Amish People Reveal How The Lack Of Technology Impacts Their Lives
[rebelmouse-image 18345329 is_animated_gif=One reddit user asked: Amish of Reddit, how does not using technology affect your lives?
First of all, not a lot of Amish on Reddit - for obvious reasons. What we do find is a lot of people with experience working with, or communing with, and even DATING Amish people. We tend to think of them as isolated and disconnected, but that's not always the case. These stories show us that there may be a lack of modern technology, but there's no lack of modern interaction - or porn. No lack of porn at all.
Buckle up, we're gonna get Amish on it.
Pornhub On A Kyocera
[rebelmouse-image 18345330 is_animated_gif=So. I work in a cell phone store, and probably 30% of my customers are Amish.
There is one group that does not allow smart phones, but does allow "battery phones." I sell a lot of "battery phones."
It's a cell phone. Samsung gusto 3. Samsung Convoy 4. Kyocera cadence. Apparently these aren't "cell phones," or "smart phones," but "battery phones."
And if your "English" neighbor has wifi, you have wifi.
A Kyocera cadence can get to tube sites on wifi.
"I Flushed and Nothing Happened"
[rebelmouse-image 18345331 is_animated_gif=When I was like 16 my mom forced me to go on some church trip where we toured Amish country in Intercourse, PA. We ate dinner at some old lady's house and she talked to us about life there. The whole community used a public phone located next to the highway, they didn't use electricity at all in their houses and relied on pneumatic plumbing.
Whatever I ate did not sit well with me. The lady looked super uncomfortable when I asked to use her bathroom, but I had a major storm a brewin' and just did not care.
I excused myself from their table and completely annihilated their toilet. I flushed, thankful to be rid of my demons, washed my hands, and started to leave the little washroom when suddenly my gut gurgled and I knew it was time for round two. I basically sandblasted the porcelain. After shakily getting to my feet, I flushed and nothing happened. Slight panic rising in my throat, I flush again but like, more firmly as if i were trying to convince it to work. Instead of my mess disappearing, it rose toward me slowly and menacingly approaching the brim of the bowl. Luckily it didn't overflow but it was so close i couldn't even give it a plunge, had there even been one available.
I just quietly placed the cover over the seat, slipped out of the bathroom and rejoined everyone around the table, hoping no one would go in there til after we left. Well the pastor's wife who came with us as a chaperone went into the bathroom sometime later, and immediately came rushing back out all frantic and practically yells "who went in the bathroom?"
Everyone was silent for a second, but I just felt my face go blood red and felt all my nerves burning in shame, and then everyone simultaneously turned to look at me. I stammered about being sick and the food not sitting well (old Amish lady looks super offended, all her family are just bewildered) and excused myself again. I walked outside and got on the church bus and sat there until everyone piled in to leave. No one looked at me the whole 6 hour trip home.
Electric Amish
[rebelmouse-image 18345332 is_animated_gif=To answer the question, there seemed to be a growing number of what's called the "electric Amish." Being Amish apparently isn't about rejecting technology, it's about rejecting the pace at which technology has advanced recently.
Basically, the Amish that I know use their phones to:
1. Call a ride from someone "English" (that's what the Amish call non-Amish) who is allowed to drive.
2. Conduct business such as bookkeeping and online payments.
Dating Amish
[rebelmouse-image 18345333 is_animated_gif=I went on a couple dates with a guy who was raised Amish, and still retains a bunch of the habits from his youth.
He told me things were slower. Getting information, solving problems, etc. all took a lot longer. News travels from person to person and if you're not one of the first to hear, you usually get a slightly incorrect version due to it being retold so many times.
He was one of 13 children, so he always had people to play with. There was no one at school who he was not somehow related to, so until he moved out and got a smartphone as an adult, dating was a lot harder.
Their rejection of technology extended to the medical field. He has never been to a doctor, received a vaccine, or visited a dentist. When we were going out, he was pretty sure he had a broken foot but wasn't certain and had no plans to see a doctor.
He does not own a TV or a computer. He sees no reason to. His smartphone can do all of that.
Additionally, he's still more comfortable on a horse than in a car. He's never been on a plane because they scare him. I didn't ask about trains.
