Know-it-all

[Rob King]

I try not to be a know it all in my everyday life, but I have to say, it's difficult to keep my know-it-all tendencies in check. It's easy enough if I have some slight bit of doubt about what I recall to be fact, but when I am confident beyond a doubt about something I have to fight to bite my tongue. Then I wonder if I'm really serving anyone by keeping silent.

One time, I remember being at restaurant with a friend of mine and her father. Her father comes off as a rather cosmopolitan man. Anyhow, we were eating sushi, and I wondered aloud what kind of sushi it was. He responded that it was a California roll. I don't recall exactly the ingredients of what I was eating, but I can definitely tell you it wasn't a California roll. It wasn't crab, first of all, and had no avocado. Secondly, it was rolled with the nori on the outside. I expressed my doubt, and he went on to explain that sushi isn't traditionally rolled at all. If your sushi is round, it is a California roll, regardless of the ingredients.

I didn't correct him, despite my confidence that he was wrong. His family is rather quick to judge, so I didn't want to risk any ire by questioning his explanation. But every so often, whenever I see him around I'm struck with the thought: "That man thinks I'm ignorant."

Something similar happened more recently on facebook. One of my friends is a fine art student, and she's spending the summer in London for school. She went to Greenwich, and there are a dozen or so pictures of her straddling the prime meridian. I think that's pretty cool, and I've told her so, but she keeps referring to having straddled two time zones.

I wasn't confident that I was right, so I looked it up. And after having looked it up, I'm still not 100% certain that the prime meridian does not mean a change in time zones in Great Britain. I know that there are places where one half of town is on one time, and the other half of town n another. But I am 90% certain that Greenwich is not one of those places.

I wonder if it's a self-confidence thing: I mentioned earlier that it's often easier for me to ignore it if I have so much as a mustard seed of doubt. But when it's stuff that I know about and people are getting facts wrong, I'm never sure whether or not I should correct them. And even in cases that I have, I feel like a jackass afterwords.

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature? Dealing with people who just can't be told? Situations where it would be inappropriate to correct someone?

 

[Steven Soderburgin]

I never have problems with this.

 

[AshburnerX]

This is one of the main problems with being highly intelligent: The fact that you are often right, but often lacking the doubt that you might be wrong. I know I sometimes have this problem myself and I constantly fight the urge to correct people when they are wrong.

However, keep this in mind: Just because your smarter than the people around you doesn't mean that you need to constantly remind them of that fact. It's one thing to correct somebody if what they are doing might get somebody hurt... it's completely another to correct them about something as inane as what is and isn't a California Roll. If it's not vital, don't bother.

 

[Hylian]

I find myself correcting people all the time on stuff even when I don't realize I am doing it. Now it mainly depends how well I know the person. If it is someone I don't know very well I get more self cautious of myself but if I know them I find myself correcting them without even realizing it.

 

[chakz]

It might help if you left it open for discussion. For instance, stating that, according to your knowledge, the ingredients didn't match what you know to be California role might be more polite and allow the girl's father to explain why he believed it to be so. It also might make for an interesting conversation.
What I really hate is when people state things, or correct me in a way that is completely closed to discussion. I'm wrong and thats the end of it. I find it especially irritating on subjects i happen to be quite knowledgeable about. Its good to be confident in your intelligence and expertise, but its not a contest. Its always a good idea to find out what other people think in comparison to what you think, even if they do happen to be wrong.

 

[Mr_Chaz]

I try not to be a know it all in my everyday life, but I have to say, it's difficult to keep my know-it-all tendencies in check. It's easy enough if I have some slight bit of doubt about what I recall to be fact, but when I am confident beyond a doubt about something I have to fight to bite my tongue. Then I wonder if I'm really serving anyone by keeping silent.

One time, I remember being at restaurant with a friend of mine and her father. Her father comes off as a rather cosmopolitan man. Anyhow, we were eating sushi, and I wondered aloud what kind of sushi it was. He responded that it was a California roll. I don't recall exactly the ingredients of what I was eating, but I can definitely tell you it wasn't a California roll. It wasn't crab, first of all, and had no avocado. Secondly, it was rolled with the nori on the outside. I expressed my doubt, and he went on to explain that sushi isn't traditionally rolled at all. If your sushi is round, it is a California roll, regardless of the ingredients.

I didn't correct him, despite my confidence that he was wrong. His family is rather quick to judge, so I didn't want to risk any ire by questioning his explanation. But every so often, whenever I see him around I'm struck with the thought: "That man thinks I'm ignorant."

