Most people have heard the famous quote by Albert Einstein that “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe.” While it resonates quite well with our daily experience that everyone, despite their great talents, good intentions, and education does err, it is questioned whether Einstein actually said it or it was just a mistaken attribution by Frederick S. Pers, yet another ironic example of human ignorance. Either way, certain mistakes sound a bit… wild! As they are more unexpected than others and probably bigger, as it is clear from this list online, where people are answering one Redditor’s question “What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard someone say that they were 100% serious about?” Depending on the specific situation, sometimes the best strategy probably is to just have some fun with it, while also staying aware and empathetic of this human feature.
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My cousin was not the sharpest tool in the shed, he was convinced he could make love unprotected with any women as his current girlfriend was pregnant so there was no risk he could get another girl pregnant…
I knew an American guy who claimed that bears were not dangerous to humans. He claimed that if you were ever attacked by a bear all you would need to do is stick your thumb up its a**s and it would immediately fall asleep.
Yeah I can just see an angry bear stop attacking you the minute you tell it to "Bend over."
"Why do they call one side of the Sun the Moon?"
This 30 yr old legitimately thought the moon was just the other side of the sun.
As a teacher in America I'm not entirely surprised. In my area (Ohio) all information about the sun, moon, and space in general was cut from the curriculum. We're only able to teach astronomy if we somehow get through the entire curriculum weeks early. That doesn't generally happen, so our students never learn anything about space. The things my students say about the sun and the moon sometimes makes my jaw drop. Not all of them can tell me how many moons the Earth has. I wish it was different but teachers don't get to choose state curriculum.
My mom said the craziest thing I have ever heard a person say in real life. She was driving me and herself to her place of work so I could spend the day helping. I don’t even remember what led up to it, but she told me she thought it was the government’s job to round up gay people and give them the choice to either covert to Christianity or die. It was, to this day, the most shocking thing I’ve ever heard someone say in seriousness.
She was very serious that a useable hand-held shower head without a hose, because the hose was “ugly”. Asked if she meant an overhead or a wall-mounted shower head because those didn’t require a hose. Nope. She wanted the water to flow from the wall into a handheld shower head without a hose. I tried to tell her that wasn’t possible and ended up sending her to a different home improvement store.
This weekend my 75 year old neighbor told me with absolute certainty that women are allowed to get an abortion up to two weeks after the baby is born.
Recently I went to a market and a woman was selling incense that protected against 5G and and WiFi signals.
I work in gynecology…gonna skip over the tons of incorrect terms used for genitalia…and the top 10 outrageous patient comments…and go to-I am SO sick of explaining to women they don’t have prostates.
But Google said my symptoms point to prostate issues. I must have one because the internet said so
My mom said that my daughters nursery couldn't be blue because that would make her a lesbian.
Ah yes. Everyone knows blue makes lesbians; it's science. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go huff some paint to try and erase this stupidity from my brain
My co-worker. We were all having a conversation. I don't remember what we were talking about, but I said something to the extent of "Crazy, it's like someone thinking the earth is flat." His response was "well, it is." My other co-worker and I looked at each other confused. Flat-Earth co-worker continues explaining why the earth is flat.
He was saying it like he was stating facts. We're engineers for crying out loud. You paid too much money for your glasses, and degree to see things this way!
I will never understand flat earthers. They have idiots AROUND THE GLOBE (their words) and actually proved by their own testing that the earth is round. How would it even be possible to have a flat earth with all other planets being round? Blows my mind
The Caribbean coast is on the coast of England because they have British accents in Pirates of The Caribbean. This man was in the military and had no knowledge of geography.
"Wouldn't it be cool if we could see in 3d?"
I mean I have special glasses that let me see 3d in real life; though I'd rather not need them
"Did you know that slipknot wear masks because they're wanted criminals".
Now imagine me wasting 15 minutes of my life trying to explain that if they were wanted criminals, they'd just arrest them on stage.
