Moments of Sheer Ignorance that take your breath away.

hot_curry_baz

Right! We're all been there folks. From our closest friends, worst enemies right out to complete and total strangers.
I'm pretty sure we're all approaching that era in our lives where we become just that bit jaded and cynical about the world but still, even now, there are moments that just make us want to put our heads in our hands and just sigh.
SO! Let's hear them tales of stupidity that made you stand still. Moments that made your brain hurt haha!
I'll get the ball rolling. Back in my secondary school, I was pretty much the resident geek. Not intentionally per say, it just came naturally I suppose.
During one geography class the teacher was talking about how Africa isn't a nation but rather a continent much like South America. I said ''Guess both populations can empathise with each other in alot of ways.''
This was followed up by the following from the back of the room: ****in Shahbaz and his big words. (Empathise=big word????)
And then the gem itself, ''Hey isn't Brazil in Africa??''.
*facepalm*:eek:

stupidusername

a woman i used to work with commenting on how isn't it great, black people, how they don't have to worry about getting a tan.

hot_curry_baz

Another personal fave of mine that I hear often: Oh are you muslim yeah? Is that like those people who blow themselves up and all??
Ugh.

AlmightyCushion

Someone asked me how to spell I.R.A. Also, while in a pub me and my friends had some guy try and convince us that Ireland is in a different time zone to the UK because their news starts at 6:00PM and ours starts at 6:01PM.

hot_curry_baz

That reminds me of a time when an American tourist asked me if I'd ever seen ''Lepreeshans.''.
Yes. He meant leprechauns.

My dearest American friend, bless her,after learning Ireland celebrated mothers day before America, asked me, ' Y'all celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th tho right?'

AlmightyCushion

hot_curry_baz wrote: »

That reminds me of a time when an American tourist asked me if I'd ever seen ''Lepreeshans.''.
Yes. He meant leprechauns.

Or a leper named shaun.

Orando Broom

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Someone asked me how to spell I.R.A. Also, while in a pub me and my friends had some guy try and convince us that Ireland is in a different time zone to the UK because their news starts at 6:00PM and ours starts at 6:01PM.

It us to be!

red menace

Some Canadians I was talking to when I mover here first were shocked to hear that Ireland was an island

They were vaguely aware of a landmass called Europe which, on some gentle probing I discovered they imagined was about the size of France

Poor Craythur

Was at my granny's house a few weeks ago. Conversation turned to a woman we know who had broken up with her African boyfriend. My granny comes out with "Well, wasn't she hard up when all she could get was a black man".

Yup, granny is a racist!

Laisurg

A woman in her 60s that i used to work with once told me that eating chickens that had been kept in cages and mistreated was the main cause of cancer.

Degag

I hate it when people (especially Americans) refer to the Irish Language as "Gaelic"

I know that technically it's not incorrect for it to be known as that, it just annoys me for some reason.

Bog

Science teacher once asked the class dunce how long a metre stick was. He didn't know.

Degag

Poor Craythur wrote: »

Was at my granny's house a few weeks ago. Conversation turned to a woman we know we know who was had broken up with her African boyfriend. My granny comes out with "Well, wasn't she hard up when all she could get was a black man".

Yup, granny is a racist!

Meh, alot of older people are like that, even people only in their 40s or 50s. Just the way they were brought up. Can be funny at times!

Delirium

Poor Craythur wrote: »

Was at my granny's house a few weeks ago. Conversation turned to a woman we know we know who was had broken up with her African boyfriend. My granny comes out with "Well, wasn't she hard up when all she could get was a black man".

Yup, granny is a racist!

I've an eldery aunty who refers to Asian people as "slitty eyed monsters" :eek:

Forest Master

stupidusername wrote: »

a woman i used to work with commenting on how isn't it great, black people, how they don't have to worry about getting a tan.

Eh, they don't though. It'd be ignorant if you thought they DID worry about getting a tan.

Poor Craythur

Poor Craythur wrote: »

Was at my granny's house a few weeks ago. Conversation turned to a woman we know we know who was had broken up with her African boyfriend. My granny comes out with "Well, wasn't she hard up when all she could get was a black man".

Yup, granny is a racist!

Aren't they all - mine used to comment "aren't there a lot of johnny foreigners in town these days" :rolleyes:

kfallon

Waiting to get a haircut one day years ago, kip full of the local biddies, some ould wan pipes up about Bin Laden, "Ah they'll never get him now, what with the euro and everything!"