Not growing up with any technology has made him a very unique person. He cherishes conversation more than most people. He can build and fix more things than anyone I ever met. He keeps a garden for produce and has a better appreciation for nature than most.
Most of his family is still Amish. He hasn't been properly shunned, and they still communicate via handwritten snail mail. If he ever watches sports, he goes to the local sports bar to watch.
Uncle Amish
[rebelmouse-image 18345335 is_animated_gif=My uncle decided to join an Amish community about 10 years ago. He was a catholic preist but questioned his faith when over half his immediate family died within a year (my dad is the only immediate left) He's found peace in the world and just got married a few years ago. He translates French to German and vice versa and really enjoys what he does. I'll drive out to his place and visit him (4 hour drive from my house) as the only real way to keep in touch.
Tractor Joyrides Are Frowned Upon
[rebelmouse-image 18345336 is_animated_gif=communities vary greatly on the allowable tech. They actually have a council of local members that decides what is permissible in their community aesthetics.
It's kinda like a huge HOA.
Not uncommon, they can use power tools and electric lights in a shop, and diesel tractors. But not at home.
It gets odd at times. One decreed you could only have steel-rimmed tractors, no rubber tires. Because some members were taking tractors on outings a little too often. Steel wheels would be illegal on paved roads,
Some allow electricity at home but only for refrigeration and lights.
They often bum rides off their "english" outsider neighbors, or ask to use their phone. There is sometimes a phone booth just outside the community. It's just to keep it from being used for distracting casual chitchat.
The Amish Are Trendsetters
[rebelmouse-image 18345338 is_animated_gif=I'm not Amish, but I'm very close to someone who is. The idea is about focus only on what's important to them. They live minimally so that they can devote all of their energy to doing what they want - like spent time with God and family. By minimizing material possessions, it keeps friends and neighbors the focus. I'm atheist, but I see some logic in their traditions. "Trendy" people call it downsizing, minimalism, etc. Like the whole tiny house thing. But the Amish have seen the benefits of that for a long time.
Summer Job
[rebelmouse-image 18345339 is_animated_gif=I used to work summers on Amish farm. Some of my favorite parts.
- Some of them love Amish Paradise by Weird Al.
- They bought a 2016 truck with all the bells and whistles, then they hire non-Amish to drive them around.
- They use flip phones.
- They con each other constantly. Because they trust local Amish stores more than outsider stores, they'll pay up to like 400% for something.
- The babies and toddlers just wear mini versions of the adult clothing.
Amish Basketball Court
[rebelmouse-image 18345340 is_animated_gif=Where I live, Amish all have cell phones. Most have fax machines. Many have generators for LED lights in their houses and satellite dishes to watch college basketball. A lot of them are obsessed with college b ball.
Myself and a few of my buddies actually challenged some amish guys to a game of basketball once. We played at their place. They had a barn with an indoor full court with benches lining the side.
They were pretty damn good and ran a lot of pick and rolls. Of course they played in their normal Amish clothes, but wore basketball shoes. Most young amish here wear Nike hightops. They also love mountain dew and can be seen with cart loads at the local wallmart.
I've worked around them in construction for 20+ years. 99.9% of Amish are great people.
Electric Bike Kerfuffle
[rebelmouse-image 18345342 is_animated_gif=Not Amish but work with a LOT of them. My company manufacturers electric bicycles. Our biggest customer is located in Amish country. Interestingly they have phones and love the electric bikes. Everyone once and awhile we get an email from them. Apparently there is a lot of kerfuffle over ebikes and if they should be accepted in Amish country or not. But sales indicate they're popular.
I won't pretend I know anything about them but I at least know they use "technology" to some degree.
Sense Of Community
[rebelmouse-image 18345343 is_animated_gif=I listened to a Malcom Gladwell podcast. His family joined a Mennonite church when he was a kid. Mennonite's are like more liberal, less serious Amish. He said that the sense of community is unlike anything we are used to in the modern world.
The example he gave was that if someone's barn burned down, the next day everyone, and he meant everyone would come with whatever extra materials they had on hand to rebuild or food for everyone helping. When he said everyone he meant every single man woman and child of the community. They would do a barn raising and finish it in 2 days. One day for the framing and what not and the 2nd day to finish it.