The covid jabs are to turn people into 5g antennas
I'm still waiting for something to happen and getting really annoyed at this point. No 5g, no mutation, just nothing.
Dinosaurs never happened, because the earth is only (5000?) years old. From a teacher. To my daughter in 5th grade.
All too common bs from those religious zealots. No profession is safe from that insainty; all sane thinking is gone and there is no explaining science because god.
My ex wife got so angry she didn’t talk to me for a day when we went to the beer cave in Walmart and I stopped at the counter to pay there (and get the things bagged to carry easier) before going to the rest of the store and getting our other needs because “you’re going to get taxed twice”. Took me a minute when she said that because my first reaction in my head was yeah that’s how sales tax works but obviously I know how percentages work. And she stood there angrily and said that’s double taxation. That I’m wasting money by paying taxes twice. I said if sales tax is 10% and we make 2 $50 purchases, we are paying the same total as making 1 $100 purchase. She has an MBA, but after that example just seethed more and said I’m wasting money by checking out twice and getting taxed twice. Then just stopped talking to me the rest of the night…
My brother, against all laws of known physics, is absolutely certain that if he was ever in a tsunami he could just "swim under it".
We've both been in the ocean plenty of times, surfed a bit, and have definitely had our share of waves wreck our s**t, but he's still certain he could do it if he got the timing right.
“I never wear a seatbelt.”
Why the hell not?
“Because if I am in a wreck, there’s no way I’d be thrown to safety.”
My ex-husband was a horrible driver. Wrecked everything he ever owned and then some, but he somehow thought he was an excellent driver.
We were riding through a town with a 4-lane main road. He started to change lanes oblivious to the car that was located exactly where he was headed. I told him to stay in his lane, and fortunately, he did.
He said, 100% seriously, that if he'd changed lanes and crashed into the car that was already there, it would have been their fault because they didn't honk their horn to warn him.
I overheard a guy talking to someone at the bus but sadly i could not hear it all:
"The government is secretly burying peoples corpses to prevent earthquakes (...?)!
I'm 43 now, but used to do a fair bit of traveling in my younger days, up until I was about 30. Always coming back home for Thanksgiving/Christmas. Anyway, I had hitched back into town and was walking to my grandmas where I'd be staying, carrying my alice pack. A girl got to talking with me on my way, and it came up that I'd just got back from Oregon..and dead faced confused she was like "they have towns out there, like cities and stuff?" She genuinely believed it was still like the Oregon trail days...this was in like 2005 lol
Used to work for a place that didn’t allow outside food unless it was for babies or medical reasons. Woman brought a liter of fancy french sparkling water for the baby formula. 100% seriously. I had to explain why sparkling Similac would be a bad idea for a newborn. That kid would have belched to the moon.
Oh my goodness, seriously people should have to obtain some type of license or something to verify that they have enough common sense to actually raise a child.
A nurse I used to work with asked why we can't drive to Hawaii. She was absolutely serious and I wasn't surprised when she didn't last beyond her training period.
I was doing an OB ultrasound on a patient. The patient was worried the baby was going to chew through the umbilical cord.
Attention all expecting parents: please do not watch horror movies during pregnancy. You may not be thinking clearly at all times and experience brain fog. That is all
Nurse at our elementary school mistook allergies for pink eye. When I said that it cleared with eye drops she told me allergies are contagious too.
"The titanic was fake. The ship can not be in the Pacific Ocean" said my science tutor..
My old coworker said he went to Antarctica in college for a month for research, and had to be careful of polar bear attacks.
Off the top of my head, one of my co workers VEHEMENTLY arguing that the moon isn't real.
Well, the Moon in this picture certainly is. You can see stars through it.
Putting in a roundabout was stupid because now they had to stop 4 times instead of 1 if they had just left it a 4-way-stop.
