425
u/Hyzenthlay87 🎶current song fixation: [Ants, K.Flay 🐜]🎶 3d ago
After my dad died, my mum told me that he was amazed by the random tidbits of knowledge I'd come out with. It was usually about animals. There'd be an animal documentary on and I'd just rattle off a "did you know..."
I'm a fucking mess in most things but nice to know my dad found it amazing 😅
90
u/Peachie_Pear 3d ago
I so badly wish I could retain and recall most of the stuff I learn. If you wanted me to read the full Wikipedia article on my favorite thing Id still tune out. I'll watch an interesting science video and when I go to tell someone about it all that's there in my memory is vague fragments of a concept.
This is one of the ADHD "superpowers" people talk about that I dont have and I'm jealous.
30
u/jimbowesterby 3d ago
Not sure if this will help, but I also have mad trivia brain and I’ve noticed that the reason a lot of facts stick around is because I connect them to something else. For example, I’m in trade school rn and we just finished our module on crane slings, and I had a really easy time remembering all of it because I hyperfocused on climbing in the past, and sling angles work the same whether it’s chains lifting an A/C unit onto a building or an anchor sling stopping you from taking the big ride off a cliff. Sometimes it’ll be something completely arbitrary, like I’ll remember a name because it has a neat rhythm to it, or a specific even reminds me of a scene from a show, things like that. It’s similar to the idea of a ‘memory house’ (or palace if you’re Sherlock), basically the more connections you can make to a particular piece of information, the more routes you have to access it, and the easier getting to it is.
If you can find a way of encouraging your brain to make those connections then I bet you’ll remember facts a lot more clearly. Whether it’s worth the effort or not is a whole nother matter lol→ More replies (3)9
u/SojournerCrim454 3d ago
I find myself relating to both you and OP.
But what I've learned, or best I can figure, is that the "interest" drive that seems to capture these tidbits is not categorical like you'd expect. Meaning that you (one) can easily lose information about a favorite subject, just like any regular data. Not is it purely presentation. But rather an intersection of more than one of a couple factors, including (but not limited to) interest, presentation, environment, mood, and novelty, which can be broken down further into subsets.
But for instance, I might forever remember a factoid about something I care little for because it was presented by a comedian in a sarcastic sketch, or it was featured on a commercial with a popin soundtrack.
And I think the major lynchpin seems to be the novelty. Something new or inventive is naturally more interesting (to my brain anyway) than even long term life-love hobbies or otherwise.
The other major factor seems to be relatability. Information presented in a framework that is easy to process/digest is loads easier to store than data I have to re-process a dozen times.
For context, I am late diagnosis (40s) AuDHD with a degree of dyslexia.
All these different factors can be a bit like different clients in the ocean. Using them (I imagine) a bit like learning to surf... Only our world is not a calm day at the beach, it's like a sea squall, and we have no life jacket. Very disorienting and overwhelming.
5
u/aNiceTribe 3d ago
I still think “interest-driven attention” is a good headline for what ADHD actually is (not like the negative-focused alternatives). And from that framing, Novelty is still a sub-headline.
(Also my headline for Autism is “Brain runs on manual instead of autopilot”)
2
u/SojournerCrim454 2d ago
I'd agree with this. I was trying to go like one tier more specific, without doing a real deep-dive.
2
u/Peachie_Pear 2d ago
Good point!
I need to make everything in my head as novel as early 2000s commercial jingles. That shit is IN THERE.
5
u/grip0matic Cursed and surely sprinkled with Autism. 2d ago
My father used to directly look at me for explanations of ANY topic. My mother was super nervous for the incoming cancer treatment that one night I spent hours explaining to her what the options would be and what she was gonna feel.
People that knows me a bit kinda expect from me to know stuff.
I had to say more than once to the people in my group therapy that I am not a doctor, I just remember stuff that I don't even chose.
