No matter how smart and experienced you think you are, staying humble is usually a good idea. Arrogance, on the other hand, can backfire. Especially if you’re being all high and mighty in public. After all, you never know when you’re speaking to someone who may be much more knowledgeable and skilled than you.
Some experts took to r/AskReddit to share stories about strangers challenging them in the fields that were their specialty, only to be shut down. We’ve collected the most interesting tales for you to read, so keep on scrolling to check them out.
#1
I have been wrapping my family’s Christmas presents since a very young age. It’s the perfect activity to focus my crippling perfectionism with my overall anxiety riddled self to create a beautiful masterpiece that would make anyone think twice about discovering the mysteries beneath the colorful paper and bows. I have just always loved to do it and my mom was more than happy to not spend hours wrapping presents.
Flash forward to the company Christmas party in my late 20s. We are split into teams to compete for random prizes, I am up for the next game. I had no idea what I would be doing. I see a big cardboard box, a neck tie, wrapping paper, scissors, tape and a bow….I know what’s about to go down and I am here for it!
It’s a blind present wrapping challenge.
My competitors start talking about how they can wrap presents fast and I sit there silently staring down that cardboard box knowing fully that the crowd is in for a show.
Blindfolds (neckties) go on, we have a partner that isn’t blindfolded that is supposed to give verbal directions. Just before the timer starts, I lean over to my partner and say quietly “are you ready for this?” And she just say “what?!” Bam, timer starts, partner tries to give directions at first and quickly realizes I’m way ahead of her. Before anyone else can even get their paper cut, I’ve got my box wrapped, taped, and bowed. I even folded the ends in ‘fancy’ to have the triangles meet. And that, my friends, is how I earned the most satisfying $10 Starbucks gift card of my life and earned the title of wrap-master.
Image credits: selkam
#2
Colour. It sounds weird but anytime the colour of something comes up and someone tries to correct me.
I’ve been a commercial printing press operator for 20 years. I can spot VERY subtle differences in colours that most people can’t.
Edit:
The upvote is orange.
The dress is blue and black.
Image credits: magnagan
#3
I’m going to date myself here but I was in undergrad when the video game Halo was released. I never really played video games, but at the time I had a boyfriend (I am a girl) who was really into it. We played. A lot. Even went to some college based tournament games and did well.
Fast forward some years later and my husband and I are at a house party. Someone turns on the Xbox and was looking for a 4th for Halo. My husband volunteers me. The guys were visibly not thrilled but played along. I wiped the floor with them. Eventually they decided to team up 3 against me. Still destroyed them. The whole party ended up crowding around us to watch. It was a great night. :).
Image credits: dontbadgerthewitness
There’s a well-known cognitive bias that continues to rear its head everywhere. The Dunning-Kruger effect essentially means that people tend to think that they’re smarter and more capable than they really are due to a lack of self-awareness.
“Low-ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their capabilities,” Verywell Mind explains. “If you don’t know something, you also don’t have the ability to recognize that you don’t know it.”
#4
Kinda the reverse, for me. I’m a physical education teacher and I had a student that took a pretty bad tumble in class. Hit her head on the wall. Pretty clear concussion symptoms. So we get her stable, call mom & dad to come get her.
Dad shows up & I start going through the concussion symptoms and treatments with him. Letting him know that a doctors visit is probably in order. Blah blah blah I keep going on and on about concussions. He just politely nods and thanks me.
He takes daughter and leaves, and I see my principal standing behind me and he can barely contain his laughter. Turns out dad is an emergency room doctor. And he just sat there while his daughter’s gym teacher gave him medical advice.
Image credits: persad_power
#5
I have perfect pitch.
It’s not a thing I can turn off, notes simply ARE a pitch clear as day, much like how red is clearly distinct from green.
Anywho, music class in junior high. Teacher explains that Mozart had perfect pitch and walks over to the piano, plays a note and says “and just by hearing it, he’d be able to tell you what now that was… now can any of YOU do that?”
