" Barbara was my grandmother. Yes, yes we were aware...we kind of planned the funeral for her that you attended...
My wife once asked me why male dogs have nipples. She later figured out what she had said and asked me why I didn't just laugh at her.
I lived on the back road to Disney World. Just three houses on the road. People would constantly ask me how to get to Disneyland. Go back the way you came. Get on I-4 towards Orlando. Head north until you get to Georgia, then turn left and drive until you hit California, then follow the signs. These idiots would drive THROUGH my yard and come pound on my door while people with them tried to steal my oranges. There were exceptions...and I would be nice, sometimes.
I did a group AMA thing a few days ago for students to ask adults questions, and one of the questions was “how do I get a girl fried”. Not girl friend, girl fried. The answer was to start with some spelling lessons.
I once forgot how to spell "who" and walked around my house yelling "H-O-O... HOO.. no..". my poor family probably thought I was possessed by an owl :D
I was buying kitty litter and the cashier asked if I had a cat? I answered “No, this is for my company coming to dinner tonight!”
Back in sevenths grade we were reading Hound of the Baskervilles, and we had too write a paragraph on why the books were so popular at the time, and one bloke said “ well, most of the Sherlock Holmes books seem to be mysteries” and I hit my head really loud on the table
I had a girl friend ask me twice what the difference between Mexico and New mexico was.. I knew it was time to cut ties
During one of my phusicals my doctor says to me, "You do realize that you are over weight?" I said " Dr. S...I am fat, I am not blind." It's the first time I ever heard him laugh.
Well, we laugh, but all in all this is more than a little disturbing.
Someone once asked me what half of 6 is, so I think I've got all these beat. And no, it wasn't a child. It was a grown-*** woman in her 40s. I honestly don't understand how she made it to that age. I would think someone that stupid would've long ago starved to death trying to find her way out her own front door in the morning.
Contrary to popular belief we do not have a monopoly on stupidity. Our politicians and several wing-nuts who want their five minutes just make it seem like we do.
Load More Replies... I was working at a restaurant with a floor show. A co-worker said, "You know, that band isn't very good, they just play the same bunch of songs every night."
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The dumbest question I've ever been asked was quite memorable, and appropriately came from one of the top 5 dumbest people I've ever known: my dad's 3rd wife. I was ranting a little bit one day about how much I hated cars/trucks of all sorts, and that if they all disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear. She thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Well, I guess you'd have to move closer to the grocery store then, wouldn't you?" We all looked at her to see if she was joking and she was dead serious. "You know, so you wouldn't have to walk so far to get your groceries home!" I was 16 (22 years ago), and I will never forget that as long as I live. 😳
Her question/comment made perfect sense given your rant.
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