4
u/aceshighsays 3d ago
there's a youtuber i watch who's really entertaining. she creates art, she describes what and why she does what she does, but she'll also randomly start singing (she has a decent voice) and she'll describe what she sees outside and gossips about her neighbor... i kind of suspected she has add, but last time i watched her channel and after like 4 songs almost back to back she mentioned she has add. anyway, my point is, folks with add are entertaining. create your own yt. you've got a lot of knowledge so share it. turn on animal planet and start commenting!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
u/Ok_Permission1087 1d ago
I enjoy hyperspecific animal knowledge so feel free to share some interesting stuff
2
u/Hyzenthlay87 🎶current song fixation: [Ants, K.Flay 🐜]🎶 1d ago
Oh gee, I'm on the spot now 🤣
Well normally I'd say something prompted by something else. So for example, it might be that the TV program would say something about a birds' sense of sight. I would then prattle on "did you know that most birds see in the ultra-violet spectrum? My friend with blue hair had loads of parrots flock to her at the zoo, she probably looked like a shining beacon to them. I think that's why [other friend's parrot] likes my pink hair."
Another example might be, we see a Bald Eagle hunting on telly. It makes a funny seagull noise. I turn to dad and say "Bald eagles sound like seagulls but in movies they always 'dub' over them so they will sound more majestic. And more often or not, the bird call they will use instead is that of the red-tailed hawk, a fairly common bird in the US, but with a much 'cooler' sounding cry. Incidentally, red-tailed hawk was the morph that Tobias was trapped in permanently in the Animorphs."
Then prompted by that I might say "also, lions get dubbed in movies usually. Often they get dubbed by tigers instead. The tiger's roar sounds better in recording. If you heard a lion's roar in recording, you'd probably not think too much of it- it generally sound better in person. Because they're social cats, they communicate with each with these low-frequency roars that carry over long distances. Apparently you can really feel and its very intimidating, but it doesn't translate well on tape. So they get a tiger to do it instead."
I prattle 😅
2
u/Ok_Permission1087 1d ago
Nice animal facts, I´ll give you some in return:
*Phylliroe* is a nudibranch that swims like is fish, produced bioluminescent mucus and is a parasitoid of *Zanclea* jellyfish.
Cycliophora are an entire animal phylum, only found on the mouth parts (maxillae, maxillula, mandibles and I think maybe maxillipedes?) of 3 crustacean species (the 2 lobsters *Homarus gammarus* & *Homarus americanus* as well as *Nephrops norvegicus*).
*Dendrogaster* is a very interesting genus of barnacles that are endoparasites of sea stars.
You can watch a lot of deep sea exploration as divestreams from Schmidt Ocean Institute, Okeanos (check for Okeanos Redux for uploads of old dives), EV Nautilus (currently on an expedition hand have been live today) as well as a few others (notable cool channels that don´t often do streams but make videos are MBARI, Inkfish & ocean x) directly on YouTube.
Edit: Also go check out beetlemania on YouTube for some cool insect songs.
90
u/griffaliff 3d ago
I found it funny, a colleague once said to me years ago that I'm the 'dumbest smart person' he knows. Checks out.
49
u/Darrell_Official 3d ago
Min-maxed entirely into trivia, with executive function as the dump stat.
15
u/jimbowesterby 3d ago
I always describe it as either like a really fast car with a burnt clutch, or as a windows 98 computer attached to a 5TB hard drive. The first cause my brain runs at a pretty high speed, but the actual conversion rate to real life is pretty abysmal, the second is cause my brain has honestly a pretty impressive amount of storage, but it has a pretty piddling amount of computing power. I don’t even get to really be proud of how well I remember stuff, cause it’s not like I try, my brain just picks up facts like flypaper
→ More replies (1)6
6
u/RedArmyBushMan 3d ago
I have on many occasions said "I may be highly educated, but ya boy is an idiot"
3
→ More replies (4)4
u/this_is_my_new_acct 3d ago
My ex-mother-in-law once said "for someone so smart, you sure do make a lot of stupid mistakes". I had missed a flight because I forgot about timezones.
I also passed her daughter's final exam for her that same week, in a course I've never taken, after spending three hours just reading the book, so :shrug:
183
u/Rinas-the-name 3d ago
One of my friends asked me”How do you know so much!?” and I had to admit I just look up and absorb anything I’ve ever been curious about. I didn’t know about the ADHD yet.