Lamb. Of. Jaysus.

mgmt

When I was in Primary School back around 1993/4, we did a email penpal exchange with another class in the USA. The retard I was chatting to asked me in one email if we had modern electrical equipment in Ireland like tvs, radios or computers :eek:.

stupidusername

Forest Master wrote: »

Eh, they don't though. It'd be ignorant if you thought they DID worry about getting a tan.

ugh.

no don't know what to say to this.

Kevin Duffy

My Granny used to say she hated to see black people on the telly and would make us change the channel

Degag

Classic one i see are the people who give out about foreigners speaking Polish or French etc while in the pub or on the street etc

"My God, can they not take the time to learn a bit of English?"

These are always the people who go on sun holidays to Spain or Portugal only knowing "Gracias" or "Por Fobor" (sp)

almostnever

Perfect thread for today.

I had a fifteen minute argument with a twenty one year old today who genuinely and strongly believes that Belfast is in Galway.

Beat that.

Monty Burnz

koth wrote: »

I've an eldery aunty who refers to Asian people as "slitty eyed monsters" :eek:

And...that's wrong...?

Kevin Duffy

almostnever wrote: »

I had a fifteen minute argument with a twenty one year old today who genuinely and strongly believes that Belfast is in Galway.

Beat that.

What...how...just...what? Wait, what?

almostnever

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

What...how...just...what? Wait, what?

I know, right?
Me: "....no. Just no."
Him: "I was at the Galway Arts Festival in Belfast a few years ago, couldn't believe how it's come on since the Troubles."

I despair.

imitation

Jake1 wrote: »

My dearest American friend, bless her,after learning Ireland celebrated mothers day before America, asked me, ' Y'all celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th tho right?'

Just to boomerang this on you, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th in a lot of places in mainland Europe. In some other countries it can even be in January.

Owwmykneecap

Women working in the chippers discussing a daughter Australia

"yeah sure it's Summer there now"
"really"
"yeah, Australia New Zealand, Canada, all along that coast."

Poor Craythur

mgmt wrote: »

When I was in Primary School back around 1993/4, we did a email penpal exchange with another class in the USA. The retard I was chatting to asked me in one email if we had modern electrical equipment in Ireland like tvs, radios or computers :eek:.

I had a a guy in his late teens from Dublin ask me in 2003 at the start of college whether people got the English channels down the country! :eek:

Oranage2

When the black guys head ended up being chopped of by the scissor sisters my nan told me to be careful dating black girls because beheadings was part of african culture, turns out she was half right as its a Tallaght tradition.

Seloth

In first year secondary school we were discussing the ice age and one fella honestly goes "Didnt we have one of those a few years ago miss?" referring to when it snowed 6 years previous :pac:

Met A dubliner once who though county cork only got electricty in the early naughties.

And a friend of mine from a near by town asking what estate we were in(I live in the country) and stating how there should be street lights

longhalloween

Saw a note scrawled in the airport toilets the other day:

'Blacks out of Ireland'

I felt like writing 'Irish out of Australia, America, Canada, Uk ect.' underneath it. Gotta be fair ya know.

Havermeyer

A few years ago, having just got our new pup (a male Irish Terrier), I was asked if "there were also female versions".

Adyx

Degag wrote: »

I hate it when people (especially Americans) refer to the Irish Language as "Gaelic"

I know that technically it's not incorrect for it to be known as that, it just annoys me for some reason.

I think it just doesn't sound right if it's said in an accent other than an Irish accent. It does sound especially bad in an American accent.

Yakult

"Do Chinese people think we look funny?"

CrazyRabbit

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Someone asked me how to spell I.R.A. Also, while in a pub me and my friends had some guy try and convince us that Ireland is in a different time zone to the UK because their news starts at 6:00PM and ours starts at 6:01PM.

There is a tiny bit of truth in this.

Since the longitudinal difference between Dublin and London is just under 2 degrees, it means that technically there is an almost 8 min time difference (every 15 degree longitude is an hour. 1 degree is 4 mins. )

Still in the same timezone though!

EDIT: Correction by 'bijapos' : Its actually 6 degrees longitude difference, ( its 2 degrees latitude) so the time difference is nearer to 25 mins.
(Seems I read the coords for Dublin & London incorrectly from the site I used)

Aoifey!