At the time, I honestly had no idea this was rare. Raise hand, teacher with a smug look points and me and is gobsmacked when I answer correctly with note and octave. Figures it’s pure luck so does it again and asks me to face the other way. I answer correctly again.
Tries it with chords, sequences and two hands worth of notes. Still right every time. Ends with me playing back a short sequence after listening to it blind.
That day, I learned that perfect pitch is actually kind of rare.
Image credits: itskayguys
#6
I used to play fighting games competitively all over the world. Never made one of the top slots but I could usually hold my own. One of my best game was Super Street Fighter 2.
Went to a bar by work one day and they just so happened to have an SNES set up with SF2. I order a drink, pick random characters and just f**k around for a bit. Some guy comes in and immediately starts bragging to his date that he’s the best SF2 player ever. I asked him to play some games against me and offered to buy him a drink if he could beat 2 out of 3. Twelve games later I am completed hammered and he finally gives up and leaves. Still don’t remember getting home that night.
Image credits: dabbit-secondus
You’ve likely witnessed the Dunning-Kruger effect in person more times than you can count. It happens whenever someone speaks about a subject they know practically nothing about with lots of authority. They might sound confident and charismatic, but when push comes to shove, all they’re doing is sharing their opinions rather than facts. Furthermore, they might be regurgitating half-remembered conspiracy theories and social media gossip.
People who score lowest in grammar, humor, and logic tests tend to be the ones who overestimate how well they perform on them.
#7
Female mechanical engineer. My life is pretty much people challenging me on things I’m an expert on.
Image credits: littleredhoodlum
#8
The property management company for my homeowner’s association insisted that I had received emails that I never received. So I asked them to prove that I had received them. They said they’re sure I received them.
I’m a software engineer and at the time I had just finished an enterprise email delivery system (like an in-house Constant Contact). I knew the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act by heart. I KNEW exactly how their system worked.
So this real b***h of a property manager said “I know how email works. You wouldn’t understand.” I mentally did the arrogant knuckle crack and started to explain – very methodically – how email delivery works and how they’d track various actions. I spent about five minutes detailing my credentials and why I was absolutely certain they had never sent me the emails they alleged I received. When I was finished, the HOA board just agreed to waive the fines.
Image credits: -aged-like-wine-
#9
While I was in high school I was the reigning city fencing champion, in both the youth and adult tournaments. My high school decided to do a school-wide fencing unit for Phys. Ed. and the coach they brought in to teach all of the students was my actual coach. During my classes, my coach naturally brought me up to help demonstrate the various moves, but for some reason one of my classmates didn’t understand that I wasn’t chosen at random. He started talking s**t about how I looked like I didn’t know what I was doing, and how he could probably kick my a*s in a duel. Now, he actually was pretty good for a guy who’d never fenced before, and at the first opportunity to actually have a bout, he decided to have a go at me.
I picked him apart and did not give up a single touch, and used the opportunity to practice my parry and ripostes (I admit, I took a bit of sadistic pleasure in thoroughly beating him).
Afterwards, my coach made a point of congratulating the other guy for doing so well against the city champ, which changed his attitude considerably.
Image credits: Philip_Anderer
Better self-awareness doesn’t come easily. It takes a consistent and focused effort to change your mindset and self-perception. It won’t happen overnight.
It’s usually not a pleasant feeling to realize that you’re far from an expert in something you thought you were great at. But this humbling experience doesn’t have to be a negative one if you use it as fuel for your personal growth.
#10
By no means an expert (I’d probably rate in the 1500s), but I’ve played chess since I was a small child and was the best player in the middle school chess club. The guy who owned the pool hall me and my juvenile delinquent friends hung out in was talking about how dumb kids are these days and said he bet nobody in my group of hoodlums could play chess. I beat him soundly, then again in the rematch.