Something similar happened more recently on facebook. One of my friends is a fine art student, and she's spending the summer in London for school. She went to Greenwich, and there are a dozen or so pictures of her straddling the prime meridian. I think that's pretty cool, and I've told her so, but she keeps referring to having straddled two time zones.

I wasn't confident that I was right, so I looked it up. And after having looked it up, I'm still not 100% certain that the prime meridian does not mean a change in time zones in Great Britain. I know that there are places where one half of town is on one time, and the other half of town n another. But I am 90% certain that Greenwich is not one of those places.

I wonder if it's a self-confidence thing: I mentioned earlier that it's often easier for me to ignore it if I have so much as a mustard seed of doubt. But when it's stuff that I know about and people are getting facts wrong, I'm never sure whether or not I should correct them. And even in cases that I have, I feel like a jackass afterwords.

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature? Dealing with people who just can't be told? Situations where it would be inappropriate to correct someone?

Technically the meridian is the line where the time-zone would change, however the UK is standardised to a single time-zone (the zone to the east of the meridian I believe).

Yeah, I get the know it all problem sometimes :slywink:

 

[Gusto]

Okay so yeah.

If the worst thing in the world for me is that some elitist thinks I'm dumb, then I guess I'm doing pretty good.

I'm smart about some things and dumb about others, just like most people. I try not to obsess about it.

 

I am MUCH better about this than I used to be. I think it comes with age. The older I get the more I know I don't know as much as I thought I did.

 

[Tinwhistler]

(shrug) I correct people sometimes, and don't other times. You have to choose your battles.

BTW, there are several types of sushi.
If it's a lump of fish on a rice ball, it's nigiri sushi.
If it's rolled sushi, it's maki sushi, and if it's a hand-rolled cone filled with rice and fish, it's temaki.
If it's rice mixed with fish bits (or Edo-style: a bed of rice with the fish on top, arranged nicely) it's chirashi sushi.
If there's no rice, it's not sushi. It's sashimi.

There are other types, but those are the most common in restaurants. Even though I'm froM Texas, and most of us Texans think a sushi bar is a type of bait shop, I've probably had more sushi than steak in my life. I can't get enough of the stuff.

The fact that it's rolled doesn't automatically make it a california roll. Rolling sushi is traditional and wasn't invented in California. That man's just a bullshitter. If he put me in the position of where I either correct him and make him look stupid, or I stay silent, and I look stupid, then I'd correct him. But I wouldn't purposefully walk into that situation.

On the other hand, your friend just wants to have a cool story to tell. I'd say let her have it.

 

[sixpackshaker]

/fighting the nerd urge to correct you guys on the Meridian...

 

[Icarus]

I got this problem a lot, mostly because people make such bold and confident claims that are wrong. When people talk bullshit which is in some way containing some iota of truth, I feel it's my duty to correct them when in the company of others. There's enough misinformation going around already! It's not about knowing the right answer, it's about knowing they are spreading the wrong answer.

 

[Wasabi Poptart]

(shrug) I correct people sometimes, and don't other times. You have to choose your battles.

This. Depends on the person, the situation, and if it's really worth being right. I had a situation recently where a co-worker of my husband's was trying to impress some of his female companions by talking about the expensive watch he just bought. Except he was pronouncing the brand name entirely wrong. Did I correct him? No. In my book he was making enough of an ass out of himself without me pointing it out to everyone around us. If we were having a private conversation, I likely would have told him how to pronounce it and that bragging about something he can't pronounce isn't going to impress too many chicks at the club (which is where he was saying he likes to wear this watch). I don't like making myself look like a jerk either, which tends to happen when a know-it-all constantly has to point out in public that others are wrong.
IMO, quite a few (not all) know-it-alls, and people who need to always be right, are probably insecure and have to prove they are superior to other people in order to feel they have some sort of worth.

 

[KCWM]

I'm a KIA. I try to keep my observations conversational. If it feels like I'd force it, I hold it back. The california roll thing? I'd have corrected him there. What about Philadelphia rolls? Spider rolls? and god knows how many other rolls. That dude sounds like an idiot who needed to be put in their place. I have no problem doing that, again, as long as it's conversational, which that situation sounds like it would have been.

 

[strawman]

whenever I see him around I'm struck with the thought: "That man thinks I'm ignorant."

Because of one conversation? Chances are good he's already forgotten that, and even if he remembers you're putting a lot of weight into one small part of one conversation.