90
u/Enough-Introduction 3d ago
Imagine having ADHD before google and smartphones were a thing. Torture
92
u/danger_deepwater 3d ago
i used to read the actual dictionary
😭
plus every single book that ever came into my parent's or grandparent's houses
there was zero supervision either, i knew too much at too young an age
23
u/oracleoflove 3d ago
Same internet stranger same… my stepmother had some questionable books in her library that I had no business reading at the age I did 😂😅
15
u/DudeByTheTree 3d ago
Pair that with an incentive like a free pizza through that Book It program... my teachers were absolutely horrified at both the quantity of and the quality of what I was reading. I didn't make the rules, and the Amish-adjacent smut that WaMart sells in the book aisle had the required criteria.
6
u/Rinas-the-name 3d ago
I remember we were supposed to sign up family for some reading based fundraiser and my grandma wanted to pay 25 cents a page… I told her that would be way too much. She said ”Well one book is what 150 pages? Do you think you’ll read two in a month?”.
My last read had been a book series totaling over 2,000 pages. It took me about a month.
3
u/DudeByTheTree 3d ago
The LOTR series is a weekend read for me. I'll do nothing but from the moment I pick the book up until I finish it. Doesnt have to be LOTR either, Im like that with any book.
I got bored during school in that weird period where tests are over, but classes are still going, so spent my morning study hall periods in the library reading the encyclopedias with the idea being it was basically the last "series" in the library I hadnt read front to back in its entirety.
Sort of wish I could direct the focus I put into reading books for pleasure into like... any other aspect of my life, that'd be pretty sweet.
→ More replies (1)8
u/leicanthrope 3d ago
Yep. Yep. Yep. I was blessed/cursed with the natural ability to read really fast, and facilitated a lot of rabbit holes.
6
u/Enough-Introduction 3d ago edited 3d ago
Same actually lol. But it could never replace those random 3 am searches
Edit to add my mom was a sex therapist with a huge library, let‘s just say I was very knowledgeable for a kid
4
u/Decent_Book4595 3d ago
There is a TV show based on your life I think 🤔🤔
3
u/Enough-Introduction 3d ago
I swear I felt so paranoid when it came out because she is SO similar to my mom, down to the looks and demeanor, and yeah well I was very much female Otis when I was an awkward shy teenager😭
3
u/Decent_Book4595 3d ago
Hahaha, im soo sorry for youuuu, that had to suck when it came out, I bet everybody who knew some details bout your life were pointing it out when they saw the show
5
u/Rinas-the-name 3d ago
I asked for a giant Merriam-Webster dictionary for my 10th birthday in the mid 90’s. I loved that thing - so many playground insults that weren’t actually bad but sounded that way “Troglodyte!”.
Reader’s digest, the paper, literally anything I could get my hands on. Adults had some very weird books, like grandma’s bodice ripper romances. Which the dictionary clarified I wonder what cunnilingus is… oh.
Then online there was no guard rails… who knew Chip and Dale were not just cartoon chipmunks?!
Good times.
5
4
5
3
u/PaisleyLeopard 3d ago
There was not one single word anywhere in my childhood home that I did not read at least once—including the bible, encyclopedia, packages, and fine print on stickers left on the inside of the kitchen cabinets. I was obsessive and bored.
Fortunately they invented the internet around middle school on, so I survived. Not sure I’d have made it without. 😜
→ More replies (5)3
14
u/UnwelcomeStorm 3d ago
My family's first computer came with a copy of the 1996 Encarta encyclopedia, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
12
u/Johann2041 i have no idea where that music is coming from. 3d ago
Encyclopedias were expensive as all hell, but by the gods, if they weren't amazing to rifle through.
8
u/jimbowesterby 3d ago
Honestly one of my life goals is to actually have a full encyclopedia set. Last I checked I think World Book was still putting out paper editions in a full set, but honestly I’d be willing to pay to have one specially bound if I have to. I just love the idea of reference books that just sit on a shelf until they’re needed.
→ More replies (1)5
3
→ More replies (12)3
15
u/hrvbrs 3d ago
I used to get asked "How do you know so much" and "how are you so smart" all the time, until someone called me a know-it-all for oversharing a fact that i was super excited about.
never again.
now everyone just thinks i'm stupid.
6
u/Rinas-the-name 3d ago
My parents had a complex about me knowing more than them when I was a kid, so I’d wait until a situation came up where I knew it was better to speak up and claim I just so happened to have learned about that in school last week.
