Lack of knowledge in people around you -- ever noticed?

[Astaroth]

Maybe this comes across as a bit arrogant, but living with a few flatmates has made me feel as if quite a few people around me know very little about stuff that I thought was common knowledge, especially in terms of history. And I'm not talking about some complete hicks who left high school here, but about college students (one of them majoring in history, lol) of supposedly at least average intelligence.

Examples:

- "Hannibal? As in, Hannibal Lecter?"
- "Caesar? As in, Caesar salad?"
- "Barbarian? No idea where that word comes from..." (--> "The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language)", from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian#Etymology)
- "Abraham and Isaac? Never heard of" (and I myself am an atheist, too, but at least know the story!)
- "Montgolfier brothers? Never heard of"

etc.

Has anyone else ever experienced that? Maybe I'm just a huge nerd spending too much time reading history books and wikipedia, but I thought all of those were really basic knowledge. And I don't even study history in uni.

[The Guy With No Imagination]

Yup, everyday all day. My struggle.

[lolIsuck]

I had that too, when I was studying history I was surprised that most people knew almost nothing about history, ironically they actually made it and I failed to pass because I couldn't handle the responsibility and some misfortune. It had beforehand already surprised me that some people that were, like me, in gymnasium or atheneum (the highest middle/high school levels in the Netherlands) were about full on retarded. It's somewhat similar in the thing I'm studying now so I just accepted that the grand majority of people is not very smart and even the majority in uni don't know stuff that I thought was general knowledge.

[Comrade_Rory]

You don't come across as arrogant at all. It's not like you're making fun of somebody because they don't know a complex scientific formula that takes years to understand. Everybody should know who Caesar and Hannibal are.

I know a girl who owns English bulldogs and I made a comment about Winston Churchill and she said "Who?".
Same girl once said I was British and when I corrected her, informing her that I'm Irish, she looked at me confused and said "But I thought Ireland was part of Britain?"
Few seconds later, she says, "Can you drive to Ireland?"

We don't talk much anymore.

[Aru]

I have no idea who are Montgolfier brothers.

Anyway, most people have heard those names, but they didn't remember them because they don't care or didn't care at the time. I have no idea who plays in our national football team, and that is supposed to be something everyone knows. In fact I do know a few players because it's on TV all the time, but I barely watch TV and certainly not sports. I don't care.

[Sharpe]

I don't think it's the case always. It's lack of knowledge in certain areas, I could rattle off the entire 30 man England Rugby team with ease - my mate couldn't, he could however do name the entire England squat with subs, I could not.

Of course there is educational differences but I am lucky enough to have a group of close friends who are all higher education level or above, so generally we are an intelligent bunch.

A lot of it depends on upbringing IMO, my parents were mad into sport and education and still are - My Dad was a football and rugby coach, and my Mum was a teacher so I grew up in environment placing emphasis on education and sport and I am lucky for it.

[Spartan999]

I only got the first three right. However I feel like this from time to time, English professor thought when I was talking about

Hannibal in my essay, she thought I was talking about Hannibal Lecter (and she lectured us about not knowing jack about history...)

[terrapod]

I know a guy in my English class who thought Joesph Stalin was a singer....
Several others who had never heard of him...

A person in my Geography class didn't know all the continets....

But yea it's all upbringing...
When I was littler I'd pretend I was a Roman soldier so is watch history based shows so I can pretend correctly

[Copperknickers II]

Examples:

- "Hannibal? As in, Hannibal Lecter?"

To be honest, there's no reason for someone without an explicit interest in history to know who Hannibal was.

- "Caesar? As in, Caesar salad?"

Not having heard of Julius Caesar is rather inexplicable. But I'd have a job explaining what Julius Caesar was actually famous for, and I am a student of ancient history.

- "Barbarian? No idea where that word comes from..." (--> "The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language)", from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian#Etymology)

I was under the impression it came from 'barba' (beard) for a long time.

"Abraham and Isaac? Never heard of" (and I myself am an atheist, too, but at least know the story!)