Image credits: MarkHirsbrunner
#11
Not me but my friend used to ride a unicycle as a kid. He worked construction and they were working at a house that had an old unicycle
The other workers tried riding it and immediately fell off. My friend walked over to it and inspected the unicycle like it was the first time he ever saw one them said it didn’t look that difficult. They all laughed at him and he said he thought he could ride it. Eventually one of them bet him $100 he couldn’t ride it. He jumped on it and immediately rode down the street.
Image credits: char92474
#12
Not quite this but I tried to learn piano years ago, i bought a keyboard and learned the first movement of moonlight sonata but it was literally all I could play
I had just started a new job as a chef in a fancy hotel, had been there maybe a month and was at the Christmas party, I sat at a piano and the head chef pointed me out, laughing and said “look at splifflizard, you cant play the piano”, I thought I’ll just act confident and play the only thing I can so was like “yeah i can.. I’ve played for years” and he said “oh really? Play moonlight sonata then”, couldn’t have gone better. He was gobsmacked and I never told anyone there that I was actually c**p at piano except that one song lol.
Image credits: spliffwizard
What areas do you see yourselves as experts in, dear Pandas? Has anyone who had no clue what they were talking about or doing challenged you in your area of expertise? How did you react?
What are some knowledge blind spots that you have that you’re aware of? Share your thoughts in the comments. And remember—always stay humble.
#13
I have a PhD in genetics, and I’ve published multiple papers on viral vectors spreading in large populations.
Every f*****g anti-Vaxer and COVID conspiracy theorist. I’m so sick of it.
Also, when someone I met at a social event found out that I work in a genetics research lab, he asked the following question:
“If two white Americans go to China and have a baby there, will it come out Asian?”
I was so shocked that I actually spit out my drink.
#14
Medieval Faire, 2002. Carnie running the fencing game picks me out of the crowd for being tall, and challenges me to a free bout against “The Master”. Not a lot of people fence, so his gambit probably worked most of the time, but when he handed me that saber, I handed him his a*s.
Image credits: HatfieldCW
#15
Someone once tried to insist that our state didn’t sell alcohol on sundays.
I’ve spent over a decade working in restaurants and am also an alcoholic, which she knew about but still insisted on arguing with me about it.
Image credits: SPP_TheChoiceForMe
#16
Trivia. I know all sorts of weird random facts.
One day a co-worker said, “If you’re so smart, why don’t you come down to the Legion’s trivia night?”
I am no longer welcome at the Legion’s trivia night because of how badly I beat everyone.
#17
Not an expert but after having to deal with a chemistry teacher in middle school who basically hated me for no reason, I had to put extra effort in the class so I was really good in that class.
So this one time in high school a mean girl hid my test. I got call to the principal’s office to inform me they couldn’t find my answer sheet even though lists showed I attended class that day, anyway I went to the TI office, search my answer sheet through all the groups (I’m talking a class of 500+ people).
Since my exam wasn’t found the person in charge of the department started bitching at me that I did it on purpose because probably I knew I was failing and I told her, well give another test I’ll do it and she thought that was big red flight because probably I just memorized all the answers blah blah. I told her “just give a bunch of exercises, and I’ll solve it right here right now, I bet my entire grade on this, do you really think I planned to spend all the week looking for that test”.
So she goes and gives me 10 exercises I scored 10/10.
**In. Your. F*****g. Face.**
Safe to say I don’t know s**t about chemistry anymore lol.
PSA: I found out what happened to my test because the girl was bragging about taking my test and throwing it to the garbage, later that year.
#18
Well I am a veterinarian and I know how to prevent fleas.
(Them) “My dog is itching and it’s not fleas”
(Me) “ Ok but your dog is infested”
(Them) “…it’s not fleas”
..run comb and show them hundreds…
The doctor in Happy Gilmore … I empathize
Edit:
Well this got busy.
Flea prevention starts with giving flea preventatives. Off brand stuff does not work. You bite the bullet and get name brand stuff.
Personally I like bravecto for cats (topical) lasts pretty much 2 months.