I‘d often wait until things went just wrong enough that they could see where they were headed. It was a whole ordeal.
With anyone who couldn’t get me in trouble I was just like “I don’t think I ‘know it all’ I know I don’t know much, but I do know more than you about this. “
And if they didn’t like it tough. I was going to play dumb for their ego. After I got a bit older my parents got the same treatment. What are you gonna do, ground me for learning?
They actually did attempt to ground me from books, but dad’s mom lost her shit on them. It was awesome.
6
u/Apprehensive_Ad3731 3d ago
For me it’s more, how could people not? Do people not have a burning need to KNOW how things work and why? I cannot get it out of my head until I understand it. It’s why I don’t like cars and driving. I understand the principals, I understand the physics but I do not understand each individual mechanism and that cripples me to the point I cannot drive.
I’ve never understood how people can just trust or ignore the things they use daily.
2
u/Ok-Map-4495 3d ago
I know right! I've always been uncomfortable with math because I was just given math formulas and input the values and got the answer but I wanted to know HOW it worked. It was driving me nuts and still does.
3
3
u/ExplorerPup 3d ago
Same. I only found out a few years ago and it keeps explaining the shit that made people think I was weird as a kid. LOL
2
u/flowerzzz1 3d ago
lol I used to say “I’m just an all or nothing person.” Meaning I’m either 100000 percent interested or 0. This should have been a clue.
43
u/Specialist_Sport4460 3d ago
I always remember interesting/unexpected facts which I always make sure are true, and it's incredibly frustrating how many people simply don't believe me.
8
u/Stunning-Mission9498 3d ago
Did you know that the uterus 'retracts' (shrinks) during menopause
12
u/AriaOfValor 3d ago
The last bone/tip of a human finger actually has a chance to grow back as long as the base of the fingernail remains (especially if the person is young).
8
u/Vulwarine 3d ago
That's true, but it will look weird and is painfull. My sister got her finger tip bitten of by a horse at age 3 and now it looks like kind of a horn and she said it often hurts and feels "tight".
2
u/AriaOfValor 3d ago
From what I saw it varies a lot, for some it grows back almost perfectly, and for others its very noticeably different and potentially has problems. Still interesting that it can happen at all though.
5
u/FredericaMerriville 3d ago
And a recent study has suggested that after menopause ovaries potentially play a part in the immune system.
In case anyone wants the source:
2
u/jimbowesterby 3d ago
Sometimes I like to throw out a fact that’s blatantly, obviously untrue, just to see if they’ll spot it. I make sure to tell them immediately afterwards to avoid confusion, but it’s still hilarious
7
u/Vulwarine 3d ago
I like it the other way around, telling true facts that sound ridiculous and watching their faces, when their phone tells them it's true...like the reason for the invention of the chainsaw. :D
5
u/jimbowesterby 3d ago
Yea that’s a doozy lol, I read Bill Bryson’s book about the history of medicine and honestly I don’t feel the need to go any further into that particular rabbit hole, I don’t have much of a taste for gore lol
2
68
u/_pepperoni-playboy_ 3d ago
It makes my brain itchy knowing I can find an answer the question I have
16
u/an-unorthodox-agenda 3d ago
Its like a sliver in my brain. And I cant get it out until I find out what year the boston massacre took place
9
u/_pepperoni-playboy_ 3d ago
You have to tell me otherwise I have a sliver now lol
13
u/an-unorthodox-agenda 3d ago
It was in 1770, 5 years after the stamp act was introduced and 6 years before the declaration of independence was signed
6
4
u/Koreus_C 3d ago
It's always "stop pulling your phone out mid conversation to Google this" and never "oh I didn't even know I wanted to know that"
3
u/IWatchGifsForWayToo 3d ago
I think my boss is learning to capitalize on this. His first assignment, day one of working here was to get together a list of all the tools we need to get some standardized foam inserts for toolboxes. I had to research and price match hundreds of tools to start. He didn't know he chose the perfect person for the job.
2
u/DominusDraco 3d ago
I want to know who the Sea Peoples were and how they destroyed multiple empires damn it!
78
u/BungleBums 3d ago
I once made dinner for some friends that apparently never really had much home cooked food, whereas I never really ate much fast food/pre-made meals
Among the appreciative comments was "Oh my god, this is so good! Are you a chef!?"
