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> 24h time is extremely rare in everyday use in the US. Sure. > There are huge swaths of Americans who will literally not know what 17:00 translates to in AM/

by Beldin 6y ago

> 24h time is extremely rare in everyday use in the US. Sure. > There are huge swaths of Americans who will literally not know what 17:00 translates to in AM/PM. 1. Same is true for most people in the world 2. Wait, you mean they don't know if 17:00 is early morning or late afternoon?? Seriously, I have a hard time to believe that. I'll believe that most Americans need to convert to am/pm, but not that "huge swaths" literally cannot understand this. My expectations of the average USA'ian are better than that.

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
> My expectations of the average USA'ian are better than that. Have you looked at the news lately? Seen any of Jimmy Kimmel's "man on the street" interviews? Most people will know this is sometime in the afternoon, but honestly a large portion of the population would probably think this is 7PM.
- briandear 6y ago
  If you did a “man on the street” interview in Tokyo, how many people there would know that Texans don’t ride to their oil rig job on horses? I lived in East Asia for many years and many people there assumed that I had a ranch and rode horses because I was from Texas. “Men” on the street everywhere have their ignorances. Americans aren’t any smarter or dumber than people anywhere else. If we were talking about “Chinese people __” or “Nigerian people __” we’d complain about it being racist or stereotypical, yet we seem to have no problem casting stereotypes when the subject is American. Europeans especially seem to delight in it. There is this smug superiority that comes in these conversations. But start lifting rocks in European towns and you’ll find that people are equally smart and ignorant across the world. It’s a matter of perspective.
  - mthoms 6y ago
    With the utmost respect, I disagree. In my experience, the average American seems much less knowledgable about the rest of the world when compared with Western Europeans/Canadians/Australians/Kiwis. To be fair, it's not that they are less intelligent, it seems to be because they are less exposed to, and perhaps less interested in, other cultures/countries. A huge part of that is geographic isolation and American cultural/media "dominance".
splintercell 6y ago
Most people in the world? Are you sure about that? I don't believe it for a minute. In India, most people don't know 24 hour timing.
jki275 6y ago
Most Americans have never heard of a 24 hour clock and would have no idea what 1700 means at all.

by Beldin 6y ago

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago

> My expectations of the average USA'ian are better than that. Have you looked at the news lately? Seen any of Jimmy Kimmel's "man on the street" interviews? Most people will know this is sometime in the afternoon, but honestly a large portion of the population would probably think this is 7PM.

briandear 6y ago
If you did a “man on the street” interview in Tokyo, how many people there would know that Texans don’t ride to their oil rig job on horses? I lived in East Asia for many years and many people there assumed that I had a ranch and rode horses because I was from Texas. “Men” on the street everywhere have their ignorances. Americans aren’t any smarter or dumber than people anywhere else. If we were talking about “Chinese people __” or “Nigerian people __” we’d complain about it being racist or stereotypical, yet we seem to have no problem casting stereotypes when the subject is American. Europeans especially seem to delight in it. There is this smug superiority that comes in these conversations. But start lifting rocks in European towns and you’ll find that people are equally smart and ignorant across the world. It’s a matter of perspective.
- mthoms 6y ago
  With the utmost respect, I disagree. In my experience, the average American seems much less knowledgable about the rest of the world when compared with Western Europeans/Canadians/Australians/Kiwis. To be fair, it's not that they are less intelligent, it seems to be because they are less exposed to, and perhaps less interested in, other cultures/countries. A huge part of that is geographic isolation and American cultural/media "dominance".

splintercell 6y ago

Most people in the world? Are you sure about that? I don't believe it for a minute. In India, most people don't know 24 hour timing.

jki275 6y ago

Most Americans have never heard of a 24 hour clock and would have no idea what 1700 means at all.