For dogs I know from experience that oral meds work better than topicals. I like nexguard, simperica trio or seresto collars. With nexguard and the seresto you need to add heartworm prevention because those don’t have it.
Image credits: marti14141
#19
I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at push ups but I’ve worked in the fitness industry for 20 years and workout myself fairly regularly. Doing 20 push ups isn’t anything to me. I was at a party that was attended primarily by what I would call hipsters. A guy (who had been drinking a fair amount) challenged me to 20 push ups as fast as possible for $20. I won and got $20. Then another said he would do the same bet if we went right away (I guess thinking I was kinda tired). I beat him and got another $20. A few minutes later another guy did the same bet. It was an easy $60.
#20
This happens to me alot. I had the unique situation of working in manufacturing in China for 7 years. I moved back 3 years ago and constantly have people explain to me why manufacturing could easily come back to the states. I emphatically tell them they are f*****g high.
#21
I’m an academy award winning sound mixer and almost everyone on film sets think they know my job better than me.
#22
Lemme see:
Krull. The arcade video game. A guy tried to hit on me at a house party by challenging me to a game but he knew he had made a mistake when I said, “Sure, I haven’t played in a while.”
It was my boyfriends’s house, and his game.
We still had fun playing though.
#23
A friend of mine challenged me when I said the dusty bits on the floor below their air conditioner was because they needed to clean the filter. They insisted that it was ash coming from outside through the air conditioner because of fires that had been going on nearby. It was a split system AC, I work in HVAC. At least once I explained how their unit worked they conceded.
#24
A beginning writer asked some advice about a basic drafting method, so I offered my point of view. Some tough guy decided to butt in and say that what I said was proof I’m not a “real writer” and it was obvious I would never be published. At that time, the second or third book in my trilogy was about to be released. I asked the guy not to tell my editor that I wasn’t a real writer.
Image credits: RyanDaltonWrites
#25
I’m no expert but people never assume I can play Pool. I grew up with my parents going to the pub, so as an early teen would play ALOT of Pool and got pretty good.
There’s been a number of occasions where I’ve got us a round of drinks or stuck it to some knob who’s hogging the table.
Image credits: ifitwasonlytrue
#26
My roommate who took a psych 101 class at a prestigious university told me, a masters level therapist, that the movie Split (with James Mcavoy) was an accurate depiction of “multi-personality disorder.”.
Image credits: Conscious_Tea
#27
Guitar Hero. Work held a Christmas party at a venue and set up the game for fun and prizes. I was the second oldest (47f) person there. All the younger employees were going ham and having a great time. I wasn’t going to play until the prize was $500 for last person standing. I walked away $500 richer and also a legend. ??.
#28
When we were having a couple drinks on friday after work, I was challenged to a shooting, by a colleague. Little did he know I’ve been shooting air rifles competitively ever since I was thirteen. Not to say I am the greatest, but I’ve made it to the national finals for my country multiple times, and came third and sixth. I have all the special clothes and gear and such you need to make it to such a level.
The next day, saturday, we showed up to the range i always shoot at. Its not a day I usually train so not many people recognize me. I beat his a*s left right and center that day. Out of 600 points, he scored about 200-250 if i remember correctly. I got about 580 which was about average of what I used to shoot.
He had to buy me a fancy bottle of whisky and now we shoot every two or three weeks together. Fun times
Im sorry if its hard to follow, English is my second language.
Image credits: MrJakeEpping
#29
Pool water treatment isn’t very difficult even for the average joe. Trust me, you do not need to pay someone $100 a month to treat and clean your pool. I love to listen to the sales people at Leslie’s (local chain of pool supply stores) “educate” me and their other customers. I got into a polite discussion about algae one time and I was told that I was wrong. I explained that I knew what I was talking about. He asked what I did and I responded “industrial water treatment.” He’s very nice to me when I go into the store now.