When I was 14 a went to Oakwood with my youth club. My friend was starring out the window with a confused look and eventually turned around and said, in complete disbelief "They have sheep in Wales?! I thought they were only in Ireland!"

Savage Tyrant

I was talking to a woman in the shop and she asked me about my accent. I told her I was from Co.Down a few miles south of Belfast... She says "Ah my son Sean has a friend lives up near you then. Liam fron Derry, do you know him?" .... Ffs?

bijapos

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

There is a tiny bit of truth in this.

Since the longitudinal difference between Dublin and London is just under 2 degrees, it means that technically there is an almost 8 min time difference (every 15 degree longitude is an hour. 1 degree is 4 mins. )

Still in the same timezone though!

Its actually 6 degrees longitude difference, ( its 2 degrees latitude) so the time difference is nearer to 25 mins.

Now thats ignorant.

Mr Trade In

My Grandmother landed on my doorstep two weeks ago while I was watching Man Utd play,she was one of the people who influenced my interest in them when I was a child,refering to either Evra or Nani she came out with a fcuking Gem,"I didn't know Manchester United had a Full Black Player". Nearly pissed myself with laughter as she was serious

So what do I win for this timeless example of senility.

james2006

"When the black guys head ended up being chopped of by the scissor sisters my nan told me to be careful dating black girls because beheadings was part of african culture, turns out she was half right as its a Tallaght tradition.":p :pac:

well said!!...couldn't agree more!!! :pac:

TangyZizzle

I was in my course there a few weeks ago. We were talking about the grounds for discrimination. Kolawole asked if it was racist when customs refused to let him bring food off the plane into Ireland. I asked "would that not have been down to maybe different countries having different standards for germ control .. or somethin?,"
One of the class plonkers added to the end of my answer " ...yeah, because like.. Africa wasn't in the EU back then,"

Africa? EU?

She's 22 years old.

orourkeda

I was chatting a girl from California in a Dublin Pub about 3 or 4 years ago. She had been travelling around Europe and had arrived in Dublin from Paris.

During the time we were chatting a clip of a U.S open tennis final that had been played in the days previously (the one andy murray played in) was show in T.V.

She asked if that tournament was played in france. I told her it was played in New York. She then argued with me that the U.S open could not possibly have been played in America because it had been shown on French T.V while she was there

danniemcq

being allergic to nuts i asked my housemate to make sure she washes the knifes and plates really well if she used her nutella.

There is no nuts in nutella she claims with a snotty stuck up face that she loved doing.

oh how the 8 others in the room and i laughed as she slowly (and i mean slowly) realised what she said and left the room.

danniemcq

james2006 wrote: »

"When the black guys head ended up being chopped of by the scissor sisters my nan told me to be careful dating black girls because beheadings was part of african culture, turns out she was half right as its a Tallaght tradition.":p :pac:

well said!!...couldn't agree more!!! :pac:

what?

Kimia

My American friend (who works in the accounting department of her company) asked me what 'euros' were, and did we not use dollars?

Solnskaya

Soooooo, ignorance obviously means a whole different thing in Dublin than in the country. Only culchies will understand this, especially kildare/offaly culchies.

elefant

While on erasmus and telling people I could speak Irish, one person laughed in my face and said:

"Ya, so you can speak English, and English with an Irish accent."

Iwannahurl

A friend of mine, born and reared in a neighbouring island, once went into a Garda station to report a car blocking a pedestrian crossing just around the corner. Their initial response: "You're English, aren't you?"

couldntthink

For an example of a teachers ignorance this will take some beating........

Leaving Cert 2003. Higher level geography teacher. I'm sitting at the teachers desk because I'm a "troublemaker". She is going on about the Po valley in northern Italy.

She talks a bit about Italy and to finish up says "and the capital of Italy is of course The Vatican".

I said "I think you'll find The Vatican is a seperate state within Italy".

She replies "oh yes of course, it's Milan."

I say "I think you'll find it's actually be Rome".

She looked at me funny, everyone else said it's Rome, then she agreed too.

And that was my higher level geography teacher for leaving cert. We never stood a chance. Lambs to the slaughter.

teddy_303

"It's not fair, all youse bleedin culchies, comin up to Dublin, takin our dole"????

FFS!