Over time you'll put things into perspective, but I'm pretty sure (given what you've said) that a normal person wouldn't be attributing you with ignorance just because of that. In fact, he may be thinking of you as knowledgeable and interested in knowledge due to the conversation, and the lack of an argument.

At any rate, it's not important. Like many here I avoid speaking out about some things because it would appear that I have an answer for everything. In most cases my 'insight' is not needed, and so the only reason I might contribute it is to show off. Sometimes I'll sneak it in by asking questions that lead someone else to the same conclusion, and if there's a lull in the conversation I might add it, but I enjoy collecting information as much (perhaps more?) as I enjoy relaying information, so listening in is as interesting to me as giving out information.

That, and I have the tendency to tldr; the conversation, which has dampening effect.

As I get older I find I'm much more comfortable listening than talking.

-Adam

 

[Chibibar]

In person, you pick your battles. You generally don't want to get on the bad side of your friend's parents (especially if it is someone you are interested in) I say keep silent.

You could work into a conversation and tell them what you think and just say. "Oh, that is interesting. I learn something new everyday" I am NOT KIA. I do try to research to the best of my limited ability and willing to learn more on the subject.

 

[Jake]

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature?

Fighting it? No, no problem here.

 

[Steven Soderburgin]

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature?

Fighting it? No, no problem here.

I already made this joke DAMN :angry:

 

[fade]

My wife hates when I do this. She tells me just to shut up and let the other person think they're right sometimes. I know I do it here. Crone used to constantly pick on my about it. Oh well.

My wife often cites a Thanksgiving dinner during which I humiliated an otherwise very intelligent person into silence. It was the stupidest argument, too. This person insisted that the auto-reverse in her car tape deck actually physically flipped the tape (yeah, this was some time ago). Her evidence was that on more than one occasion, she had taken the tape out of the car, put it in her home deck, only to find the opposite side was playing. So she didn't use the reverse buttons or the auto-reverse. I was amused, and attempted at first a simple "It doesn't. It doesn't work that way." type argument. But she wouldn't drop it, so I kept on. Finally, out of frustration, I gave a mini-lecture on how cassette tapes and the reverse function work. Later, my wife tells me that our friend probably knew I was right, but that she was trying to save face, and that I should've let her. I never quite got that.

 

[Chibibar]

My wife hates when I do this. She tells me just to shut up and let the other person think they're right sometimes. I know I do it here. Crone used to constantly pick on my about it. Oh well.

My wife often cites a Thanksgiving dinner during which I humiliated an otherwise very intelligent person into silence. It was the stupidest argument, too. This person insisted that the auto-reverse in her car tape deck actually physically flipped the tape (yeah, this was some time ago). Her evidence was that on more than one occasion, she had taken the tape out of the car, put it in her home deck, only to find the opposite side was playing. So she didn't use the reverse buttons or the auto-reverse. I was amused, and attempted at first a simple "It doesn't. It doesn't work that way." type argument. But she wouldn't drop it, so I kept on. Finally, out of frustration, I gave a mini-lecture on how cassette tapes and the reverse function work. Later, my wife tells me that our friend probably knew I was right, but that she was trying to save face, and that I should've let her. I never quite got that.

We Asians sometimes do that a lot to let other save face. I am broken Asian, so I don't care (in terms of saving my own face. I have no problem admitting I'm wrong even on a forum) but I will let other win to save their face.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

I don't understand the stigma associated with "know-it-alls". So long as what they're saying is correct, how can anyone have a problem with being enlightened and having their misinformation or ignorance quashed? Calling someone a "know-it-all" seems to me to be rather anti-intellectual. If someone made an incorrect statement or bullshitted in my presence, and I knew that I could correct them, I wouldn't hesitate. That said, there's no need to be obnoxious or rude when doing so.

Of course, if someone "corrects" someone else but is wrong themselves, then they deserve the full extent of human ridicule and scorn.

 

[Chibibar]

I don't understand the stigma associated with "know-it-alls". So long as what they're saying is correct, how can anyone have a problem with being enlightened and having their misinformation or ignorance quashed? Calling someone a "know-it-all" seems to me to be rather anti-intellectual. If someone made an incorrect statement or bullshitted in my presence, and I knew that I could correct them, I wouldn't hesitate. That said, there's no need to be obnoxious or rude when doing so.

Of course, if someone "corrects" someone else but is wrong themselves, then they deserve the full extent of human ridicule and scorn.