#30
Went to a couples night once and the guy had wall to wall movies and framed posters in his basement, super into it. Mentioned I used to be a movie nerd but not so much anymore. He challenged us to a movie trivia board game, kinda in a condescending way and I tried to politely decline but my gf insisted we play. They went first, missed the question then we ran the table. Never heard from them again.
#31
As someone with a history degree – basically everyone thinks they know it better than you. It’s endless.
History repeats itself, and those who study it are doomed to helplessly watch it repeat itself.
#32
My father in law challenged me about the capabilities of DVD. Specifically he claimed that you could only have widescreen video (not 4:3) on a DVD disc.
At the time I was employed as a DVD author. I authored the very first commercially available feature on Scenarist. I am literally acknowledged in the first edition of “DVD Demystified” as an expert. I had already by that time personally authored literally hundreds of DVD’s with 4:3 video.
He knew all of the above at the time, yet still insisted I was wrong.
#33
A former coworker challenged me to a cheese eating competition at an office get together. Little did he know I f*****g love cheese and am the type of person to eat shredded cheese straight out the bag at 3am. He wimped out after 15 cubes of cheese from the deli platter while I basically cleared my whole section.
Image credits: -eDgAR-
#34
I hesitate to say “expert” but compared to this person I was a savant. I did a few papers throughout school on GMOs for some presentations so while I am not an “expert” I know more than a random Joe, especially at the time.
Well I remember getting into an argument with a stereotypical college hipster about how “unnatural” GMOs were and how we should stop using them. Just your usual buzzwords “chemicals are bad” and the like.
Being able to systematically shut her down until it became “I don’t *feel* like they are safe.” Was pretty nice though. And for the record I don’t generally revel in this sort of thing, but if you could hear the tone she used….I think you’d understand.
#35
Hula hooping: They resorted to throwing stuff at my hoop, because I kept going like the Energizer Bunny.
#36
Star Wars Battlefront 2, the original version.
I knew that game inside and out. It reached the stage where I would be given every penalty possible whenever playing against someone else in order to make the match fair. Even then it was like 70/30 odds I’d come out on top. Eventually I just realized I stopped dying and would make it the whole match without respawning once. I learned just about every single little trick to give myself an edge, all the things you can interact with, the best places to hide and set traps, the best and quickest routes to each place, the less frequently went too places, where all the health and ammunition droids were, how to quickly destory those things on the enemy side, how to repair them quickly on my side, the most efficient way to kill the enemy troops and progress from command post to command post. This was like the only game I played as a kid and it showed.
So to say the very least I was very happy when my cousin was acting all arragant again at his skills and challenged me to a few games to prove I’m trash.
#37
I was making small talk during a tech support call once and we got onto music. I had mentioned I was a huge Pink Floyd fan. What I didn’t mention is that I was almost exclusively raised on Pink Floyd. And he was like “what are you 25? Name me two albums that aren’t the wall or dark side”
The minute I mentioned Ummagumma he knew he f****d up.
#38
It was honestly like a movie. When I was in college you were limited to only a few guest passes so it was pretty common to ask people on your floor to sign in friends. So late at night while we were playing Mario Kart someone knocked on our door to ask us to sign in their friends. We didn’t really feel like going down stairs and dealing with that so we hesitated. That’s when he said if I beat you in Mario Kart will you sign them in? We of course agreed. Little did he know we played every day all semester long. He was really convinced he would be us. We placed 1st 2nd and 3rd and he ended up in 12th. We still signed in his friends though.
Image credits: popkernel23
#39
A pub in my city was doing a Lord of the Rings pub quiz, and me and my friends were all going. One of my friends ended up on his own team for various reasons, and in the week leading up to the quiz kept gloating like “we’ve got this guy on our team, he knows EVERYTHING about Lord of the Rings, you guys are gonna LOSE!”
Now, I’m a big fan of the Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien generally, which is why he kept saying these things.
Come the day of the quiz, my team left the answers largely in my own hands. We won. Of the 47 questions asked, we got 47 correct.