It was a very interesting podcast and I suggest anyone interested give it a listen. It's Generous Orthodoxy - Revisionist History Season 1, Ep. 9.
Solar Power
[rebelmouse-image 18345344 is_animated_gif=The Amish take advantage of solar technology all the time, yo. It's crazy to me because they have completely skipped the "bad for the earth electric" and jumped straight into clean energy. Almost all new houses being built here in Ohio Amish country are wired for solar and have big panels.
Amish Cool Whip
[rebelmouse-image 18345346 is_animated_gif=One day our middle age neighbors, husband and wife, went out and came back with about 50 containers of Cool Whip. We could see them unloading all the Cool Whip from their black, of course, sedan. We don't normally spy on neighbors but, hey, Cool Whip is awesome and 50 containers does catch your eye.
We've spent the last 25 years wondering how all that Cool Whip was going to be used. Odd what stays burrows into the crevices of your mind.
Simple People
[rebelmouse-image 18345347 is_animated_gif=I am of Amish descent and have been around them somewhat. They are just a simple people and I have recently decided through my own endeavors to limit my phone use. I imagine that the lack of technology can only help them become real people within their community. My lack of use of technology helps me recognize I am more than just a phone number/words on a screen. I can only believe that my distant cousins may be something more raw and similar.
H/T: Reddit
CW: Suicide
There is so much to learn in life.
And once you acquire certain things mentally, you regret it.
How much 411 have you come across over time that made you think... "How can I unlearn that?"
Yeah, not possible.
Knowledge is power and sometimes it's a nightmare.
Don't we have enough to keep us up at night?
Damn curiosity.
Well let's do some learning.
Redditor RedBoyFromNewy wanted to shed some light on creepy issues we need to be discussing. They asked:
"What’s a disturbing fact that not a lot of people know of?"
So who is ready to spill, and where do you find the info?
From the Guts
"Without mucus your stomach would digest itself."
Ddubsquizzee
"The reason you body produces more saliva before vomiting is your bodies way if protecting your mouth from the acidity of the vomit before you actually throw up."
-AntiVegan-
Death
"There are more suicides than homicides in the US every year."
tmsanch
"60% of all gun deaths in fact are suicides. It is estimated that someone offs themselves with a firearm every 20 minutes in the US. And 80% of them are males."
hymnsees
"And what's worse (knowing, as my family just went through this.)... 70% of suicides have no note. It's a common misconception that most people leave a note and it just isn't true. Mainly because a lot of people who write notes realize they don't want to go through with it. Those who are 'successful' just do it."
jdward01
After...
"You can give still 'birth' if you die while pregnant. The decomp process will force the baby out. It’s rare but it does happen."
MelissaAthalie
"This is usually what ends up happening when a pregnant woman gets murdered. They usually find the fetus either completely separate (like in the Lacy and Connor Peterson case) or in the same location as the mother, but clearly birthed (like with the case with Shanann Watts). It's something I never knew happened until very recently and I think it's one of the most horrifying aspects of death."
rivlet
Disaster
"The deadliest ship disaster was the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship built during the Nazi Regime. In January 1945, she was evacuating 10,000 German citizens ahead of the soviet Invasion when (albeit ironically) a Soviet Submarine spotted them, and fired three torpedoes. The ship was on the freezing cold Baltic Sea, and the davits (ropes) for the lifeboats had frozen over."
"Not only that, but the ship was only meant to carry 2,000 people normally. These two factors, coupled with the harsh angle the ship was sinking at, meant only half of the lifeboats could be deployed. 9,400 people drowned to death that night, and nobody knows about it."
TheNonbinaryWren
I See You
"Your eyes have a separate immune system than the rest of your body, and if your normal immune system ever learns about your eyes, it will target them and you'll go blind."
hiruko_uchiha
Oh my eye. How do we protect them? As if I don't have enough stress.
Launched
"Penguins can launch their poop out of their butts like 5-6m far."
Bela_hrn
Despair
"Cotard's delusion, also known as walking corpse syndrome, is a neuropsychiatric disorder in which the person is in eternal damnation. They literally believe they are dead or dying [or don't have organs], the amount of despair is unimaginable and simply can't be grasped by people not suffering from it."