Again, not sure where your from, but that is simply not part of Christian teachings in any British context, the only reason I know about it is from having read a lot about Islam.

"Montgolfier brothers? Never heard of"

The who brothers? No idea who they are.

EDIT: apparently they developed a style of hot air balloon? That's obscure in the extreme, how can you possibly know who they are?

I thought all of those were really basic knowledge. And I don't even study history in uni.

Most people (in the UK) don't know anything about history before 1900, we don't really get taught it in school, except stereotypical knights and gladiators and whatnot.

[Earl Dibbles Jr]

Everyone's dumb in their own ways. For instance, I'm amazing at English and History, but my Math and Science skills leave much to be desired.

I'd imagine that they're smarter than you in some useful category.

[napoleon boneaparte]

You guys have no idea how poor our history syllabus in Malaysia is. No Crusades, no Hundred Years' War, barely a thing about the Renaissance and just a tiny part on the Age of Enlightenment. The word "Napoleon" appears ONCE in the Form 2 History textbook and the part on WWI AND WWII is about five pages long. So, needless to say, a lot of people aren't really that bright when it comes to historical stuff.

[Bo1Bo1Sha3]

......

[Makrell]

Common knowledge is subjective!

[AqD]

Same girl once said I was British and when I corrected her, informing her that I'm Irish, she looked at me confused and said "But I thought Ireland was part of Britain?"

It was, and it will be.

Few seconds later, she says, "Can you drive to Ireland?"

You can build a bridge or drive an airplane, if you have one.

[IZob]

wtf is a Montgolfier?

[the new username]

Yes I do but I don't care about it, I think it's stupid to care about the other's level of knowledge

[Hobbes]

Maybe this comes across as a bit arrogant, but living with a few flatmates has made me feel as if quite a few people around me know very little about stuff that I thought was common knowledge, especially in terms of history. And I'm not talking about some complete hicks who left high school here, but about college students (one of them majoring in history, lol) of supposedly at least average intelligence.

Examples:

- "Hannibal? As in, Hannibal Lecter?"
- "Caesar? As in, Caesar salad?"
- "Barbarian? No idea where that word comes from..." (--> "The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language)", from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian#Etymology)
- "Abraham and Isaac? Never heard of" (and I myself am an atheist, too, but at least know the story!)
- "Montgolfier brothers? Never heard of"

etc.

Has anyone else ever experienced that? Maybe I'm just a huge nerd spending too much time reading history books and wikipedia, but I thought all of those were really basic knowledge. And I don't even study history in uni.

All the time, but I don't mind. Most of my knowledge is either linguistics, a subject that not many are familiar with, but I don't mind if people just don't know, it's not like they teach it at school or anything. What I do hate though, is when people try to appear as if they know about it (ego is not derived from ἐγω you stupid idiots, shut up). Most people in Greece are wanna be history buffs (hurr durr, we're just like the ancients) which often leads to much stupidity coming out of their mouths, which also annoys me to some extent.

[Aenima]

I think a big part of why we think stuff like that is incredible that people don't know (ie Hannibal) is that we just surround ourselves with the relevant stuff. Think about it, from playing TW games to watching documentaries and reading books, we know what we know because we've pursued an interest in history. If someone doesn't have that kind of interest then you can't really be surprised when they don't know.

Like imagine if someone wasn't into strategy games and didn't much care for FPSes. Doesn't watch many documentaries (about history anyways) and rarely reads books about periods of history. How do you think they're going to know anything much about it?


EDIT: having re-read that it seems almost like I'm trying to make you feel bad or something....totally not what I wanted! I used to think the same as you but once you step back and consider how you know all the stuff you know, then consider the likelihood of other people having taken those steps you took to learn that.....well, it becomes a lot clearer as to why people are clueless about certain things!

[Comrade_Rory]

It was, and it will be.

Nahhhh.

[King_Porus]

wtf is a Montgolfier?

Proper term for a hot air balloon