My other friend? Second, yes, but he spent the entire time after the quiz looking sour. He didn’t speak to me for at least a month, and even then when he finally did he still brought up the quiz.
Stay salty, bro.
#40
My gym class was doing a 2v2 volleyball tournament. Our class had a lot of students so there were two teachers, and those two teachers said that whoever wins the tournament would go on to play against the teachers and if the students won, the teachers would throw a pizza party for the students.
My friend and I were both actual volleyball players, but the teachers didn’t know that and we decided not to tell them. We won the tournament, and then we proceeded to play the teachers. Before we started the game, the teachers made a point that they had never lost in all their years of teaching. We proceeded to beat them 15-1.
#41
My father trying to explain to me how computers and the Internet work, after he’s called me over to figure out why his computer and internet aren’t working.
edit: spoiler: It was because my mom downgraded their TV package, and they must have accidentally turned off the audio wifi, since the video wifi was still working fine
edit edit: My dad’s understanding of electronics stopped evolving in the 1990s. He knows that plugging the DVD player in involves a 3-pronged cable – 2 for audio 1 for video; I’m guessing he thinks the internet works the same way. So being able to see YouTube but not hear it means that the audio stream is out, because the Cable Company and also Trump somehow, and it is CERTAINLY not the fault of his ridiculously complicated home stereo setup that requires 4 remotes to operate.
#42
A foreigner acquaintance was talking to me in my native language, and I corrected him. It was a very simple word, but he was like “ohhh are you sure?” and kept insisting. Yes, is a very simple word, I’m sure and is not like you’re taking a degree in said language. Kinda pissed me off.
Image credits: island-breeze
#43
Excel. I built a complicated but highly effective Excel Workbook to calculate the how to price parts for a top customer of ours. I labeled it, added a legend and color coded things for users. The user just needed to input the part type, material and target price. It would auto-calculate everything you needed to submit a quote. The sales manager from another factory hated it and refused to use it. He said it pointless and a waste of company time. We got into a lengthy argument over it. He ended up proceeding without using it and ended up submitting conflicting prices to the customer. The customer noticed we were adding additional profit to certain parts and we lost a lot of business. I sent him a screenshot of what he should of used with my “pointless document” and asked if he’d like me to teach him how to use it. I managed to salvage the relationship with the customer but then left the company not long after for a better position.
#44
Far from an expert. Far from proficient. But I’ve been told Jiu Jitsu doesn’t work by several froggy drunk dudes. It works. It always works.
#45
I was helping my mom and stepdad with their taxes many years ago, and since they had purchased their home during the tax year, I asked the standard questions. When I got to the part about ‘paying points,’ I asked, but then said, “I’m pretty sure you didn’t pay any points.” My stepdad said, “Of course we did, most people do.” We went back and forth a bit. He seemed to think that the comission paid to your real estate agent was also called ‘points.’ It ended when he said, “Craptastic, just because you worked in a real estate office, doesn’t mean you know everything about real estate.” One of my responsibilities was literally to prepare the settlement statements.
#46
My dad once tried to argue with me about what tampons were made of and how they worked. Given some very basic anatomical differences between the two of us, I finally won the argument, but it was way more discussion than it should have been.
#47
Not an expert, or even certified, but there’s a specific kind of cargo parachute called a Small Airdrop Training Bundle. I can pack these correctly and by the book in less than 15 minutes. I was challenged by someone who had 5 years experience on me to see who could pack the most in an hour. I had 6 while he was trying to argue with the quality control guy (who has been packing parachutes for 20 years) over how correct he did step 3. I had a good day beating the guy who just so happened to be the worst rigger in the world.
#48
Solving a rubik’s cube. My friend bet me 10 bucks, he could solve a cube faster then me. He solved it in 1 minute, me, 30 seconds.
