Yesterday I was watching the ‘Tonight Show’ with Jay Leno, interviewing people in Vegas.
According to some:
Paris is in London …
The pyramids were build 20 years A.D.
The pyramids are build for Greek godesses …
The Luxor hotel is shaped as Luxemburg …
(The) Venetian (Venice) Hotel is named after Venezuela …
The Eiffel tower in Paris is an electricity plant …
:s :bravo:
This proves that general knowledge is far from general…
See? Knowledge isnt global.
Maybe everyone knows the words hi, and coke, and can spot Mr Jackson, but I reckon thats about all.
Actually, Elvis has the most recognized face.
Paris Hilton? She might well be. 
[quote=“superking”]This proves that general knowledge is far from general…
See? Knowledge isnt global. [/quote]
Or maybe your examples are not as obvious as the above.
Paris Hilton? She might well be.
[quote=“superking”]This proves that general knowledge is far from general…
See? Knowledge isnt global. [/quote]
Or maybe your examples are not as obvious as the above.[/quote]
Paris is in London … I don’t know many state capitals. I don’t know many world capitals. What is the capital of New Guinea? East timor? Dunno? Does that make you thick?
The pyramids were build 20 years A.D. Ok, can we prove they weren’t?
The pyramids are build for Greek godesses … So someone doesn’t know what country the Pyramids are in.
The Luxor hotel is shaped as Luxemburg … What shape is the luxor? Who gives a rats ass? Should I know that Luxor is a city in Egypt, and that pyramids are in Egypt, so the Luxor is shaped like a pyramid? Even if I lived in the same state as that hotel, does it make a person dumb not to know that?
(The) Venetian (Venice) Hotel is named after Venezuela … So what? Name two rivers in Kaoshiung.
The Eiffel tower in Paris is an electricity plant … So it is a TV aerial. Close enough.
Why are these pieces of knowledge used to indicate a persons level of intelligence?
If they asked people in Vegas simple Math questions and they got them wrong, or they didn’t know their own name, I’d say the survey has validity. Other than that, it’s just a cheap laugh, and indicative of the fact that people like to make themselves feel better about themselves by mocking the frailties and perceived ignorances of others. Thats why we watch quiz shows, and documentaries about people who fail.
Uh, Paris is not the capital of some tiny country most people have never heard of. Even you don’t know it’s the capital of Italy you should know it’s not in London. I mean how the heck can a city be in another city?
Sure can. Carbon dating of what’s found inside, historical records etc.
Oh well …
No, it’s not dumb not to know that it’s shaped like a pyramid, but to say it’s shaped like Luxemburg is stupid. Especially if you don’t know what the Luxor looks like, why would you assume it shaped like Luxemburg? Unless of course you don’t know what Luxemburg is and what shape it has.
You don’t need to know geography to figure that one out, just some English language skills will do.
Name any electricity plant that looks like a tower similar to the Eiffel Tower.
I dunno, but the answers are often funny (in a stupid kind of way). 
Paris being the capital of Italy is a joke.
Non-Americans love to use rest-of-the-world geography and history questions to laugh at Americans, which is unfair. I couldn’t name all the US states, nor tell you when the Declaration of Independence was signed, or who all the twentieth-century presidents were (or even get the post-war presidents in the right order). Doesn’t make me stupid (well, not in and of itself anyway).
agree with you on that one. not knowing some historical or geographical fact does not equate to being dumb. that’s called ignorance. and anyway, what is the measure of intelligence anyway? IQ? EQ? common sense?
Hey, Jay Leno is not a non-American and he interviewed the people right there on the strip in Las Vegas … in front of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel … and he asked other people if they knew any famous Paris landmark … only one did …
No worries, it also works for other nationalities. Like the guy on the German radio who thought Amsterdam was a suburb of Hamburg - the Netherlands isn’t that far away. But if you don’t know just say you don’t know.
BTW: Nobody expects the Americans to know all the states of all other countries, just the capitals of the bigger ones.
That being said (and being more serious than above) I agree it’s not a measure to conclude if someone is dumb or not. Doesn’t mean we can have a good laugh about it though.
they probably asked 20 people, 10 answered correctly, 5 said ‘i dunno’ and then the other 5 with the really hilarious answers were what we saw on the tonight show… it’s also called creative editing, right?
Howard Stern used to ask similar questions of models, strippers and street people with betting on how many a person could get right.
Question - Stripper Answer - Correct or not?
What is paper made from? “Trees” Y
Who was the first President of the USA? “Lincoln” N
Use the word Plethora in a sentence. “Your plethora is located on the bottom right side of your…” N
Who is the Vice President of the U.S.? “Perot” N
How much does a NY subway token cost? “Sixty five cents” N
Name one borough in New York. “Brooklyn” Y
What is a carnivore? “A warm blooded animal” N
Where does pork come from? “Mushroom” N
New York City is known as the big what? “Apple” Y
How many dimes are in a dollar? “Ten” Y
What vegetable are pickles made from? “Marinated from a grape” N
Name the two most popular political parties in America. “Presidential Party and… I don’t know” N
Yes, but a little more embarassing, is that one of the episodes of its sister show (I think, with the guy who is less funny than Jay Leno, but shown in the morning), anyway, it showed a bunch of bible belt people who didn’t know who Jesus mother was, or who the three wise men were or where Jesus was born etc etc.
Not always … 
Not always … [/quote]
yeh! it could in fact be recycled!
Uh, Paris is not the capital of some tiny country most people have never heard of. Even you don’t know it’s the capital of Italy you should know it’s not in London. I mean how the heck can a city be in another city?[/quote]
I wager you that 9/10 people will say that Amsterdam is the capital of Holland, and likewise that Sydney is the capital of Australia. They aren’t small countries.
Sure can. Carbon dating of what’s found inside, historical records etc.[/quote]
Carbon dating is BS. They proved the age of the Turin Shroud?
Italy looks like a boot. Taiwan looks like a sweet potato. Maybe Luxembourg looks like a cube, or an apple…? And can you name those two rivers in Kaoshiung?
Name any electricity plant that looks like a tower similar to the Eiffel Tower.[/quote]
blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/ … t_crop.jpg
keco.biz/utilitytutorial/images/transmission.gif
It’s actualy a construction made for a exsibition(hope I got it right) 100 years ago. No TV around then.
Carbon dating is bullshit? Why exactly?
Tycoon, check here.
contenderministries.org/evolution/carbon14.php
I’m not saying the pyramids weren’t built at that time, but a lot of people would.
The building of the pyramids is a massively complex field, and to laugh at one persons guess of 20AD may prove one day to be as laughable as someone asserting they are 4500 years old.
[quote=“superking”]Tycoon, check here.
contenderministries.org/evolution/carbon14.php
I’m not saying the pyramids weren’t built at that time, but a lot of people would.
The building of the pyramids is a massively complex field, and to laugh at one persons guess of 20AD may prove one day to be as laughable as someone asserting they are 4500 years old.[/quote]
No bias there. 