Sadly, I think it is society driven.

I can only use my family and my culture and what I have observe.

It is tradition that you DON'T argue with the oldest person in the house. So in a Chinese family, your grandparents or great grandparents (if they are still around) are always right and you follow their "edict" You never go against their wishes at least not in public (in front of other family member) you CAN however do it in private 1 on 1 if you are brave enough.

My mother was shun by my grandparents (her parents) until my grandfather died. My mother and my aunts are very intelligent people and kinda like Alpha women (they love to take charge of things and do things their way) of course it was not the "traditional" course. My mom always like to be right and hate to be wrong so.... you can guess how that turn out.

You think they would forgive her after 40 years....... nope.

A friend of mine who is Japanese tells me it is even worst in Japan.

 

[Fun Size]

As a reformed KIA, I tend to approach situations where I'm pretty sure I'm right like the others. If I flat out know I'm right, I still don't say it as if I am. I tend to go with something along the lines of , "Huh. I always thought..." and the correct answer. I find it's the confrontation of the thing that makes people uncomfortable with it. Of course, I always end with, "But then I'm not a stupid little bitch like you are", which tends to detract from my efforts.

Oh well, one day I'll get it right.

 

[Rob King]

As a reformed KIA, I tend to approach situations where I'm pretty sure I'm right like the others. If I flat out know I'm right, I still don't say it as if I am. I tend to go with something along the lines of , "Huh. I always thought..." and the correct answer. I find it's the confrontation of the thing that makes people uncomfortable with it. Of course, I always end with, "But then I'm not a stupid little bitch like you are", which tends to detract from my efforts.

Oh well, one day I'll get it right.

I sort of try to do this more often than not, but it's fairly deflating if the other person is so hard headed in their false knowledge that they just go "well that's a dumb thing to think."

/fighting the nerd urge to correct you guys on the Meridian...

Go ahead. I'm not sure what you're referring to.

 

[Gusto]

Forunately for me, my genius friends are all pretty humble. Maybe it's a Canadian thing...

I swear, I must be the dumbest genius ever.

 

[sixpackshaker]

The Prime Meridian is the point that most of the world uses to start the map and clocks of the world. Longitude is basically a way to measure time, so you can figure how far east or west of of the Prime Meridian you are. Before 1885 every nation kept its own prime meridian. And ships from different nations had completely different measurements and time settings. It was really confusing when you figure just how close all the capitals of Europe are, London, Paris, Madrid and Lisbon are only a few minutes off of each in "Local Time." Local Time is figured by when the sun is directly overhead. For every hour different your Chronometer is different from local time, you are 15degrees further away from your home port.

A Pourtugese ship is lost as sea, and their Chronometer has stopped. A British or Spanish ship can not set them strait, because their time and maps are on different standards. 1885 The US hosted a world conference to establish a 'Universal' Prime Meridian. Most of the world fell into line and borrowed the UK's Maps, and set up telegraphs to get time updates from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, a suburb of London.

It is basically the center of the first 'time zone.' To avoid the confusion over having the breaking point in a major world city. And the Date Line is set to the opposite end of the world because 180 longitude bisects only a few countries or islands. So you can leave the day change on the far side of the world to lessen confusion.

Outside of sailing there was no need for accurate clocks. If you wanted to know your local time, you just stuck a stick in the ground and set a compass on top, and when the 2 line up it is noon local time. It was not until the advent of railroads that time needed to be standardized. It was the first means of transportation that would out run local time. When you could get from New York to Chicago (which are basically an hours of Earth's rotation away) in less than a day, you needed a way to predict when the train will arrive and leave.

It has been 8 years since I've had to think much about this, I can go on, or edit further to clear up my bad writing skillz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_chronometer


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_time

The too long did not read version.

Prime Meridian is what we set our clocks to.

 

[GasBandit]

I don't have much problem with this. Probably because to be a "Know-it-all," you have to have the urge to share your knowledge with others whether they want it or not. Me, I *might* let someone know quietly that "hey, if you do that, you'll end up face down in a ditch." But even if I do, I don't go farther than that. Because frankly I don't care if they hurt themselves, and their project blowing up in their face is job security for me. So I just quietly watch them shoot themselves in the foot.

The thing is, after somebody has broken/failed at something, they usually come to me. And then you're not a know-it-all, you're their damned savior.

 

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature?

Fighting it? No, no problem here.

I already made this joke DAMN :angry:

If it makes you feel any better I laughed at it last night, but thought posting such would kill the joke.

