Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Elfmama]

I needed to find out information about filing a small claims suit, so I called the county number listed in the phone book under "Small Claims Court".  After I found out the procedure, she told me that I'd have to come in to get the paperwork, as she couldn't start it over the phone.

Me: OK, where do I go to?
Small Claims Clerk: Here.
Me: Where is here?
SCC: The court building
Me: Where is the court building?
SCC: On Ritchie Highway.
Me: Where on Ritchie Highway?  (Ritchie runs for about 20 miles between Baltimore and Annapolis.)
SCC: Near Fountain Blue. 
Me: Ok, what's the name of the building?
SCC: Name?  It doesn't have a name.
Me: It must have a name. How else can people find it?
SCC: No, it definitely doesn't have a name.
Me:   Look, I'm not asking if it's name is Fred or James or Tom.  What is it called?
SCC: It's just the court building. It doesn't have a name.
Me:   Ok.  Outside the court building there is a sign.  What does the sign say?  Does it say District Court, or County Court, or what?
SCC: Oh!  It says County Courthouse.
Me: Thank you.

[Betelnut]

At a family reunion where most of the "family" lives in Minnesota I was chatting with a distant cousin who I don't remember meeting before:

Me: So, where do you live?
DC: Minot (North Dakota).  Where do you live?
Me: Idaho.
DC: Is that in Minnesota or North Dakota?

To be perfectly fair, there are cities named after other states. I lived many years in Northwest Illinois, not far from cities named Oregon and Ohio.

Exactly.  I work near California, Maryland.  There is also a Hollywood, MD, nearby but that obviously isn't a state!

[Piratelvr1121]

Not to mention there's US cities named after foreign capitals.  Paris, Dublin, and those are the two off the top of my head.

[glacio]

At a family reunion where most of the "family" lives in Minnesota I was chatting with a distant cousin who I don't remember meeting before:

Me: So, where do you live?
DC: Minot (North Dakota).  Where do you live?
Me: Idaho.
DC: Is that in Minnesota or North Dakota?

To be perfectly fair, there are cities named after other states. I lived many years in Northwest Illinois, not far from cities named Oregon and Ohio.

Exactly.  I work near California, Maryland.  There is also a Hollywood, MD, nearby but that obviously isn't a state!

This is a little different, but there's a really funny Not always Right entry about how every city in Europe (ok, but of an exaggeration but it doesn't feel like it) is represented at least once in America.

http://notalwaysright.com/giving-the-french-stick/10042

That customer would certainly make my head hurt.

[mlkind1789]

Not to mention there's US cities named after foreign capitals.  Paris, Dublin, and those are the two off the top of my head.

There's a Mexico and a Peru in Indiana.

[Pinky830]

Not to mention there's US cities named after foreign capitals.  Paris, Dublin, and those are the two off the top of my head.

There's a Mexico and a Peru in Indiana.

I went to college in Rome, Georgia. Most of the time when I say something about when I was in college in Rome, people think I mean Italy. I keep forgetting that so many people in Atlanta are transplants from other areas and don't know their way around Georgia very well.

[Piratelvr1121]

Then again many states share city names.  For example, there's a Hagerstown in Maryland and Indiana.

[Danismom]

Not to mention there's US cities named after foreign capitals.  Paris, Dublin, and those are the two off the top of my head.

You must be from TX where the old fashioned Dr. Pepper is made in Dublin and Paris, TX has this starring attraction:
http://www.planetware.com/picture/paris-us-tx164.htm

[MommyPenguin]

Me: Where is the court building?
SCC: On Ritchie Highway.
Me: Where on Ritchie Highway?  (Ritchie runs for about 20 miles between Baltimore and Annapolis.)
SCC: Near Fountain Blue. 

This was *hilarious* to read, not only because of the conversation itself, but because I grew up right in that area and knew *exactly* what Ritchie Hwy and Fontaine Bleu you were talking about.  I even got my wedding dress in the building that houses Fontaine Bleu!  It's so strange when you're reading strangers' stories on the Internet and they live down the road.

[SheltieMom]

I used to teach math. My first year, when we came to the unit on prime numbers, we talked about the definition, (any number greater than one, that is not evenly divisible by another number). This, of course, means that 0 and 1 are neither prime nor composite, and 2 is the first prime number.

My students informed me that 1 was prime and 2 was not, because all even numbers are composite. No matter how many books I showed them (this was pre-internet, but it wouldn't have mattered), they simply did not believe me. Why? Their science teacher told them so. This man walked around school with a cigar in his hand at all times. (Not lit, but I never saw him without it.) The kids hung on his every word, and frankly the teachers and administrators were too intimidated to challenge him. (There were other reasons why people were intimidated, but I can't go into those, as they involve his religion, and I don't want to open that can of worms!)

[DottyG]

You must be from TX where the old fashioned Dr. Pepper is made in Dublin

Eeeek! There's no period in that name! It's Dr Pepper.

(One way we can usually tell a native Texan and someone who's not from Texas! Native Texans cringe at that mistake! )

[Diane AKA Traska]

I used to teach math. My first year, when we came to the unit on prime numbers, we talked about the definition, (any number greater than one, that is not evenly divisible by another number). This, of course, means that 0 and 1 are neither prime nor composite, and 2 is the first prime number.

My students informed me that 1 was prime and 2 was not, because all even numbers are composite. No matter how many books I showed them (this was pre-internet, but it wouldn't have mattered), they simply did not believe me. Why? Their science teacher told them so. This man walked around school with a cigar in his hand at all times. (Not lit, but I never saw him without it.) The kids hung on his every word, and frankly the teachers and administrators were too intimidated to challenge him. (There were other reasons why people were intimidated, but I can't go into those, as they involve his religion, and I don't want to open that can of worms!)

1 a prime?!  Come on now, everyone fluent in the One True Universal Language knows the basics of its alphabet:  2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17...

[Danismom]

You must be from TX where the old fashioned Dr. Pepper is made in Dublin

Eeeek! There's no period in that name! It's Dr Pepper.

(One way we can usually tell a native Texan and someone who's not from Texas! Native Texans cringe at that mistake! )

How weird!  Born and raised Texas Girl -- joyfully never even lived outside our great state.  And I didn't realize that about DP.  I guess the Metroplex is far enough away from Dublin to water down that part of the education.  At least it wasn't covered in 7th grade Texas History.

[DottyG]

So that class really is taught everywhere here in the 7th grade? I wasn't sure if it was just my school district or if was a state-wide 7th grade thing. I still remember that class and my teacher. She was really nice.

[Danismom]

I think it is state-wide.  My teacher was known for filling 2 huge chalkboards with notes every day.  Then when we would get to class, we would copy the notes which would take probably 2/3 of the class time. The rest of the time she would tell stories or lecture.  I remember the copious notes and her telling us to "press on".  Of course we learned the Pledge of Allegiance to the Texas Flag, the state bird, motto, tree, etc.  We also learned why the Texas flag is the only state flag that can be flown as high as the US flag and that we can secede from the US any time we darn well please.