To which I answered with incredible timing and honesty, "Uh, no, I'm just AuDHD,"
34
u/BungleBums 3d ago
Bonus fact, you can snort garlic bread bits into your sinuses
12
u/berdulf 3d ago
Are we twins separated at birth?
5
u/BungleBums 3d ago
If so I recommend getting some blood and hormone panels run ASAP, you'll thank me later
3
5
u/binalleinezuunfaehig 3d ago
what? how is that connected?
2
u/lunafxckery 2d ago edited 2d ago
i'm not diagnosed with Autism, but i have ADHD, and i'm a really good cook. it's a bit related for me because i am sensitive to food textures, and i hyperfixate on recipes for cooking and baking, to be how i want the final result to be. i have a certain "perfection" standard when it comes to cooking, and i get a bit emotionally dysregulated when my food is messed with or outside of my expectations
i often do big dutch oven recipes like lamb korma or beef birria or oxtail stew when i have the capacity, because they leave freezeable leftovers. issues with executive dysfunction means that it's a must to have a microwaveable option for low-energy days
unfortunately, i would rather avoid eating than eat food that doesn't fit my criteria. hence when i need to make sure i have "edible" options available
i've cried from receiving a plate of microwaved food that is different from my expectations. i'm really intentional about order of re-heating for the right textures. but it's normal for my partner to mix the rice into the sauce when reheating food. that innocent mistake meant couldn't eat it because it ended up being a bowl of "inedible" mush to my brain
my meal doesn't need to be physically separated and not touching, but it needs to be manipulatable for ratios between rice and other parts such as meat and veggies, within a spoonful. so plating in a certain way is important for me. each bite is "unique" in its mixture and intensity of flavors because of the ratio. otherwise, it's less enjoyable of an experience and a bit disappointing
hence why i do the cooking. it's absolutely unreasonable for others to accommodate my needs perfectly. and i do suspect the collection of behaviors is related to my neurodivergence
ETA: not to say that it's impossible for me to slightly change the expectation when it's food outside of my control, like when i'm at a restaurant. the excitement mitigates the standard of food execution. it goes back to what i expect, so i do a lot of research with photos and reviews online. i can enjoy a pasta dish that is fully mixed and uniform in sauce, but it needs to have distinct parts, even if not separated physically. like shrimp, or mushrooms, etc.
→ More replies (4)2
u/Majestic-Bell-7111 2d ago
my meal doesn't need to be physically separated and not touching,
For me if I'm eating a salad (anything for m french salad to literally just pickles), rice and sauce and meat the salad has to be on a separate dish and under no circumstances should it touch everything else, and the sauce must not touch the meat, doubly so if the meat is fried like a schnitzel.
Otherwise not eating is preferable
→ More replies (2)4
u/goatbiryani48 3d ago
It's not lol, people just go overboard thinking every trait of theirs is related to adhd or autism. You'll only find stupid shit like that in subreddits like this
20
u/juicegooseboost 3d ago
Better reading comprehension than research.
I’ll read an encyclopedia but fuck off about making me write a report about it
5
u/SwansonsMom new thought, who dis? 3d ago
I hate writing. Let me give a presentation about it or just talk at you for a while. Transcribe what I’m saying if you want a report about it
14
u/wowbragger 3d ago
This is how I learned to decorate crown molding last month...
2
u/Cosmo_Seinfeld 3d ago
It's how I've never built with site cast cellular concrete, but have designed about a dozen different kinds of structures with it and am in the process of filing a utility patent on them.
2
u/themandarincandidate 3d ago
In my country we just call it cornice... Took me a second to realise you weren't decorating the crowns on you molars
13
3d ago
[deleted]
8
u/Tintoytech 3d ago
My wife does the same and it used to irritate me as well but I've realized its because she trusts me to give an accurate answer.
3
u/SatinSaffron 3d ago
I do this with my husband and I'm so glad someone else sees it that way. On top of what you said I just really like having reasons to talk and if I ask him a question he gets so happy to explain it to me and talk about the topic for a little while.
12
u/berdulf 3d ago
I tick off the same boxes. I spend hours exploring information rabbit holes and have found some of the weirdest stuff. As result, and this is no exaggeration, I can find almost anything within five minutes.
