FunnyAPR 12, 2021

45 Of The Dumbest Things People Said Without Even Realizing It

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There’s no limit to three things, as far as I know. First, the numbers after the decimal point in the value of Pi. Second, my love for donuts (give me your powdered, your glazed, your sprinkled baked masses, I’ll eat them all). And third, the dumb things that people end up saying aloud.

Oh, we’ve all said dumb things that we wish we could take back (we still cringe when we think about those awkward moments while in the shower), but some people take the cake, the stand it was sitting on, and the entire bakery. When redditor ZakLorinator asked their fellow internet users to share the dumbest things that someone has told them, they delivered a truckload of tiny reasons to lose your faith in humanity. As you scroll down, upvote the responses that made you cringe inside. And if you feel your IQ lowering, you can always read this article right over here to raise it back up again.

Bored Panda wanted to learn how to make someone aware that they're incorrect without being rude and without triggering their defense mechanism, so we reached out to researcher and award-winning social psychologist Vanessa Bohns, who is the author of the forthcoming book 'You Have More Influence Than You Think.'

"People go on the defensive when you correct them in a way that makes them think there is something fundamentally wrong with them—for example, in a way that challenges their intelligence, or whether they are a good person," Vanessa said. Read on for her other insights, dear Pandas.

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#21

45 Of The Dumbest Things People Said Without Even Realizing It

A girl from Florida once told me 'because Australia is upside down, left is right and right is left'. I am Australian and told her she was right and not many people know that!

idontknowimlost, Steven Penton

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169points

Embarrassment, fortunately, has its positive aspects. If we embrace it, we’ll be better liked than if we try to pretend that nothing shameful happened or that we didn’t make a mistake. That works when we say something incredibly dumb, too.

“One thing that’s interesting about embarrassment is that, for as much as we might experience it as painful in the moment, it’s actually very socially adaptive. Being embarrassed signals to other people that you care about what they think. And that actually draws people in to you,” Vanessa explained.

#22

That rabbits come from eggs.

NowhereManDE, Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar

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163points

#23

Someone told me the South Pole is hot because it's the south.

FrostedRavenclaw, Wikimedia Commons

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161points

#24

I was walking in a very popular, touristy park in the city I live in. There is a totem pole at the edge of the park that is very nice. While walking past I was asked by someone "Where can I buy seeds to grow one of these trees?" (person points to the totem pole) I said "It's a totem pole... They're carved from a tree. You can't grow them yourself." The person was flabbergasted.

bubba_gump_26, David Stanley

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154points

“So blushing, burying your head in your hands, laughing, acknowledging how embarrassing something was, are all totally healthy ways to react,” the expert highlighted that, in a very meta way, we shouldn’t ever be embarrassed about being embarrassed.

#25

“Do you guys ride horses to school?”

I’m from Houston... apparently my friend from New York thought all Texans had horses

TuffCriminal18, David Martyn Hunt

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151points

#26

There was a kid at my school who said his mom didn’t let him watch SpongeBob because she 'didn’t want the gay spirits in the house.' A few years later, he told everyone he was a furry so I don't know what changed over that time.

PM-ME-YOUR-STOMACH, Nickelodeon

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145points

#27

My ex wife (wife at the time) came home late, said she had a flat tire and that her and her girlfriend were able to put the spare on (I taught her that) then she said there was something she didn't understand. She said she saw a screw in the tire and wanted to know that if the screw was in the top of the tire, why was the bottom flat.

Tool_Time_Tim, Marufish

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141points

“The unhealthy way to react is to pretend you’re not embarrassed, that you didn’t make a mistake, or to get angry. Those things undo the positive effect that embarrassment typically has on other people by conveying insincerity and pushing people away rather than drawing them in."

#28

An ex tried telling me that his therapist assured him that it was MY sole responsibility to remain in a relationship with him to keep his sanity in check.....i obviously disagreed. Im not your personal prescription.

Rosie_skies, dankueck

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136points

#29

That the biggest number was 1,000

hastagyashtag, jakeandlindsay

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135points

#30

A friend in high school told me he didn’t take the SAT because he heard it’s easier the second time.

ImReallySorryMom, F1Digitals

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134points

But what about you, dear Pandas? What's the dumbest thing that you've ever heard anyone say aloud, ever? What do you think the best way to react to idiotic statements is? Should we ignore them completely or should we confront them? Diplomatically? Head-on? Not at all? Share your thoughts below.

#31

me: it's unfortunate that it's cloudy tonight, so we can't see the stars.

friend: "ohhhh, so THAT'S why you don't see the stars sometimes"

Apparently she thought only some nights were starry because of the Earth's rotation or something.

mildost

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133points

#32

Someone told me that John Lennon was, in fact, the first president to be assassinated.

Dame_Mort, Wikimedia Commons

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131points

#33

That the post office doesnt ship mail to the Netherlands because you can't send physical mail to Hell. Just wanted to mail a postcard to my family in Eindhoven.

FaultySky, CeresB

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131points

#34

A teacher told me (and the rest of my class) the Earth was flat something like 25 years ago when I was in high school.

I had never heard of a flat earther at that time and I remember thinking how much of an idiot the person was and questioning with my classmates how that person was supposed to teach us anything.

billbapapa

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130points

#35

"Why are people Canadian?"

sithwonder, Laurel L. Russwurm

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125points

#36

My step sister told me we should see the PG-13 movie because PG meant 'pretty good.

itti-bitti-kitti, Studio Sarah Lou

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124points

#37

Someone once told me they saved the internet on a floppy disk. They actually saved their dial up connection shortcut, but they truly were convinced that it contained the whole internet.

timetraveller1977

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120points