People have been sharing the times they’ve been shocked by a grown adult’s stone cold ignorance – 17 proper jaw droppers

Nobody knows everything. Not even that smart arse in your office who behaves otherwise. However there is a baseline of intelligence and common knowledge that you expect everyone to be aware of.

Well, it seems that some people fall short of this low bar. And we know this because Late-Explanation-758 challenged r/AskUK users to share when they’ve been shocked by a grown adult’s ignorance.

They even kicked things off with their own answer:

‘My friend works as a teacher. One day recently, a parent came in to discuss her son and she took her sister along.

‘At the start of the meeting the mother introduced herself and said “this is my sister”. My friend said something like “Hello auntie”, which prompted the woman to visibly recoil before saying “I’m the uncle. He’s a boy!” before shaking her head in dismay.

‘She’s in her 30s and totally convinced that having a nephew makes you an uncle even if you are a woman. I find that remarkable.’

Here are the top replies of breathtaking stupidity…

1.

‘Used to know a bloke who was in his 30s and was convinced that Tetanus was just another name for an injection. “I had to go and have my COVID Tetanus yesterday”’
-LiquoricePigTrotters

2.

‘Had a girl I worked with say she couldn’t get a flu shot as she had an egg allergy, never mentioned it before.

‘Asked how serious it was as I’d seen her eat things with eggs as a primary ingredient, as I know some allergies it’s proteins etc.

‘Turns out her mum tested her for the allergy as a child by rubbing raw egg into her eyes and when they went red, declared she must be allergic.

‘The whole team did a double take but we all had a good chat on how rubbing food into your eyes isn’t the best way to check for allergies. She was really lovely though!’
-butterflyrattle

3.

‘For years I thought that Vietnam vets had gone to Vietnam to treat sick animals. (I’m not American.) I was shocked at my own ignorance when I found out I was wrong.’
-myblackandwhitecat

4.

‘The number of grown adults that don’t know the difference between these words:

‘Rain: water falling from the sky.

‘Reign: ruling period of a monarch.

‘Rein: a long strap to guide or control an animal (like a horse or a reindeer) or a child.

‘Toddlers use reins. When someone is let loose with something, they are given free rein. When you are advised to give someone more freedom, you are advised to loosen the reins. When you are asked to keep your temper in check, you are told to rein it in. None of these are reigns.

‘Same as with could of, should of, must of – it’s have, of doesn’t even make any sense!’
-ISawThePandasComing

5.

‘There are loads of grown adults that believe cows just automatically produce milk, they don’t realise they have to be pregnant and give birth just like a human and also that the baby is taken away so it doesn’t drink the milk for their coffee. Sooooo many people are totally clueless about basic biology.’
-Anna-Bombination

6.

‘I had to explain to my sons boyfriend that Hares are not rabbits that live in the wild, that they are in fact a separate species. He’s 39.’
-godfatheroffilth

7.

‘Years back I found out the older brother of a guy I went to school with was a flat earther. He posted a photo of himself on Facebook holding a small spirit level in the aisle of a plane to proove it. Him standing there looking smug holding it roughly level was funny, but the expressions of the random people and the cabin crew member behind him really made it.’
-FloofyRaptor

8.

‘My dad is against the moon landings, not because of the obvious reasons, but because he believes the moon is a hologram used to trick people, and it isn’t real.’
-Altruistic_Lies

9.

‘When I was working nights in a vet clinic a man called the emergency line in the middle of the night to ask me if it was true that cats gave birth from the mouth.’
-werisefromourashes