We've all had our moments where it took us an embarrassingly long time to grasp a concept.
Something we can laugh off after a few minutes, days or years.
However, sometimes we might encounter people whose grasp of reality, logic and common sense is so off the rails, that we still have trouble shutting our jaws.
We're talking "next-level stupid."
Mind you, this doesn't necessarily mean that these people are stupid themselves.
Rather, they find themselves in a moment where they don't come off looking like the sharpest knife in the box, leaving all those around them dumbfounded.
And inadvertently providing stories which will last them a lifetime.
Redditor bost724 was curious to hear experiences people still haven't stopped shaking their heads in disbelief over, leading them to ask:
"What was your 'This person is on another level of stupid" moment?'"
Never Leave A Paper Trail...
"Dude burned down his convenience store for an insurance claim, and stopped the milk and bread deliveries the day before."- parsons525
Zero Grasp Of Human Biology
"Demolished my right foot, and a bunch of other sh*t in a motorcycle crash and had to have the top of my foot removed."
"Guy I worked with asked me when it would grow back."
"I explained that the skin and stuff was going to have to be grafted, but the tendons and bones that had been removed were gone forever."
"He looked me dead in the eye and asked 'why don't they just cut the whole f*cking thing off and let it grow back?'"- rugernut13
Oops...
"Going through security and the person says I need to show a different form of ID."
"I ask why because I gave them my driver’s license."
"They say I need a US document like a green card or something."
"I’m a US citizen, then I realized, I explained how District of Columbia is long for DC. Like Washington DC."
"As in the capital of our country."- agangofoldwomen
flying den haag GIF by Rotterdam The Hague Airport
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Uh, Mom...
"I got a bad grade in geography in high school, my teacher kept trying to push me and suggested I talk to my parents about it."
"I told my mom I was failing geography and she said 'how f*cking stupid can you really be Justin, how do you fail geography it's just shapes'."
" I'll never forget that one."- I_Am_Justin_Tyler
Irony Doesn't Even Describe It...
"Coworker bought a low-flow shower head."
"He filled the BATHTUB using the new low-flow shower head BECAUSE IT WOULD USE LESS WATER!"- pdfrg
Lightbulb!
"While driving from one big city to another, I stopped in a small town to eat at a fast food chain in Texas."
"I order my food, get my orange number tent and sit down to wait for my order."
"The lady who's bringing out orders has this 'I give up' demeanor as she's calling out numbers that guests aren't claiming."
"Each time this happens, she speaks to a couple tables to seemingly figure out who food is for."
"Then I hear her call for number 55 while holding a tray of food for one person."
"I was number 54 and noticed I was the only single-party guest there."
"We make eye contact and she heads towards me."
"She confirms my order with me and says 'sorry, for some reason the computer prints 1 number higher'."
"I immediately ask 'well then why don't you just call out one number lower than what's printed?'"
"She freezes and I can see the 'gears turning" in her head'."
"I tell her 'thank you' and she goes on her way."- SergioFromTX
lightbulb GIF
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Double Trouble...
"I’m an identical twin, and have been asked all manner of utterly ridiculous questions about it throughout my life."
"But I think the stupidest was when a girl once asked me 'do you ever get yourselves mixed up with each other?'"
"I responded 'are you asking me if I ever sometimes think I’m my brother?'"
"She replied, 'yeah'.”
"No. I don’t."- Rottenox
Were You Even Listening?
"When I was in middle school I was in art class with a boy named Devon."
"I told him my sister has the same name as him and he asked me what her name was."- ihambrecht
Reckless Much?!?
"The time I watched someone who had missed their exit on the highway stop on the shoulder, back up, turn around, and go up the entrance ramp."
"I could not f*cking believe it."
{A couple of fun details about this incident to really highlight its stupidity."
"The next exit was a few miles up the road."
"Going to that exit and then turning around might have delayed their drive by 15 minutes tops."
"There was no traffic ahead."
"I watched this person do this as I was coming down that same entrance ramp to get onto the highway."- snickerdoodle--
tsunami no GIF
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Yoho National Park
"I work for Parks Canada in Yoho National Park. I have been asked the question (seriously), “Where do you keep the animals at night?” twice in my career. To this day I still find great joy imagining what they thought was going on each night as we “collected” every large animal in the Parks."
nakednfamous-
In Theaters Near You
"I was a co-hostess with a girl in a restaurant, watching ads on a hanging TV for a new movie. At the end, it said 'coming soon to a theater near you,' to which she turned to me with wide eyes & genuinely asked "how do they know where I live?"
wontwasteme
Salesforce
"This was my first experience in retail where I learned what many customers would be like."
"Seasons were changing, so we put a lot of shirts we had to get rid of in the front and made them 50% off. I was working the register when a woman came up to buy her things. I rang her up and could see a look on her face like something was wrong. That’s when the following happened."
Lady: “Why is this so much.”
Me: “Pardon me?”
Lady: “This should only be $10 not $20.”
"I thought that maybe her item was on sale, so I asked if she could point out the sign because I wasn’t aware of it. It was a small store and we didn't have to walk anywhere."
Lady: “This sign here.”
Me: “This sign says that all shirts are 50% off.”
Lady: “Yes, so why is this full price.”
Me: “This is a hat.”
AstaticDynamic·
Not A Plant
"Back when the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster happened we were discussing how the reactor had failed in a science class. 5 minutes into the conversation a girl piped up and said "I don't see what the big deal is. Why can't we just regrow it?"
"She dead@ss thought a nuclear power plant was... A plant."
BroomStickLegend
Global Perspective
"There was a girl in my high school who forced the teacher to pause a documentary about people living in mud huts in Africa because she was upset that they were showing us fictional movies in a history class. It took everyone else in the room to convince her that people actually live like that in some places. Wealthy area living for ya."
IWasSayingBoourner
Microwave
"I was friends with with a guy who believed those fake apple adverts like "Apple Wave - Microwave your phone for instant battery charge" I was so dumbfounded that he actually fell for it. When I saw him the week after and he had a new phone it all clicked for me."
TheChosenOne118
Pasta
"Someone in my history class argued that Mussolini was a type of pasta."
Interesting
"Not me but a friend worked in a call center for a CC company in the disputes department. The number one item people called to say they never purchased... ’Interest Charge’."
friedmators
The things some people actually say.
Though, we shouldn't be too hard on them.
After all, let us not forget a former president of the United States actually thought "stratgery" was a word.
Likely connected to "nucular" weapons...
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The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
Giphy
"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
Giphy
"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