That said there's plenty of unintentional hilarity in this thread as it is.

 

[Steven Soderburgin]

If it makes you feel any better I laughed at it last night, but thought posting such would kill the joke.

That said there's plenty of unintentional hilarity in this thread as it is.

ZenMonkey, you're good people. :toocool:

 

[ScytheRexx]

Mixed feeling in regards to this. When it comes to the Know-It-All, I don't like to get corrected by people I don't know, even when I know in the end I was wrong. I refrain from correcting others in the same fashion, but now and then if they are so completely wrong it makes my head spin, I will speak up about it. I expect the same should I be wrong in a huge way.

I do expect my friends and family to correct me when I am wrong any chance they can. If there is one thing I hate, it is feeling ignorant of something. One example of this was for the longest time, and I mean a very long time, I always pronounced Machinema as MOK-IN-EMA, the first syllable like "Mach 5"). I have no idea how that started, but it happened for awhile and my friends never even attempted to correct me on it. It was not till I heard it finally said during a podcast awhile back that I realized it was pronounced "MACHINE"-EMA, and I asked my friends "Why did you let me sound like such as ass this whole time? I feel like an idiot."

I told them that if they ever catch me pronouncing a word strangely that they would at least mention it even if they don't know if I was right or not, so I can get in through my head to double check it from this point on rather then look like a fool for months.

So I guess it comes down to who the Know-It-All is in the end.

 

[Chazwozel]

I try not to be a know it all in my everyday life, but I have to say, it's difficult to keep my know-it-all tendencies in check. It's easy enough if I have some slight bit of doubt about what I recall to be fact, but when I am confident beyond a doubt about something I have to fight to bite my tongue. Then I wonder if I'm really serving anyone by keeping silent.

One time, I remember being at restaurant with a friend of mine and her father. Her father comes off as a rather cosmopolitan man. Anyhow, we were eating sushi, and I wondered aloud what kind of sushi it was. He responded that it was a California roll. I don't recall exactly the ingredients of what I was eating, but I can definitely tell you it wasn't a California roll. It wasn't crab, first of all, and had no avocado. Secondly, it was rolled with the nori on the outside. I expressed my doubt, and he went on to explain that sushi isn't traditionally rolled at all. If your sushi is round, it is a California roll, regardless of the ingredients.

I didn't correct him, despite my confidence that he was wrong. His family is rather quick to judge, so I didn't want to risk any ire by questioning his explanation. But every so often, whenever I see him around I'm struck with the thought: "That man thinks I'm ignorant."

Something similar happened more recently on facebook. One of my friends is a fine art student, and she's spending the summer in London for school. She went to Greenwich, and there are a dozen or so pictures of her straddling the prime meridian. I think that's pretty cool, and I've told her so, but she keeps referring to having straddled two time zones.

I wasn't confident that I was right, so I looked it up. And after having looked it up, I'm still not 100% certain that the prime meridian does not mean a change in time zones in Great Britain. I know that there are places where one half of town is on one time, and the other half of town n another. But I am 90% certain that Greenwich is not one of those places.

I wonder if it's a self-confidence thing: I mentioned earlier that it's often easier for me to ignore it if I have so much as a mustard seed of doubt. But when it's stuff that I know about and people are getting facts wrong, I'm never sure whether or not I should correct them. And even in cases that I have, I feel like a * afterwords.

Does anyone else have problems with this sort of stuff? Fighting a know-it-all nature? Dealing with people who just can't be told? Situations where it would be inappropriate to correct someone?

Isn't the Prime Meridian the set line of longitude that constitutes the official time to reference time zone changes from east and west of it? So if the time is 12 am the first time zone change to the west will be -1 hour and to the east be +1 hour.

 

[CynicismKills]

I'm enjoying the highly intelligent spelling and grammar errors, myself.

 

[Chazwozel]

I is enjoy the hiley intelligent spellin, and grammmer errors myselves.

 

[CynicismKills]

I is enjoy the hiley intelligent spellin, and grammmer errors myselves.

Damn, I'm in a tight spot!

 

[sixpackshaker]

I is enjoy the hiley intelligent spellin, and grammmer errors myselves.

Damn, I'm in a tight spot!

That's what I said.

 

[Rob King]

Prime Meridian is what we set our clocks to.

Okay, yeah. But I'm not sure what you saw that made you think we were confused about it. I was talking about my friend thinking that the Prime Meridian was the edge of a time zone, which we have acknowledged as incorrect.