ADVERTISEMENT

We usually think of our friends as pretty great human beings. Whether we’re facing troubles, need encouragement to pursue our dreams, or simply want to celebrate the good times, they’re always by our side. Yet, even they are not immune to doing something dumb.

But instead of letting them spend hours obsessing over their blunders, we’re here to laugh with them. And Pallavi Gunalan, a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, provided a perfect example of that. A few days ago, she made a tweet about her friend who tried to microwave a frozen burrito. Here comes the silly part — when it didn’t work, "she threw the burrito away and tried heating up a different one".

Pallavi’s story inspired hundreds of people to share the funny, ridiculous, and straight-up stupid things their friends ever said or did. So get ready to dive into some of the best answers Bored Panda has selected from the thread. Upvote the ones that made you laugh and share your own stories in the comment section below.

Pallavi Gunalan’s tweet prompted a deluge of reactions. Many users chimed in with countless encounters where they witnessed their friends doing something ludicrous or downright dumb. Later on, Pallavi also posted a follow-up tweet about her friend’s situation: "I gave her an extra microwave I had. Really hoping she didn’t throw it away."

Well, let’s face it — we all have friends whose approach to life seems a little outlandish. While moments like these make us wonder whether people around us are not the smartest ones, we also start to remember the little mishaps we have done in our past. Basically, everyone has had their fair share of foolish moments.

While we easily brand many situations in life as "stupid", the word still sounds a bit subjective. Just think about a situation where you miss your bus stop, believe you’ll ace a test without studying, or trip over because you were captivated by your social media feed. According to scientists, we instantly call these things stupid because we are very quick to label it.

ADVERTISEMENT
#6

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

DinData Report

Add photo comments
POST
donotreplytokjk avatar
Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a friend who has 2 advanced degrees from top universities and who speaks 7 languages... give me wrong directions to her house. Where she'd lived for 10 years.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

A study by researchers from Eotvos Lornand University in Hungary and Baylor University in Texas argue that studying why and when people call certain actions stupid can offer psychological insight. Not only because finding and declaring something as "stupid" is a simple everyday activity but also because it reflects how "people adjust their own behavior and expect others to."

The researchers wanted to find out "why we call certain actions stupid irrespective of [a person's] cognitive abilities," and to do that, they needed to understand what people mean by it. The main author of this study, Dr. Balázs Aczél, told Medical Daily that he and his colleagues were surprised to find very few studies have been done on this topic before.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

While it may seem odd to learn how people decide that a thought or an action is straight-up dumb, scientists went on a mission to tackle this challenge. "Given how frequently we find situations in everyday life in which we do, or would, call someone's action 'stupid,' one would think we should understand when and why people experience this feeling," Dr. Aczél said.

Researchers collected and analyzed real-life examples of what people constitute as foolish. They gathered a sample of 180 news stories and other online content from news sites like The New York Times, BBC, and TMZ, and also blogs, forums, and other publicly available publications where people characterized actions described there as stupid.

ADVERTISEMENT

They presented the stories to more than 150 Hungarian undergrad students, who had to fill out a questionnaire. People had to rate "the intensity of the stupidity on display," as well as explain why they thought any given action was stupid by choosing one of many categories (such as overconfidence and fatigue).

#10

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

KristinMNovotny Report

Add photo comments
POST
zora24_1 avatar
Trillian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's it with people in the US not believing anything they haven't personally tried or witnessed and yet this being such a religious country? I mean, come ON?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#11

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

TooTC7447 Report

Add photo comments
POST
zora24_1 avatar
Trillian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wealthy or not, would you not like ... I don't know ... TALK to your daughter if she did something like that even once?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#13

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

fax_me Report

The researchers divided participants’ answers into three distinct categories. The first one was called confident ignorance, when someone takes risks without having adequate skills and knowledge — and overestimating oneself is the highest level of stupidity. As an example, they provided a story about a burglar who meant to steal cellphones but lifted GPS devices instead, which led the police straight to him.

ADVERTISEMENT

The second kind of stupidity was called absentmindedness, and it refers to people who failed to do the right thing because of a distraction or, again, inadequate skills. The last category, a lack of control, results from obsessive or addictive behavior, "such as someone who cancels on a friend because they can’t pull themselves away from something."

#15

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

PallaviGunalan Report

Add photo comments
POST
dundun avatar
DUN DUN (she/her)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cuz it was the burrito's fault for not heating up inside the broken oven. What a shtupid burrito!

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#16

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

DCRemp Report

Add photo comments
POST
cecilyholland avatar
Cecily Holland
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ve got one like that… If her brains were TNT she couldn’t concuss an ant

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda

Dr. Aczél revealed they found 90 percent of students agreed on whether they would call an action stupid or not. "It shows that we use this label very similarly. Based on this, we would think that we must know what 'stupid' means," he explained. "People often think that it is strongly linked to low IQ. Our findings show that people attribute stupid to three independent situations."

ADVERTISEMENT
#21

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

deaf_robot Report

Add photo comments
POST
ethanlang avatar
Klorx
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Welcome to everyone’s favorite game: Sheltered, sleep deprived, or plain ignorant?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

The findings of this study "bring us closer to understanding people’s conception of unintelligent behavior while emphasizing the broader psychological perspectives of studying the attribute of stupid in everyday life."

"We would like to explore whether discovering incongruities in our environment has an adaptive function," Dr. Aczél mentioned. "Maybe if we observe stupid actions of others, then it may make us less likely to make mistakes ourselves. So, if we are right, then finding something stupid may make us upset, but also a bit smarter in our actions."

ADVERTISEMENT
#27

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

mickeyhawk Report

Add photo comments
POST
shaynameidela avatar
Dorothy Parker
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a large nail-like kitchen item that you use for exactly that purpose. It's called, wait for it, a potato nail.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#29

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

moseytech Report

Add photo comments
POST
mwangim62 avatar
Rijkærd
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Damn...she had an iron stomach....bet she could eat a railroad if it was slathered in ketchup

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#30

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

LedZosoBeans Report

Add photo comments
POST
4ertani avatar
UncleRussian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On a side note I love lint rollers but god damn it I for the life of me can't peel them properly half the time

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#31

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

prettysailorr Report

Add photo comments
POST
4ertani avatar
UncleRussian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's one of them magical Bluetooth speakers that converts air particles into mana... The air crystal must've been broken

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#33

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

Vc27Mr Report

Add photo comments
POST
4ertani avatar
UncleRussian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ocean Bread, take me by the hand, lead me to the land that you understand

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#35

Stupid-Things-People-Have-Done-Said

Star_KAV Report

Note: this post originally had 51 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.