What are your gaps in knowledge?
This question was inspired by the recent episode of How I Met Your Mother in which the characters explained each other’s “gaps in knowledge”.
What is a gap in knowledge? It is something that all your life you have been unaware of or could not correctly do, say, see, etc.
Examples from the episode included: mispronouncing a word, stupidity of common knowledge, poor aim, and inability to blink/swallow pills/make good oatmeal.
So, what are your gaps in knowledge? Why do you think you have them? What are some that your family and friends have?
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41 Answers
Please, let me be the first to admit, that as a child, I could not pronounce ALUMINUM.
My brain had a time wharp, when it came to pronouncing that word.
It was like a pot hole in my brain that never could be repaired,
I finally outgrew it.
Well, if I knew it wouldn’t be a gap then, eh? ;-)
I’m in the group that often mispronounces words because I’ve only read them, and I’ve had more than one embarrassing silly moment because of that.
Names.
I seem to have this black hole in my head that is situated over the part of my brain that is supposed to be used to remember names.
Oh, I am aware of many gaps of knowledge, and most of them I attribute to the public school system (and, I would have to add, my own intellectual laziness). I graduated college with a horrible grasp of geology, world history, art, and languages. And yet, even knowing that I was lacking in these areas, I never sought the information out on my own. Shame on me.
I have chasims! There have been several times in my life that I have felt like I popped through a different level of understanding and my world got bigger. I just turned 50 and I’m waiting for the next one :-) I hope it comes soon.
Like a few noted above, there are words that I’ve read more than I’ve heard, and I’ve been embarrassed by my mispronunciation of same. I have trouble with calendars; I understand their purpose, and I routinely rely on them; but I seem to mangle dates over and over again. I suppose this is some type of cognitive impairment, but calling it a “gap in knowledge” makes it feel like someone else is to blame. I’ll take it! And I truly don’t understand anything related to chemistry—far and away my worst subject in school. Thank goodness others have mastered it.
I can’t pronounce “particularly” to save my life. I also can’t ever spell restaurauauruaruaunt.
I swear, I hate that word! UGH.
Geography
Roman numerals
Calculus
Physics
Linguistics
Philosophy
How to neuter or spay. I am a DIY kind of guy and hate thinking of all that money I could have saved over the years.
Mathematics (in my defense, I have dyscalculia)
Map reading skills
Darn! The answer that immediately occurred to me (If I knew that then they wouldn’t be gaps) was already give by that far-too-clever-for-her-own-good @JilltheTooth.
But seriously, the older I get, the more it appears that I don’t know. It would be far easier to say what I do know than what I don’t. I am surrounded by lots of knowledgeable people. It is clear to me that there is so much I don’t know, I can’t begin to list it.
@janbb Ow! Our milk tester used to stick the male cats in a boot and use a razor blade.
Actually mine is a gap in skills. I can’t snap my fingers or whistle, and it is infuriating. I have tried my whole life and just can’t do it. It’s embarrassing to not be able to do these simple tasks. It’s a good think I don’t have a dog or I couldn’t call the poor thing.
There are too many to mention, but the one that has bothered me the most was a complete lack of political understanding. Until about two years ago, it was like listening to the adults from Peanuts talk.. It now feels like I’m scrambling to catch up.
Advanced mathematics is my weakest link.
I simply do not GET how anyone can be excited about math, I’m waaay too right brained to find thrills in complex equations.
The funny thing is though that I have an uncanny ability to measure things in my mind and be spot on.
Maybe I am an idiot savant. lol
@Cruiser My legs are crossed just thinking about two bricks.
Math has always been a weakness of mine. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, I just wasn’t motivated to do it. Sigh. : (
@john65pennington “Time wharp.” That’s darling.
I can’t fold fitted sheets. And after I clean the kitchen, the counters are the dingy gray of the novel 1984. If you ask me what I’m driving, on a good day I can tell you what color it is. On a bad day, I’m stuck between truck and car. Model? Make? CYLINDERS? Pffff!
