Experts Describe Times When Ignorant People Thought They Knew Better
Truly becoming an expert at something requires many, many years of hard work, dedication, and commitment.
Yet, for some mysterious reason, virtually no field out there is suffering from a shortage of people who have none of these things, yet seem to believe that they know everything there is to know anyway.
The good news is that more often than not, expertise is not something that can be easily faked—and when fake expertise is confronted by real expertise, the real often wins in epic fashion.
Here are 42 awesome stories of times when non-experts thought that they could outwit the experts—and what the experts did in response.
1. Scandinavian Skies
Some random guy tried to correct me about the geography of my own country (Norway).
He was claiming that it is very much flat like all the other Nordic countries, and he refused to believe me when I told him that it’s actually the opposite and is filled with mountains.
I’m pretty sure that actually living here and seeing the country with my own eyes holds just a tad more weight than simply repeating something you heard.
Public Domain Pictures
2. Photographic Memory
My friend and I went to this event called Dapper Day at Disney last weekend, where people dress up in all kinds of vintage wear. One of Disney's photographers for the event asked my friend if she was Disney-bounding (i.e.
interpreting a Disney character), and she replied that she was simply wearing a generic dress from around 1955.
The photographer began telling us about how her dress was really much more late 1940s and that, while we may have researched it, he actually lived through it; and so next time, we should look at a picture before assuming we know what era something is from.
We are both professional theatrical costumers whose strengths lie in historical costuming, and her dress was taken directly from a 1955 catalog.
Furthermore, based on his approximate age, and being generous that he may have aged extremely well, this man definitely could not have been older than 5 years old in 1955.
3. This Guy Sounds Like a Neanderthal
I'm majoring in archaeology. I once had a guy start talking to me about dinosaurs. I corrected him and explained that it's a fairly common misconception, but paleontology and archaeology are actually two different fields and I'm studying humans, not dinosaurs. He then doubles down and insists that I need to know about dinosaurs because "What do you do if you're digging up ruins and find a dinosaur fossil? Call a paleontologist??!!”
He smugly tells me that I'll be useless in my field if I don't know about dinosaurs, and that I had better start registering for paleontology courses as soon as possible. He left shortly after that comment.
I still don't know too much about dinosaurs, and I don’t think that will change any time soon.
4. Hamlet Gone Wrong
I didn’t specialize in this per se, but when I worked at the deli counter in my local grocery store, I had a guy once come in and ask for some sliced ham. I asked him if he wanted Black Forest ham, honey baked, or mesquite ham.
He looked at me with an obnoxious smirk on his face, and said “It’s not mesquite, it’s mestique!”
When he didn’t believe me that he may be wrong about this, I literally pointed at the sign and label on the actual freaking ham itself to show him that it did, indeed, say “Mesquite.” Nevertheless, he still continued to correct me.
I finally gave up and just gave him his damn “mestique ham.” This was a good 15 years ago, and I’m still mad about it!