Hahahahahhahaaaaa - you Americans have no clue about roundabouts ; if you want a truly hellish example, Google ' Magic Roundabout, Swindon UK' then reply and tell me how lucky you are. Strangely my Stepdaughter passed her driving test in Swindon and had to negotiate her way round this bloody thing 3 times during her test !!
The northpole is the closest place to space on earth.
Had someone freak out on me when I told them that there was an unshielded nuclear reactor on 8 minutes from the earth. (Spoiler: it is called the sun)
Well, it is shielded :-) by 700,000 km of hydrogen gas.
Load More Replies...I have one to add - I was 13 wandering around a bad trailer park and some 50yr old man came up to tell me “women with nipples that point outwards will always cheat on men! But if their nipples point forward like headlights, you have a keeper” I laughed and continued walking to my friends house, what an idiot
I am more creeped out that a 50 yr old dude is checking on other womens/girls nipples......... I am not even sure I would have laughed........
Load More Replies...I was planning a trip with the hubs to see my in-laws, all in Maine. I had a co-worker tell me that "there's no state (in the U.S.) called Maine!". I drew a map for her and everything. She later came up to me and in all seriousness asked me if Ireland was a state (in the U.S.).
Guy I work with gave us a warning about drinking too much cold water, that it'll make you fat.....just cold water, like ice water though..warm or hot water is ok I called him on it, show me any article that says that??... He searched all lunch, then asked Siri...which said.. no, water has no calories so cannot make you fat.. He still argued that he would find something to prove it..
When I told one of my patients that I’m originally from New Mexico, she said “Oh and your English is so good!” Uh, yeah b****, it’s part of the United States.
I begin to suspect that the Achilles heel of our society is an unwillingness to educate everyone to think carefully. It doesn't suit those in power, but it can still bite them.
Educational institutions seem to spend more effort on what to think than on how to think
Load More Replies...I once got accused and threatened with being fired for setting my manager up, because I opened a door and some mentally ill person walked in. I gather because we were associated with a church that this person walked in because the church next door was closed. The person knocked on our door as I was going back to work after my lunch break. The guy started talking about aliens, the church killing and burying people to hide atrocities etc. Apparently because I opened the door on my way out it was my fault and therefore it was acceptable for her to abuse and threaten me for the remainder of my employment.
mentally ill person? they sound like your average q-anon magahat? or are those the same (mentally ill/maga)?
Load More Replies...My russian boss told me that the Poles started world war II. I did not press for details- for the sake of my job. Ah, and also the tsar and his family were killed because of the english. The tsar stuff is just the usual russian propaganda, but how did he come to blame the Poles for WWII, I cant figure out.
Hitler blamed Poland as well. The Germans purposefully sent some of their soldiers over the border. The Polish Army fired on them (perfectly understandable,) and there was Germany's excuse to invade. They called it " Poland's act of aggression."
Load More Replies...I will always tell of when my ex boyfriend firmly believed that unborn babies eat the placenta for nutrients, during pregnancy. He even went so far as to argue a bit with a nurse. 🤭😂😂😂😂😂😂
This is why you should ask all the silly questions as children
It may surprise you to know that not everyone is born and educated in the USA. As a young person I was confused by my boss's behaviour, he got me fired. It was only years later that I realised that he was illiterate, his education hadn't included reading.
Load More Replies...My wife and I are caterers, medium size company. We were doing business for 20 years and one day I looked at on of her food orders. She did not know that 4oz of dry product as in Pounds, is different the 4oz of wet product like in Cups. That becomes a big problem when you order 1 cup of something and switch it to 16oz or 1 pound. Next thing you know you have 250 pounds of Green beans for a party of 500 people
People who say "I didn't know [movie/TV show about historical event] was real." when even *minimal* research - Google for example - will tell you yes.
I wonder, if people in question here are americans? I know its absolutely not fair to the majority of them, but sorry to say but this do sound mostly something an american would say.