SweetTimpaniofLogic
'hard problem'
"It may seem like we know a lot about the human brain, but our standard way of studying brain activity is an fMRI, where a single pixel contains over 3 million neurons. That is more than many vertebrate animals' entire brains. The truth is, we really have no idea how the brain gives rise to consciousness."
"Edit: Even if we somehow perfectly worked out all the neural correlates of consciousness so we could say a mental state happens if and only if some exact pattern of brain activity happens, we would still have the 'hard problem' of consciousness: Why do these physical processes give rise to raw subjective experience, rather than just happening 'in the dark?'"
zeugenie
2 Minutes...
"If your esophagus closes and you cannot swallow, you have about 2 minutes before saliva starts reaching your windpipe. It is not a long time, but it is long enough to panic..."
grat_is_not_nice
"I have Eosiniphillic Oesophagitis and have had food stuck in the oesophagus for up to 24 hours before. And it’s horrible. You don’t realise how much saliva you swallow, to be constantly choking and vomiting that back up isn’t the best experience!"
AwayFollowing554
Get Lucky
"You’ve probably been closer to dying multiple times in your life then you even know. Just got lucky, or unlucky depending on who you are."
GingeBeardManBro
Well that's enough to disrupt sleep for life. Thanks y'all.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
The best stories are ones with exciting plot twists.
But the next best type of stories are the ones that continue spiraling out of control.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor _Mitnix_ asked:
"What's your best 'oh you thought this was bad, it gets worse' story?"
It's story time. You may want to buckle up.
It All Started With A Cat
"This is a long one, but I promise it's worth it:"
"A buddy of mine was cat-sitting for a friend of his while the guy was out of town on a vacation. My buddy didn't have a car, so the dude told him that if he needed to go out and pick up more cat food or anything, he could borrow the car."
"At the time, my buddy was living right down the street from this guy, staying at his parents' house. So my buddy was just going over for a few hours each day to feed the cat and keep it company, then going back home."
"Meanwhile, he's also been flirting with this woman online. She lives several states away, but he feels like they seem to be getting pretty serious. So he decides to take some liberties, really push the envelope on where he'll pick up cat food from, and he takes his friend's car on a little multi-state road trip."
"This is insane, right? Just atrociously bad judgement, especially since someone does need to feed the cat. To solve this, he left his parents a note. It read, 'I am camping in the woods behind our house. Please go over to ____'s and feed his cat. I'll let you know when I'm home.'"
"Boom. Problem solved, right?"
"Except that the 'woods behind our house' are about 20 yards deep. It takes less than five minutes to walk through them and come out into the neighboring housing development. So his parents went looking for him, calling out for him, and couldn't find him. They got worried and contacted a family friend, a local police officer. He subsequently got a hold of the fire department. There was a full-on search party combing through about 1/50th of an acre of woods. Unsurprisingly, they were coming up with nothing."
"This was before cell phones were common, so my buddy was completely unaware that his plan had fallen apart. He was cruising along on his 12-hour drive, expecting to get to this girl's house just in time for dinner. Except he didn't have a GPS. So he got lost. Very lost. Like, by the time he turned up at this woman's house, it was almost midnight."
"When he got there, she was crying her eyes out. He assured her that it was okay, he was fine, wasn't hurt or in a wreck or anything, he'd just gotten lost. And she said, 'No, no, I wasn't worried about you. My dad just died in a motorcycle accident.'"
"So he bailed on his cat-sitting duties, stole a car, and inspired his parents to file a missing-persons just so he could awkwardly watch a woman cry for a few hours and then drive back home."
– GavinBelsonsAlexa
The Beekeeper's Nightmare
"I will try to keep it short. I am a beekeeper. My 3rd year of beekeeping, I suddenly developed a severe allergy to bee stings. It was spring and I was installing bees for the beginning of the season. I was up to the last hive, went to install that package of bees and one stung me right in the top of my head."
"I finished up a few minutes after and went up toward the house to do some other things. I started feeling flush and I could feel my heart racing. After I few minutes I realized I was having an anaphylactic reaction."