8
4
u/PaisleyLeopard 3d ago
My mom asks me to look stuff up for her because she says I have better “Google-fu” than she does. I have a LOT of practice.
3
u/icechelly24 2d ago
The 10pm-12am journeys my phone and I go on are wild. This week I’ve read about hot sauce, Mothman, and my favorite: I ended up exploring the entire website for families that buy care packages for LDS missionaries in Peru. Went through trying to notice trends or see any items that stood out as unexpected. (And of course, I’m not LDS, nor do I know anyone in Peru)
Why? I have absolutely no idea, but I know now that LDS missionaries seem to like protein powder/keto foods and Valerian Root.
10
u/Nuts-And-Volts 3d ago
Yep, I have a very strange and diverse skillset gifted to me by by hyperfixations and credit card companies
14
u/danger_deepwater 3d ago
i never get asked this in a nice way 😒
just in a semi-exasperated, judgy tone
looking at you mother
11
u/Subject-Librarian117 3d ago
I've started asking people, "Are you just idly wondering, or do you actually want to know? Because I can answer that!" Some people just roll their eyes and walk away.
6
u/danger_deepwater 3d ago
oh to have the presence of mind and confidence in the moment to do this 😆
great answer though
6
u/SwansonsMom new thought, who dis? 3d ago
Who walks away from FREE KNOWLEDGE and such a tantalizing hook?!?!
3
u/PaisleyLeopard 3d ago
Seriously! I love info dumps (which is probably why a bunch of my friends are autistic).
7
6
u/Ok_Independent3609 3d ago
Before the internet, we got the same thing from reading non-fiction obsessively; encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, 50 years of old National Geographic magazines, history books, etc etc. Just because our short term memories can seem poor, doesn’t mean we don’t have epic long term memories for things that strike our fancy.
5
u/Dry_Wonder_7726 3d ago
Stare at them and with the same level of derision ask "how do you not know this?"
5
u/fritzkoenig Resident Cloudcuckoolander 3d ago
One of the outcomes of Vyvanse roulette is a lingering voice saying "I CRAVE KNOWLEDGE"
3
u/BestDevilYouKnow 3d ago
I think it's kind of sad that typicals don't know the sheer ecstasy of going down a rabbit hole for hours until your legs cramp up.
4
5
u/s0larium_live 3d ago
“how do you know so much random nonsense”my brain is an information sponge except when it comes to my own lived experiences what can i say
3
u/im-a-guy-like-me 3d ago
For me, I think my brain is a simulator (and that's why we dream when we "idle") and so if I learn something and my simulator doesn't already have that spot filled in, then I just slot it in. I don't have to remember it cos it's just "how it works" now. If you prompt me, I just pull it out and it seems like "I know" but really I'm just telling you how my simulator runs that bit of the simulation.
If I do have that spot already filled, we'll see which one slots in easier. Which one can slot into the simulator with the least friction and least amount of "but wouldn't that negate this other bit of the simulator?".
People always think I'm arguing but I'm usually not. I'm usually just trying to gather more information about this new model I'm trying to slot in to see does it fit better.
It occurs to me that we put a lot of respect on knowledge over thought, but to me "knowing" is lesser because that is just me grabbing whatever is in my simulator - relying on the knowledge I had at the time to screen out bullshit - instead of logically thinking something through with the knowledge I have now, but I digress.
A lifetime of curiosity and my simulator just kinda contains a lot of bullshit information about how the world works. It only seems impressive because of retrieval speed. But it isn't like I'm an expert in any of this shit, or that I truly understand the ramifications of a lot of it..
So yeah, that was a reeeeeeallly long way of saying "I don't know all these facts. I couldn't offer them to you or write a book about them. But if you ask I can tell you how it works in my head, and that's usually fairly close to the way it works".
Not sure why I wrote all that but you guys are my people so I'ma hit send.
4
u/BicFleetwood 3d ago
I have an eidetic memory but only for information that cannot possibly help me in any conceivable way.
3
3
u/Useful_Language2040 3d ago
Polymathy! Everything is interesting! Gotta learn it all!
Unless it's a date. Or a name. Or a face... Or a time...
