Dumbest thing you've ever said/asked

[missmd123]

So, for the most part, we're all pretty intelligent people... But I'm sure we've all had those moments where we've said or asked something that was so dumb we cringe just thinking about it. I thought it would be fun if we all shared these dumb things we've said and asked to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously!

They don't have to be things you've said in your interview for med school (although that would be fun to share)!

I'll start... This is so embarrassing I'm shriveling up just typing it out...

Once I asked "When do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?"

Another one is when I asked "What's that city with that big lake? The big salt lake?"

*facepalm*

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[Spinach Dip]

Once I asked for the advice of my school's premed adviser.

...Embarrassing...

 

[Cardboard101]

"When do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?"
This is perfectly valid. Thanksgiving in Canada and Thanksgiving in the States is off by almost a month and a half.

My anecdote: Not really something I said, but nonetheless silly.
Final question on my 8th grade French test.
Did you enjoy french class?
A) Yes
A) Kind of
A) Not really
A) Hated it

Guess what I put? C).

 

[Affiche]

When I first started shadowing I asked a resident in the ER what the difference between sutures and stitches was.

The more embarrassing part of this is that he replied, "I'm not sure".

 

[The Real SVB]

This one time I posted on SDN

 

[Nysor_bttw]

My application picture featured me sitting on the statue in my avatar.

 

[Styrene]

"Why do so many patients come to the ED for minor complaints like headache?"

 

[Hospitalized]

"How's the job going?" (older scribe to me, I was 3 months into the job at the time)

"Oh pretty good. I feel like I have the basics down I just need to work on perfecting my differentials."

Makes me cringe so hard.

 

[gannicus89]

I asked someone if they had ever howled at the moon before.

It was during finals week. I didn't know what was happening most of the time and the man I asked looked like he could have been a wolf.

 

[HybridEarth]

Job interview at Apple a few years back (I mentioned this elsewhere).

Interviewer: what do you enjoy the most about your current job?

What I should have said: I enjoy the fast paced work environment, working with people is so great, I love teaching others about technology, I like solving problems etc...

What I really said: we have a really cool water fountain and huge fish tank... The fish are so awesome. Every time I walk in, it smells like I'm on vacation somewhere tropical and I love it.

True story unfortunately, but my interview skills have grown much stronger since that day so I try not to dwell on it hahah. Perhaps that last sentence would work if I went to the Caribbean?

 

[bee17]

As I was searching for sources to use in the lit review for my research paper, I stumbled upon a brand-new journal article that was super relevant to my research. Excited, I told my PI in our meeting all about this newly-published research.

His response, delivered with a withering glare:

"I know. I'm a coauthor."



Fortunately, I was able to explain that because the publication was so new, our library system only let me see the name of the first author, so it was an honest mistake. We laughed about it, but I was horribly embarrassed!

 

[teambert]

To an attending -- "I can't find anything about Shark-O feet."

It's Charcot, not Shark-O. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropathic_arthropathy

Bonus -- I'm ethnically French.

 

[moisne]

ATP is nothing more than a nucleotide (with some extra phosphate)???

 

[PhillyMed777]

To an attending -- "I can't find anything about Shark-O feet."

It's Charcot, not Shark-O. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropathic_arthropathy

Bonus -- I'm ethnically French.

I learned about that in medical school and answered a question correctly about it on an exam, and I still don't know how to pronounce it.

 

[TheBatman]

All of my threads According to everyone on this forum

 

[The Real SVB]

I learned about that in medical school and answered a question correctly about it on an exam, and I still don't know how to actually use it clinically.

FTFY

 

[The Real SVB]

All of my threads According to everyone on this forum

omg this guy

 

[TheBatman]

omg this guy

 

[dbeast]

I asked a breast surgeon why men have nipples... she actually didn't know.

 

[Banco]

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Is today the 32nd? Took me until 5 years ago to get rid of that habit.

 

[Lawpy]

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

@PatrickStarMDPHD and @gettheleadout approve, but don't forget, Patrick Star is a scientist as well.

 

[catmario]

*while taking BP
Me: (Looking at cover picture and title of a book) I see you're reading a book on atlantic puffins. Is that a book on penguins?
Pt: (Looking genuinely concerned for my mental health) No. It's a book on atlantic puffins.

In my defense,

.

Actually I have none.

 

[sovereign0]

Not me, but my girlfriend. She's had an alarm set on this $5 watch she bought for a one time thing, and we can't figure out how turn it off.

She's telling me about the alarm going off all the time and shows the watch to me and says something to the effect of "What is going on with this timer? It's counting forwards now?!", to which I respond "That would be the clock telling you the time...".