"If you’ve never had one, aside from the physical symptoms, they also say you will get a feeling of impending doom. That was spot on. I absolutely felt I was going to die and people do die from these reactions."
"So I am now in the house and desperately searching for Benadryl of which I have none. I am also having trouble breathing, my body is going haywire and I feel like I’m going to black out shortly."
"I call my mom, who lives an hour away, to call 911 because I feel like I will be unconscious soon. She says okay, phone rings 30 seconds later. It’s my mom, she goes 'I called 911 but they said you have to call'. This was my first wtf."
"So I call and it’s a very typical 911 call she is trying to keep me talking and I essentially started vomiting and she is still on the line and I am waiting and waiting for this alleged ambulance."
"A full half hour goes by. At this point I am actually coming out of the reaction. So I go to sit at my kitchen counter. I’m still on the line with the 911 dispatcher. I see the ambulance pull up and I say, oh they’re here. She’s like great, are you okay? I’m like yes and then she says goodbye and hangs up."
"I see the EMTs outside but my driveway has a gate so they are just standing there and they ring the bell on my gate and I am just looking at them, dumbfounded. Like I called for an emergency over a half hour ago, and they’re gonna roll up here and ring my bell and wait for me to come out when I more than likely could be unconscious or dead on the floor."
"I literally had to go out and let them in. Then they basically talked me in to going to the hospital to get checked out. Another huge mistake because this took place in the 2 months in my entire life when I didn’t have health insurance. So I ended up paying $4000 for a late ambulance and some IV Benadryl and epinephrine."
"Oh which also reminds me, a paramedic also showed, put the IV in when I agreed to go to the hospital. Then I felt something dripping and turns out he put it in my artery rather than a vein and it was just pushing the fluid out of the IV."
"0/10 would not go through any of that again…but I did 10 years later when I had another anaphylactic reaction due to a bee sting. However this went a lot smoother and I had epi-pens and a responsive ambulance."
– soline
Oil Everywhere
"Arrive home from work, my house reeks of oil."
"Go in the basement, and there's a pool of oil, with my stuff floating in it. The oil filter on my burner rotted out (it was defective and recalled, but the tech never bothered to notify me or replace it). Call up the tech, he throws a new one, charges me the emergency call fee, and advises I call HO insurance before running away (it was his fault, I didn't know it yet)."
"This was February in NY, about 13F out, and obviously the burner wasn't on while sitting in a pool of oil. But, they get there pretty quickly soak it up, and get things running so my pipes don't freeze."
"Only way to get the smell out is to dry clean everything I own, then shampoo all the carpets, run deodorizers, etc. Takes weeks. Had a headache the whole time."
"Turns out, my basement has cracks, most of it leaked through. They had to cut out my foundation and dig out the contaminated soil."
"Oil in soil means DEC gets involved. Whole new can of worms as they now had to monitor the process, test at every step. Big enough deal I have a spill number in their database."
"A 20 yard dumpster, with 20 yards of oil soaked sand, is so heavy that it broke through my driveway, destroying it. They did that twice, took out my entire driveway."
"Remember how I said this was in February? March brought the COVID shutdown."
"I spent over a year with my basement in shambles, holes in my driveway, plastic sheets taped up, no washer/dryer, and all sorts of equipment kicking around."
"The next spring, they're back and working, and screwed everything up. Not going to get into every detail, but after a big fight, I managed to get rid of them and bring in a new company to fix their screwups and finish the job. Old crew got very difficult when the new crew requested permits and reports. Turns out, they never bothered. Had to do all that before they could start working again."
"New company dropped a storage crate on my yard to store my stuff while working, destroyed my grass, took out a sprinkler, took out my neighbor's driveway curb, got concrete all over my brickwork, but at least the nightmare was finally over."
– MyNameIsRay
These Redditors have been dealt with some major blows.
People who say that things will always get better, are partially right. Things do come around, eventually.
But you never know how many curve balls life has to throw at you until there's a resolution.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
Life is full of disappointments. We lose out on a job opportunity or the one designer article of clothing we really wanted is not available in our size.
But we go on.
But the biggest letdowns are the ones we never see coming but must contend with.
