The Stupidest Things Redditors Ever Had To Explain To Someone

Reddit users have a knack for pointing out how common sense isn't so common, especially with this latest thread asking, "What is the stupidest thing you ever had to explain to somebody?."

We had more than a few laughs reading through these follies of human understanding, including everything from "That 'The Onion' is fake" to "how clouds can move when they 'attached' to the sky." And don't even get us started on some of the technological explanations.

Check out our favorite responses so far below, vote for your favorites and be sure to check out the rest on Reddit as users continue to add them.

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Comments

[dkloke]

09:03 PM on 01/06/2012

Trying to explain to my first grade classmates that Santa Claus was not real. The thrust of my arguments hinged on the peripheral premises of reindeers can't fly, and visiting millions of households in one night is impossible, not to mention the sheer tonnage of the presents to be delivered..

a lost cause.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

09:55 AM on 01/06/2012

The Stupidest Thing Ever Had To Explain To Someone. To explain to BevfromNYC that eyewitness accounts still hold up in court and HR departments in every state of the Union, Canada, Europe, Antarctica and in fact the entire Milky Way.

[trixie191]

11:40 AM on 01/05/2012

I went on a date with a guy who, when I mentioned I was Jewish, responded, "What's Jewish?" In trying to explain to him, I brought up the New & Old Testaments, he didn't know what those were either.

[milkmcphee]

03:17 AM on 01/05/2012

My wife asked me, " how long do they have to do that stunt?", on Minute To Win It!

[milkmcphee]

03:13 AM on 01/05/2012

Went to Florida when I was 11 and had to explain to my 21 year old sister that I was not going to the "Gulf of Texas" side of Florida.

[zmfts]

01:15 AM on 01/05/2012

I work in the jewerly department of a department store, and over the holidays the boss had several other employees back behind the counter helping me. They weren't really familiar with the department, though, and they were asking me questions like, "What's the difference between gold and sterling silver? Are they the same thing?"

No, honey. Gold is...well, gold, like the metal. You can tell because it's gold in color. And silver is...well, it's another metal. It's silver-colored, oddly enough. No, they're not the same thing. Go back to folding your bras.

Geez.

I mean, seriously.

[Noble9]

01:01 AM on 01/05/2012

A question I heard a lot when I was lifeguarding at the beach: "there any sharks out there?"

Uh, it's the ocean...that's where they live.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

10:28 AM on 01/06/2012

Well I do believe they were meaning directly in front of them in the shoreline where they plan on swimming. Because with your logic both the great barrier reef and the Marianas trench are there as is the lanternfish, Humpback anglefish ,bluefish and giant squid. Which ALL do live in the ocean!

[Noble9]

01:36 PM on 01/06/2012

Yep, they're all there too...no walls in the ocean. Sometimes they end up on the shore.

[Pickums1283]

10:29 PM on 01/04/2012

I had a former coworker say to me one day that she was glad Memorial Day and Labor Day fell on a Monday this year (in 2011). I didn't bother correcting her because I wanted to bust up laughing. Then I heard her say it a few more times to other coworkers and I don't know whether to assume their lack of correcting her was due to 1) they too did not realize both holidays ALWAYS fall on a Monday or 2) they just couldn't be bothered to correct her either

[HispanicDidi]

08:53 PM on 01/04/2012

I once had to explain the concept of plate tectonics to a coworker after she stated that the continents were formed by wind and water.

I had to explain to the same coworker that Cinco De Mayo is a regional, Mexican celebration and the Food Network doing a Paella recipe in the month of May did not mean they were honoring Cinco De Mayo.

[sparklesponge]

05:11 PM on 01/04/2012

I had to explain teabagging to my mom. ::whimper::

[signgrrl]

07:40 PM on 01/04/2012

oh, i am so sorry.

[AnthonyGosse]

11:19 PM on 01/07/2012

Why'd you have to explain it? There's plenty of things I don't explain to my mom even though she wants to know them. But yeah, that's pretty ambarassing.

[SaraNader]

03:34 PM on 01/04/2012

That I come to HuffPo / Comedy for comedy ...

[larmarch5]

01:39 PM on 01/04/2012

That it's not a good idea to get all your "information" from Fox.

[llisa]

12:40 AM on 01/05/2012

And did they understand that? I have tried to explain that to my elderly friend, but she doesn't get it.

[signgrrl]

06:27 AM on 01/05/2012

my mom doesn't get it either - she just turned 82, btw.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

10:29 AM on 01/06/2012

uh ANY!!!

[Mrsbean54]

01:13 PM on 01/04/2012

My mom and I were about to go hiking, and she pulled out her old compass but couldn't remember how you use one. She stood holding the compass and started turning around, except she was also turning the compass in her hands while she turned.

After I gave her an explanation of how to use it and she said she understood, she sat down at the computer, pulled up Google Maps, and said "Ok, so now I just need to look at the map to figure out which way is North".

[AnthonyGosse]

11:20 PM on 01/07/2012

Oh dear god, your mom shouldn't be the navigator.

[Mrsbean54]

01:08 PM on 01/04/2012

The one about printing more money because we're in debt is not funny....it's exactly what we're doing.

Can someone please tell Washington it doesn't make any sense?

Audit/abolish the Fed- It's a criminal private company that poses as a federal company, but doesn't have to answer to anyone, and does everything in secrecey. They cannot be forcefully audited, and they don't have to answer any questions from the government....AND THEY CONTROL ALL OF OUR MONEY.

Ron Paul is the only one who will fix this obviously absurd problem....

[larmarch5]

01:45 PM on 01/04/2012

That's what you get for insisting that "In God We Trust" be printed, and printed, and printed on our money.

[Mrsbean54]

02:03 PM on 01/04/2012

That's stupid...way to try to draw attention away from the real problem and blame it on the usual scapegoat.

[AnthonyGosse]

11:22 PM on 01/07/2012

I know, does anybody in control of that realize what that does? printing more money makes money less valuable, so doing that to pay debts just puts us in even more debt.

[Mrsbean54]

11:10 AM on 01/08/2012

Honestly, I think they do realize it, and that's the worst part. The Fed does not act in America's best interests. It is effectively selling America to the highest bidder over and over and over again, with the permission of our own legislators, who try to scare the public into thinking that if we don't raise the debt ceiling, the world will end tomorrow.

There's no easy way out. Our debt is the single greatest threat to our national security.

[Pammy2]

11:34 AM on 01/04/2012

I overheard a co-worker talking to her husband on the phone and saying "While the repairman is there, have him look at the refrigerator".

When she hung up I asked "What's wrong with your fridge?"

"The light doesn't work"
"Have you changed the light bulb"
"Oh! I didn't know you could change a lrefrigerator light bulb!"

True story! But the most dumbfounding thing is - HER HUSBAND DIDN'T KNOW IT EITHER!

[AnthonyGosse]

11:23 PM on 01/07/2012

Wow, did they think it was something more than a lightbulb? That's sad, even me, a freshman, could figure that out.