 

[deleted393595]

When I was a kid, I tried to give myself free "Lasik surgery" by staring into a laser pointer.

 

[blackroses]

I made the horribly dumb mistake of thinking that the premed club officers would like to know that their powerpoint about requirements was out of date in that there are now more medical schools requiring statistics than calculus (yes I did say it politely)! Never again. If looks could kill.

 

[sovereign0]

Just remembered another, I was talking with my PI (heavy accent) about an sample which we needed to identify, and he kept saying to "send it to the mice pack". Eventually I asked what a "mice pack" was... He was saying "mass spec"...

 

[vellez]

I asked someone from New York if she liked having the sun set so late, since they are three hours ahead of us in the Pacific Time zone.

 

[PatrickStarMDPHD]

@PatrickStarMDPHD and @gettheleadout approve, but don't forget, Patrick Star is a scientist as well.

So much Patrick Star love on SDN, this is great.

 

[The Real SVB]

So much Patrick Star love on SDN, this is great.

Boo Patrick go Squidward

 

[OllieDog]

HS Physics class, midterm or some exam. For the life of me couldn't figure out a problem and realized there was some pertinent info missing. Take my exam papers and storm up to the teacher's desk.

OllieDog: {loudly, so the whole class can hear} I can't do this problem. It's not possible. You didn't give us all the information.
Teacher: What did I not include?
OllieDog: You didn't tell us how long it takes the earth to go around the sun.
Teacher: ......
OllieDog: {glares at teacher}
Teacher: .....
OllieDog: {glares even harder at teacher}
OllieDog: Ohhhhhhhhhhh.
OllieDog: {slinks back to desk}

Bonus: the teacher was my dad. I've never lived that one down.

 

[emraldragon]

I've got two:

For months I thought Sinemet (for Parkinson's) was spelled CinnaMint based on how my coworkers pronounced it.

And FAR more embarrassing. . . .

The doctor mentioned that a patient's relative was "a real pain in the (impolite synonym for bum)".

"The bad kind or the good kind?" I asked.

He paused and gave me a really weird look. In my head I was trying to differentiate between the patient relative who nags the patient to be healthy and the patient relative who nags the doctor for x, y, and z. . . Needless to say, I failed to successfully make this distinction, and it probably didn't matter anyway.

 

[BeachBlondie]

I was listening to Ray Charles and my husband brought up the biopic, "Ray." He told me that he was on set during some of the filming. I blurted out:

"Oh. Did he get to see it before he died?"

*face palm*

 

[The Real SVB]

"Oh. Did he get to see it before he died?"

Have you ever seen Ray Charles' house?
(I haven't, and neither has he..........)

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

In most of my big lecture science classes, during the first week or so, I loved to throw out: "What's the difference between a proton and a protein?" It always kept my professors on their toes.

 

[HarryH00d]

In most of my big lecture science classes, during the first week or so, I loved to throw out: "What's the difference between a proton and a protein?" It always kept my professors on their toes.

You were that guy.....

 

[The Real SVB]

In most of my big lecture science classes, during the first week or so, I loved to throw out: "What's the difference between a proton and a protein?" It always kept my professors on their toes.

3/10

 

[deleted393595]

In most of my big lecture science classes, during the first week or so, I loved to throw out: "What's the difference between a proton and a protein?" It always kept my professors on their toes.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I got another one that is even better, but I can't remember it ;(

 

[HarryH00d]

Have you ever seen Ray Charles' house?
(I haven't, and neither has he..........)

3/10

A critic feasting on the low hanging fruit? How Ironic

 

[The Real SVB]

A critic feasting on the low hanging fruit? How Ironic

 

[zero0]

"Did you enjoy my class?"

"No." *silence*

I like to make awkward moments to see how people react. It's fun

 

[Promethean]

I had to choose from among several things on a list, but I had forgotten a very important word that would have indicated my choice.

So, I went with:

"I'd like the one in the middle of the first three."

Uhm... you mean the second one?

 

[JStiz]

I asked a med school rep from a West Virginia school if they were near the coast... (West Virginia is land-locked)... I win.

 

[NontradCA]

"Will you marry me?" , to my ex.

 

[touchpause13]

"No I won't marry you" to NontradCA

 

[Kelilah]

I asked my dad, a physicist, how fiberoptic cables can work in the dark.

It took me around ten seconds to realize how idiotic this was.

Note that I asked this question a month after I had scored a 14 on the physical sciences section of the MCAT. (How did I manage to do that?)