Redditor Frequent-Pilot5243 asked:
"What is a depressing truth you have made peace with?"

No matter how much you prize a friendship, not all of them are for forever.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
"A friendship you thought would last forever can end in an instant."
– Febreze4200
The Best Mate Who Quit
"My best mate of 20 years, said that he didn’t want to be my best man and just said he didn’t want to be my friend any more. Hurt like hell."
– Gavindasing
It's Okay To Let Go
"Sometimes people you care deeply about will choose to drop out of your life and all you can really do is have the grace to let them."
"edit. to everyone struggling with being left behind, and to everyone struggling with having to be the one to leave- I hope the pain eases for you soon."
– girlloss
Restarting The Process
"I have a really hard time with this one. Every friendship I've had in my adult life has only lasted a couple years tops. Rarely a falling out or anything, but just drifting apart or sh*t happens type deal. It's hard for me to make friends in the first place because I'm pretty shy, so having to regularly restart that process is really discouraging. Right now I don't really have any friends because I've just kinda given up trying."
– plebeian1523
The harsh reality of losing the people we love hits home for these Redditors.
Grandpa Time
"My grandpa just wanted to get to know me and the man I was becoming during his last year of life. Which I was too young and too selfish to realize."
– MrMunky24
Lost Opportunity
"Yeah, this hits home. I spent 90% of my childhood with my grandparents. I was at their house almost everyday. When I got into my teens and obviously found friends, discovered women, all that stuff and then I just stopped seeing them. They’re both gone now and they died with the memories of me as a child. Although they seen me sometimes while I was older, they didn’t know me because I didn’t give them the chance."
– Loud-Distance-1456
In Grief
"My dad passed away 6 weeks ago and I will NEVER see, hear, chat or get to hug him ever again & that forever is a long time."
– somethinggood19
These sobering facts were huge disappointments.
Truth About CPR
"This is coming from a firefighter:"
"If you have to perform CPR on them, it's most likely over for the patient."
"I'm not sure if I've made peace with it completely, but I've accepted it at least."
– Rukhnul
The After Effects
"I've taken CPR training twice in the past 10 years. The instructors were so completely different... The second one flat out told us 'you're giving them about a 15% chance of living, and even if they live, they will probably have some kind of severe trauma that will dramatically decrease their quality of life.' Wow..."
– DavidAg02
Despite Having Good Intentions...
"No one is coming to help."
– _meddlin_
That Train Has Left The Station
"I'm aging nonstop."
– insaight
Innocence Is Gone
"My childhood is gone, and I have no good memory from that phase of my life."
– anonymoose_mrx
No matter what, life goes on with or without us.
The best that any of us can do while we're passengers on this giant spaceship is to take life as it comes and pick up the pieces the best we can when things don't pan out as we'd hoped.
Sometimes, it's about celebrating the small victories–like finally finding a store that has your shoe size.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
People Describe The Times Someone Mocked Them For Being Wrong But They Were Actually Right
The truth matters.
Something one would think was a given in modern society.
Yet all over the world, there are people so unbelievably stubborn, that they simply refuse to believe the facts.
Sometimes even when presented with evidence.
This could be for something menial, such as refusing to believe that a cotton candy was actually invented by a dentist.
But sometimes, refusing to believe the truth could have serious consequences, up to and including climate change, the effectiveness of masks, and the disproportionate amount of gun violence in the US.
Redditor Lady_Of_The_Water was curious about the many things, both frivolous and serious, people refused to believe were true, leading them to ask:
"Whats something someone thought you were wrong about and ridiculed you for it, but it turns out you were right?"
What's that smell?
"That there really was a gas leak in the apartment building."
"Thankfully, the fire didn't cause much damage."- yamsnavas2.
There's a reason the bill is so high.
"Our water usage at work went up a lot."
"They checked all the toilets, sinks for leaks, couldn't find anything."
"I mentioned that it seemed to coincide with the new water cooler system installation, maybe that should be checked."
"They basically laughed at me."
"That stupid water system never worked good and the guy came in 3 different times and said it was just the filter."
"Every month it needs changed???"
"Didn't seem right."
"Finally a different technician came in and result was it was never installed correctly."
