general knowledge everyone knows (but you!)

[Dominic]

We're all fairly intelligent here in The Lounge, I think...but we all have something we're probably embarrassed to admit we don't know.

Maybe you're bad at geography and think that London is a country, like a friend of mine does.

Maybe you're an American and can't name the three Executive Branches of the U.S. government (my brother can't)

Here's mine:

Until recently, I had no idea that prunes are dried plums. I just assumed they were completely different fruits! [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

And before some smart-ass says anything, yes I know that raisins are dried grapes!

So what's yours?

[katyseagull]

I didn't know how to do a screen print. I had to ask diebitter to explain it to me [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[kerowo]

I grew up in Washington state and couldn't name the great lakes. Turned out to be a bit embarrassing in Ohio...

[daveT]

When I buy a new computer, I have to call tech support to ask how to turn it on.

My friend has an Apple that I have mashed my brain trying to turn on. He is glad to know that his information is secure when I am around.

[Jamougha]

[ QUOTE ]

Until recently, I had no idea that prunes are dried plums. I just assumed they were completely different fruits!

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here.

[Marwan]

I once thought that for "all intents and purposes" was for "all intensive purposes"

[J.C. Gloves]

[ QUOTE ]
I once thought that for "all intents and purposes" was for "all intensive purposes"

[/ QUOTE ]
I think a lot of ppl think this.

[Blarg]

That one's super common. Funny thing is, most of those slip-ups don't really make sense, so it's strange that they get used at all.

When I first came to California, I noted that the palm trees here are completely different from the coconut palms I'm used to seeing in the tropics. A friend said they were date palms, and I said, "You mean they grow something that looks like dates?" And he replied, "No, they grow DATES." I never pictured anything but something like a nut coming from palms.

I also pronounced the L in salmon for about the first 20 years of my life. At the time, nobody in the pacific ever ate it, so it just never came up.

There are a lot of little things with browser navigation and computer use I don't know. I came from back in the DOS days and used to be a bit of a wiz back then, but after those days, I've kind of dumbed down my usage to just the basics for the most part.

I also find setting up new programs cumbersome sometimes, like when they ask you how to set up POP e-mail or whatever. That came up with Pokertracker and getting it to read my histories off Pokertracker. It was not smooth sailing.

Also, I know next to nothing about whatever music is coming out. I don't really follow music much anymore, at least not forward. Now I'm trying to go backward, and learn about the older stuff. Rap and hip-hop and pop etc. have no appeal to me.

[VespaRally]

Funny, but true story:

In class we watched a short video about the lack of international curriculum in American high schools. One of the examples was how a kid couldn't find India on the map.

The teacher asked us to discuss the video amongst ourselves in our small groups.

One of the girls next to us (semi-hot) admits that she doesn't know where Asia is on a map.

WTF?

[daveT]

For those who are ashamed of their lack of geography knowledge:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/

After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map,

less than six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 33 percent could not point out Louisiana on a U.S. map.

half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively],

When the poll was conducted in 2002, "Americans scored second to last on overall geographic knowledge, trailing Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Sweden," the report said.