@Adirondackwannabe Well, thanks to you I will never look at my boots the same way ever again. X0
I can’t dance. Two Left Feet doesn’t even begin to describe my dancing abilities.
Where aren’t the gaps in my knowledge? To paraphrase a song or two, so wide, can’t get around ‘em; so low, can’t get under ‘em; so high, can’t get over ‘em.
I did not know the receiver of oral sex can contract a std
So much for health class O.o
Ha, I think if I got together with any one several people on this thread, between the two of us we’d be unstoppable. I got you covered on the math but good lord I’ve got some wide brain gaps, such as:
driving, making small talk, pop culture, etc. etc. etc.
@troubleinharlem restaurauauruaruaunt The first things I thought of were “delicious!” and “dinosaur.” This should be a real word. I’m going to start using it, seriously.
I have lots of gaps in knowledge, but here are the ones that bother me the most.
-Chatting/ small talk. When I was managing the cafe I realized this is a real problem for me. Lots of the regular customers would come in and chat with us, but it’s always stuff like football or politics that makes it hard for me to see what really makes them tick. So I’m struggling awkwardly for casual conversation topics.
-Literature: The last lit class I’ve taken was AP English in my senior year of high school. Once I got to art school we had very few core credit requirements so I didn’t need to take English again. I’m trying to catch up by reading on my own, but I miss the context and debate that comes from learning about a book in class.
-French wine: There’s a big, France-sized hole in my knowledge of wine. Wines from other places in the world are pretty straightforward. If you know the grape and the region, you can pretty much figure out what the wine will taste like. Most places in the New World, like California and Chile, have relatively stable weather from year to year so you don’t have to worry about vintages. Not so with France. Wine is named after the region, not the grape. How many appellations are there in France? Shitloads! The weather can be great one year or musty and rainy the next, so all that talk about vintages? It’s serious business.
-How to pronounce words that I have only read. Those pronunciation guides in the dictionary tell me nothing.
Knowedge gaps: Science in all its forms (except for natural history and basic biology). Mechanics. How things work, in general.
Skill gaps (all due to my visual disability): Driving. Catching or hitting a ball (so most sports are right out). Ability to judge distances or percieve anything three-dimensionally.
Sports in general, and American football in particular. A friend used to take me to games and bought me a copy of Football for Dummies. Nothing helped, despite being raised by two college football fans. Sad, but true.
Mathematics beyond algebra and the beginning of geometry. Please don’t ask me to do a proof! I learned some very basic trig in eighth grade, but wasn’t allowed to take it as a course in high school because I didn’t pass geometry.
Physics – I know nothing beyond that if I drop something, it’s going to fall down because of gravity.
Those are the big ones.
@6rant6 – I can’t fold a fitted sheet either. I end up tucking and rolling!
Let’s see…I am an American, so it must me Geography.
Lack of knowledge about geography is normal, and provable by the fact we call ourselves Americans, not United Statesians. Clearly, the Canadians and Mexicans are not from America.
I don’t know if I was away from school that day but somehow I missed being informed of the Rosetta Stone. Kind of a pivotal bit of information in the understanding of everything Egyptian.
Much of the entertainment industry is beyond me. Actors, singers, athletes, TV shows, movies… I don’t know who is who, or particularly care to. That puts me at a disadvantage in a culture that is so obsessed with those things.
@jerv
you’re not alone! :-/
Computer games: I know next to nothing about any games newer than Pac-Man. ;-o
I readily admit that there are those who would consider a 30-years gap to be substantial.
@tranquilsea A couple of months ago I visited the museum where the Rosetta Stone is kept. It was smaller than I expected, and the writing on it is tiny.
Wardrobe color coordination. I used to think a blue shirt with brown pants looked fine.
@downtide cool. I could spend the rest of my life lost in museums.
How to survive in the jungle.
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