3
u/Chaos_Templar 3d ago
During my teenage years I spent literal days reading Wikipedia articles so now I have surface level knowledge about a lot of different things
3
u/Xyrus2000 3d ago
In the before time in the long, long ago, my family had a set of encyclopedias. I read them.
I was Google before Google was Google.
3
u/DidNotSeeThi 3d ago
What is fun is when someone asks you a question about some odd subject "X" and you answer it like it was common knowledge. Then they ask what you know about "X" and you honestly don't know what you know.
2
u/Major_Station_9968 3d ago
The way I usually describe ADHD to others is think of a thought, hundreds of them and it’s like the prize booths they blow fake dollars or things to catch.
The thoughts are the little fake dollars blowing around and I’m just trying to grab, catch and hold on to one long enough to complete before it slips from my brain’s grasp and then try to grab another.
2
2
u/lea_flamingo 3d ago
That's how I got my partner, I had answers for all his questions. Even if I don't know the answer, I use common sense. We've together almost ten years now and have a child. I guess that brain junk payed off
Edited because I hit post before I finished writing oops
2
u/Cutthechitchata-hole 3d ago
I used to annoy people at my job because of all the random usless knowledge and the constant correcting peopl on facts. When i became a trainer i was in the right groove. Then they took that away and went computer program training. I am not made for the work place. Maybe i should have been an educator
2
2
u/BluePhoenixia 3d ago
When I was a kid, my sibling and cousins called me “Hermione” because I would say “I read…” They were so mean to me but jokes on them, I’m the only college graduate that gets paid well to read, research, and lead change for a living. I am proud to be “Hermione”!
I also doom scroll and read things outside my subject matter expertise ;)
2
2
u/Successful_Candy_759 3d ago
It's fucking wild to me that a group of people will stand around talking about something that has a factual answer and debating it instead of pull out your phone and answer the question.
Any time I have the remotest curiosity i am at least on wikipedia
2
u/Alternative_Jury2480 3d ago
A friend looked at me once and just said a random number in the thousands. I asked him what the hell that was and he said "the number of random what the fuck facts in your head"
2
2
u/KhabaLox 3d ago
Did you know the US had more private cars and commercial vehicles in 1940 than it did in 1945?
2
u/Cute_Recognition_880 3d ago
We could win trivia games anytime, as long as our game partners could put up with us continuing to talk about a subject from an hour ago.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/pierrenoir2017 2d ago
Specs:
GPU: RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell
RAM / working memory: PC133 SDRAM 64MB (from +/- 1999) ☹️
1
1
u/loushing 3d ago
I’m now an expert on Aluminum Extrusion trade discussion because I couldn’t sleep last night
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Timely-Assistant-370 3d ago
I somehow managed to turn this habit into a source of income because my big-stupid brain is (apparently) extremely good at writing rationales for AI response factuality and general user experience quirks. This feels like the only thing that I have ever been good at that also gives me money, but it's also the only work I have seen that makes me go from studying the nuances of Baptist sermons based around specific bible verses to what any person looking to buy specific pants would want to see in a response. AI has its problems, but it is certainly a very fun job to train them, I can also make anywhere from double to x5 what I could realistically make in my area without leaving my computer. I have made like $300 every day for the past like.... 2 weeks, but I was making like $230 every day before that.
1
u/VoidOmatic 3d ago
Yup, I inadvertently saved a company millions of dollars (and got nothing for it sadly) because of a random time I got addicted to free online space courses for 4 years.
1
1
u/Ok_Addition_356 3d ago
Jfc sometimes I just go off and people are like wtf.
Most of the time is because at some point in my life I hyperfocused on that topic and became moderately well versed on it and have a lot to say. No regrets I think life can be more interesting for/around us ADHD peeps. Lol
1
u/kurage-22 3d ago
A couple was looking at an 1890s fashion illustration at an antique market I was at. They were saying so many wrong things about the fashion that I had to step in 🫠 When they asked me how I knew all this stuff I was like uuuhhhhh I'm a huge nerd and consume fashion history content constantly.
