When they're wrong and you know it.

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When I was at school once, during Geography, we had a substitute teacher so that meant, obviously, we all swapped seats around. I was sat with my so-called friend at the time, and I forget how we got onto the topic, but we were guessing what is the largest country in the world.
I went with Russia, the size of it made most sense to me at the time.
My friend's guess?: America.
I tried to explain to her that I was pretty certain America was actually a continent not a country, but she would not have it, and insisted that it was definitely the biggest.
I realised the situation and just ended up nodding and agreeing with her.
America is a continent, and Russia is indeed the biggest country.
Still, I suppose it could be worse. My sister tells me of the time she went to school with a girl who thought Sudan was a place in Scotland.
Anyone else have similar 'debates' with people?

Perhaps your friend was a little confused & was thinking of the United States Of America specifically. The US is sometimes refereed to as simply America or Murica by certain groups.

I've been involved in lots of debates & others tended to refuse to really consider what I was saying believing I was too stupid to possibly actually understand what they were talking about. I eventually realized that lots of people already have their minds made up & trying to argue with them causes them to become defensive & they cling even harder to their beliefs/opinions. I started trying to practice the phrase Pick Your Battles. Most things are not really worth arguing about, especially when others refuse to listen & it causes you to be upset. Lots of times it's best to agree to disagree & drop the subject & move on. However this is a lot more complicated in romantic relationship when their decisions involve you & could possibly negatively affect the both of you

I mean, "America" is often used to refer to the US. America by itself isn't a continent, North America and South America are two separate continents. Also, it sounds like the question was unclear--Russia is the biggest country by area but not by population. (The US is not the biggest country by any measure except by the fact that Americans think they're better than everyone else in every possible way)

When I'm in a situation like this, if it's with someone I don't know very well I usually just avoid arguing, but it still bugs me for the rest of my life. If it's someone I know well, I will argue with them until hell freezes over (or until they run out of actual arguments and resort to name-calling).

Being so I don't know very much, I don't often find myself in these debates, offline anyway.

Sometimes people can't accept they're wrong.
I can't understand this, because surely you'd want to know the right answer?

"Those who lack expertise, lack the expertise they need to recognize they lack the expertise."
- expert on overconfidence

I heard it in an ad for a podcast.

Last edited by pcgoblin on 04 Sep 2025, 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well I've learnt not to get into debates that I don't really know much about online, because I know I will just lose, and anyway I know now that I can't convert other people's views no more than they can convert mine.

At least I admit that I'm not very bright on such things.

Most Americans call the United States *of* America "America", but the USA is really just one of the three main countries in North America. The other two are Canada and Mexico.

In Canada we normally call the continent we live in North America. And then there is South America, which is a different continent. I've also heard of central America, but don't think that's a continent at all it used to confuse me as a kid because I thought people were talking about the middle of the US.

The seven countries of Central America are Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador and Nicaragua. They are all counted as part of the North American continent. Then there are the different Caribbean countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica etc, another distinct group of nations.

I unfortunately end up in alot of these sorts of "discussions", both online and in real life. I've met alot of people that always have to be right and will go to great lengths to be considered right even when they're very clearly wrong. Sometimes I'll try to debate with them, try being the operative word since they like to resort to everything but actually debating the topic. Sometimes though it's just much too draining on my social batteries to deal with their bs. There have been a few times lately where I've run out of patience and just decided not to dignify their statements with a reply at all. It's just not worth it. Easier and less stressful to block them or leave.

Sometimes people have self-esteem problems or want to give the appearance of being right or smart.
When it comes to political debates people tend to push various policies & agendas that could screw others over so they exaggerate things ore plain lie about it to hopefully get more support & less resistance.
People in the medical field may not want to admit their wrong due to concern about malpractice lawsuits or that their patients would switch providers.

"When they're wrong and you know it clap your hands..."

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Normally I'm the one who's wrong, but sometimes I know I'm right and the other person literally doesn't know they're wrong until I find proof. For example one time I was telling my partner that if I lived on my own I'd have a TV but with no aerial, and just use it to watch DVDs on. He said I'd still have to pay a licence for having a TV, I said no you don't, only if you have an aerial where you can access channels. He really didn't know that was true, so I Googled it and read it out to him. He was like "oh, I see". So that time I was right lol.

Often though, people don't always believe me when I'm right, as they automatically know that I'm not often right so will dismiss my answer. For example one time my dad got lots of bites on his hand from after doing gardening, and he reckoned it was moths that bit him. I said that moths don't bite and that they don't even have mouths, but my mum and dad didn't believe me and said it was moths.
Then when my uncle (a very intelligent person) came later and we told him about it, he said it wouldn't have been moths because moths don't bite, and my mum and dad listened to him. So I was right all along.

Sometimes people refuse to admit that the proof is real & insist that all the evidence is fake or doesn't matter. This is especially common in politics & terms like Fake News get thrown about

I think a verse from a Kansas song fits very well in this thread. From Carry On My Wayward Son
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know