"I asked, 'could that have anything to do with the increased water usage that started when this got installed?'"
" He smiled 'I wondered if anyone caught that, yes the valve was not correct and water has been running'."
"For 5 months!!"
"If only they had listened."
"Total redemption!"- McTee967.
Have you ever looked at a map?
"I had a coworker doubling down repeatedly, claiming that new Zealand is north of Australia."
"I even told her about how I had lived there and she just assumed I was such a huge idiot that I didn't know where on the globe I was living."
"Brought the smartphone out and put an end to that."
"Let me just say, it's ok to not know where all the countries are."
"The problem is if you heavily assert you are right and others are stupid."- PlopPlopPlopsy.
Is it supposed to hurt this much?
"My husband told me that I was a 'baby' about my IUD insertion and insisted that it wasn't painful."
"That my concerns about entrusting a stranger to shove a foreign object into my body were paranoid."
"I listened to him because really, the info you'd find online is overwhelmingly positive."
"Long story short: the provider placed it wrong, didn't check/fix it when I asked her to."
"I spent 4 years in pain that I eventually 'got used to."
"It expelled half way out my cervix, had to get it yanked out at the ER."
"That's when I was told that copper IUDs are notorious for breaking inside the uterus."
"Because it broke inside me."
"The cherry on top?"
"The female gyno with three kids I saw to get the broken piece removed told me that 'cervixes don't really feel pain' and that I didn't really need to remove it."
"Goes without saying, I was in severe pain for 2 weeks straight before this appointment."
"Tons of women came out with their stories about lawsuits over IUDs, how they got pregnant with an IUD."
" Stories similar to mine."
"And how women should really be offered anesthesia or pain pills for this procedure."
"And when my husband was surprised to learn about the pain I endured I reminded him 'You called me a baby and everyone else told me it was all in my head'."
"Which is why I didn't talk about it."- PopK0rnAndMMs.
Seems like you could learn something from me.
"In sixth grade chemistry a teacher asked us what element was a gas that was lighter than air, and extremely flammable/explosive."
"I grew up on science because of what my dad does for a living and Bill Nye."
"I knew about the Hindenburg, and so I was really proud of myself when I raised my hand and said 'Hydrogen'."
"The teacher laughed at me and said that no, it was Helium, and the entire rest of the class proceeded to laugh too."
"Almost three decades later I work in a lab now, and f*ck that teacher I was right."- vanyel_ashke.
The dictionary is your friend.
"I have worked as a translator and a proofreader."
"For one of my translations, it went something like 'and he piqued her interest'."
"My proofreader docked me for an inaccuracy and switched it to 'and he peaked her interest'.”
"I’m still salty."
"I tried to get the agency I was working for to remove this person as a proofreader since I question his/her command of the English language."
"Had a similar problem with the phrase “lynch pin” used metaphorically."
"I stopped working with that agency because it pissed me off so much being 'corrected' incorrectly."- spot_o_tea.
No, that's just an illusion.
"When I told my mom that the clouds were moving and she laughed like I was crazy."-
Did you even read the menu?
"I was in the passenger's seat at a Carl's Jr Drive Thru with a friend."
"He asked what I wanted and I requested the Fried Zucchini."
"He puts half his body through the window to the voice box and goes on this 'My friend here thinks you have some kind of food I know you don't have so I am just going to say it for laughs because you will get a kick out of this'."
"She wants FRIED ZUCCHINI' and starts laughing."
" Well guess who ends up eating fried zucchini."- User Deleted.
And how do you spell that?
"Believe it or not, the pronunciation of my own middle name."- ThePlantie.
We have standards in this community...
"Not me but my Mom tells a story about how she wrote a paper for school about how tough her small town makes it for any new people moving in."
"Basically if you didn't grow up there you were a social outcast for decades and were excluded from a lot of things."
"The teacher didn't agree so she got a bad grade and scoffed at."
"A few years later a news paper reporter essentially wrote the same thing and won a local award for calling out the same small town BS that was going on."- Jberg18.
It's pretty amazing that anyone in this day and age would jump to tell someone they're wrong without having any authority.
Particularly when someone can quickly look up the truth on their phone in less than a minute.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.