I'm afraid every country has it's share of idiots Pankaj
Load More Replies...To quote Slipknot in on of the post, I do believe that sometimes (maybe most nowadays) People = Sh(i)t.
Had someone freak out on me when I told them that there was an unshielded nuclear reactor on 8 minutes from the earth. (Spoiler: it is called the sun)
Well, it is shielded :-) by 700,000 km of hydrogen gas.
Load More Replies...I have one to add - I was 13 wandering around a bad trailer park and some 50yr old man came up to tell me “women with nipples that point outwards will always cheat on men! But if their nipples point forward like headlights, you have a keeper” I laughed and continued walking to my friends house, what an idiot
I am more creeped out that a 50 yr old dude is checking on other womens/girls nipples......... I am not even sure I would have laughed........
Load More Replies...I was planning a trip with the hubs to see my in-laws, all in Maine. I had a co-worker tell me that "there's no state (in the U.S.) called Maine!". I drew a map for her and everything. She later came up to me and in all seriousness asked me if Ireland was a state (in the U.S.).
Guy I work with gave us a warning about drinking too much cold water, that it'll make you fat.....just cold water, like ice water though..warm or hot water is ok I called him on it, show me any article that says that??... He searched all lunch, then asked Siri...which said.. no, water has no calories so cannot make you fat.. He still argued that he would find something to prove it..
When I told one of my patients that I’m originally from New Mexico, she said “Oh and your English is so good!” Uh, yeah b****, it’s part of the United States.
I begin to suspect that the Achilles heel of our society is an unwillingness to educate everyone to think carefully. It doesn't suit those in power, but it can still bite them.
Educational institutions seem to spend more effort on what to think than on how to think
Load More Replies...I once got accused and threatened with being fired for setting my manager up, because I opened a door and some mentally ill person walked in. I gather because we were associated with a church that this person walked in because the church next door was closed. The person knocked on our door as I was going back to work after my lunch break. The guy started talking about aliens, the church killing and burying people to hide atrocities etc. Apparently because I opened the door on my way out it was my fault and therefore it was acceptable for her to abuse and threaten me for the remainder of my employment.
mentally ill person? they sound like your average q-anon magahat? or are those the same (mentally ill/maga)?
Load More Replies...My russian boss told me that the Poles started world war II. I did not press for details- for the sake of my job. Ah, and also the tsar and his family were killed because of the english. The tsar stuff is just the usual russian propaganda, but how did he come to blame the Poles for WWII, I cant figure out.
Hitler blamed Poland as well. The Germans purposefully sent some of their soldiers over the border. The Polish Army fired on them (perfectly understandable,) and there was Germany's excuse to invade. They called it " Poland's act of aggression."
Load More Replies...I will always tell of when my ex boyfriend firmly believed that unborn babies eat the placenta for nutrients, during pregnancy. He even went so far as to argue a bit with a nurse. 🤭😂😂😂😂😂😂
This is why you should ask all the silly questions as children
It may surprise you to know that not everyone is born and educated in the USA. As a young person I was confused by my boss's behaviour, he got me fired. It was only years later that I realised that he was illiterate, his education hadn't included reading.
Load More Replies...My wife and I are caterers, medium size company. We were doing business for 20 years and one day I looked at on of her food orders. She did not know that 4oz of dry product as in Pounds, is different the 4oz of wet product like in Cups. That becomes a big problem when you order 1 cup of something and switch it to 16oz or 1 pound. Next thing you know you have 250 pounds of Green beans for a party of 500 people
People who say "I didn't know [movie/TV show about historical event] was real." when even *minimal* research - Google for example - will tell you yes.
I wonder, if people in question here are americans? I know its absolutely not fair to the majority of them, but sorry to say but this do sound mostly something an american would say.
I'm afraid every country has it's share of idiots Pankaj
Load More Replies...To quote Slipknot in on of the post, I do believe that sometimes (maybe most nowadays) People = Sh(i)t.