#49
He wasn’t really challenging me but I brought up to my ex that I really wanted to paint something on the back of the denim jacket my dad gave me. My idea was to paint that really gross zombie from Return of the Living Dead because I adore him. Ex told me to find a stencil for it and he could do that. I remember telling that I could most definitely do it on my own. After all, I’ve been drawing and painting since I could hold a pencil. I wouldn’t say I’m the most amazing artist but I’m pretty decent at what I do.
He, in a very patronizing tone, told me I should paint it on like a scrap piece of canvas first to make sure I can get it right. I explained to them that I already was planning on that. Obviously I wasn’t just going to smear paint on my only denim jacket.
So, I sat down and painted it on a small canvas and it turned out even better than I could’ve imagined. Pretty sure spite made me work even harder at getting down the details. I showed him and I remember seeing the look on his face. He was trying to find something wrong with it but he couldn’t. The next day, he asked if I would paint something on his leather jacket for him. Also, when we broke up, he kept my painting.
#50
I wouldn’t say an expert but cycling. My younger brother has a personal vendetta against me. Tried to tell him riding 100 miles not easy. He said man I can do 100 miles.I was like ok i stay with you the first 50 miles, he didn’t make it pass 10. LOL!
Edit: He literally pissed me off calling cycling s**t. I mean he literally said that s**t easy.
#51
No expert or “master” electrician, but had a guy demanding I put can lights in his house without cans. these were not the canless kind either. he just straight up didn’t want to pay for cans, even bought the lights by the pallet on some massive sale. real cheap a*s who wouldn’t listen to anything I said about safety, legality, etc. I walked out and told him good luck with his inspection.
#52
We lived in a non-English-speaking country. I was in a restaurant with my (now) ex. It was a really hot day and I sort of jokingly said I wanted ‘warm water’ for a drink: I said it in English to him. He snapped at me in our first language saying I was gross for wanting to drink ‘worm water’. I had to explain to him in our first language what I just said, and he asked me (very angrily) why I was pronouncing it all wrong?
‘Wahm water!’ He told me it was pronounced, not worm water. It’s spelled with an ‘A’, so it should be pronounced as so.
It was a stupid thing to argue, but I knew him well enough to know that it was a hill that he was willing to die on. So I proceeded to tell him that English is my favourite subject in school, I consistently scored excellently at the subject, and will be graduating Bachelor’s Degree as an English Major (this was years ago). If anyone at the table should know how to pronounce a simple word as ‘warm’, it should be me. I pronounced each ‘warm’ and ‘worm’, and told him how each word did not sound the same as it was spelled. Hearing what ‘worm’ phonetically sounded like weirded him out. He was stubborn and insisted that he was right, and I had to remind him again of my qualifications.
#53
Anytime someone wants to play me at Smash Bros. I’m nowhere near good enough to go toe to toe at major tournaments, but I can hold my own at local tournaments and usually end up in the top 5 out of 20-30 players.
Which when I go to a party or hang out at a friends house and they get cocky about their skills usually ends in them getting angry by the end of the night and never wanting to play Smash with me again.
#54
Oh yes I get to share this story.
Me and my buddies in 7th/8th grade LOVED Goldeneye. We had “sleepovers” where we spent every waking second from 5pm until 9am the next day playing, no sleep at all. We were convinced we were the best, but had no real proof because we were only playing against people in our school. Big fish, small pong type scenario.
Fast forward about 6 or 7 years, my college holds a Goldeneye tournament. Haven’t played it in years, obviously. Well there was a giant problem: my friends and I always played with inverted pitch on. The issue was that Goldeneye, in multi-player, doesn’t let you select different control styles for different players. Everyone has to play with the same control scheme, so I was stuck with my controls being “upside-down”.
I still won the tournament. I got absolutely rocked in the Mario Kart tourney, but I had my Goldeneye badge.
Edit: I’m being told that I’m a big dummy and you CAN individually set the controls. So for some reason I wasn’t able to in the tournament, but I remember the timed mines round was absolutely bonkers as a result….
Also I’m not changing my spelling mistake regarding a body of water.