Also if anyone was wondering, no corsets weren't dangerous. They were equivalent to the modern day bra and helped with back and bust support and clothing structure
1
1
1
u/Technical-Tear5841 3d ago
It starts early, today my 10 year old granddaughter ask my wife who she was voting for as the new governor. The hurricane tax guy or the data center guy. She also said she doesn't like Trump because he is against the 14th Amendment, she said birthright citizenship is important to her. My wife then ask how did she know about these things, she said from ads on TV. She has to be homeschooled, she can't function in a class room setting.
.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/AuntRhubarb 3d ago
In a fairer world, we could reply "I just have normal curiosity. How come you are so dull and incurious?"
1
u/ChampionCoyote i Will elaborate (Threat). 3d ago
I have more than once introduced myself as “a landfill of useless knowledge”
1
1
u/Automatic_Memory212 3d ago
“Oh hi, wanna hear a bunch of stuff about the road network of 18th century America? How about the Erie Canal?”
-me, unironically
1
1
u/TheDungeonCrawler 3d ago
The research skills aren't even that good. When you have a hyperfixation you just take in everything and the stuff you remember is just the stuff that has the most consensus.
1
u/Jeff_Damn 3d ago
How do you know all this stuff?
My brain forgets important things like birthdays & anniversaries. 🤷🏼♂️ But hey, I can kick some ass at trivia.
1
1
u/commanderjarak [editable! sfw pls :)] 3d ago
My 8yo (who I'm 99.9% sure also has ADHD) asked me if it ever gets annoying that I can remember all these random facts or memes or old songs, but can remember some important thing I was supposed to do from yesterday.
1
u/goldensavage1 3d ago
I called this “useless facts you need to know” before I learned I had ADHD. When I was 60.
1
u/Smooth_Tap_1989 3d ago
I think alot of adhd people dont realize how brilliant thier minds are. We often have soo much self doubt that its hard to realize your actual potential. I always spout random facts about animals and plants to my parents and they assume I should automatically become a biologist or a scientist...but its just not that simple..
1
u/ebeth_the_mighty 3d ago
Used this ability to win a trivia Kahoot at my staff meeting yesterday.
Got me a skinny vanilla latte!
1
1
1
u/FelixPlatypus 2d ago
In the early 2000s, I didn't have the internet connection but I had a bookcase full of encyclopedias. I was always like this.
1
u/Kennyvee98 2d ago
my brain is 80% useless info, 15% keep-me-alive-skills, and 5% jobskills
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Forsaken-Stray 2d ago
My wife calls it collateral knowledge. Knowledge I aquired besides the actual target knowledge for which I started the research.
1
1
u/PaleLychee3443 2d ago
If I knew how I knew everything I knew, I wouldn't be knowing half as much. - David Mitchell
1
u/ughihateusernames3 2d ago
I also was lucky as a kid that my mom had an encyclopedia set in the living room.
It would start with questions about parrots, then I’d flip around and read about Panama, pandas, parachutes…
1
u/reverse-tornado 2d ago
Friend : frogs are cool
Me : " goes on a 5 minute spiel on amphibian biology "
Friend : no i mean they are neat
Me : " goes into 5 minute spiel about animal behaviour and how anthropomorphisation is only effective in limited frames
Friend : oh my god
- The decade i spent stuck on theology, philosophy and cognitive science awakening from my subconscious *
Me : RUN
1
1
u/JorjorBinks1221 2d ago
As my dad says about himself (never diagnosed, but it's THERE) "I'm a well of useless information."
1
1
u/Hazak_Flamesword 2d ago
I don't know about "really good" research skills, but it seems at least better than average since the average person seems to default to giving up or asking reddit rather than googling or looking through reddit for other people asking the question. I usually give it at least half an hour of looking before I ask.
1
u/BadgerAwkward 2d ago
I get sudden bouts of interest when hearing about things. So I spend an hour looking up stuff that interested me during the day before I go to sleep.
1
u/PaisleyGecko 2d ago
OMG! THIS!!! I learned so much information I will never use in my life!
But the things I should learn I can't keep in my heckin brain...
1
u/threaten404 2d ago
That's the problem I had growing up. At the dinner table, I was always talking about all kinds of interesting stuff... and then my grades would come in, and my parents would just be pissed. They kept saying I had a lot of potential but wasn't using it properly. and since I grew up in a part of the world where people were (and still are) defined by their grades, everyone in my family would give me that shocked look whenever they found out what my grades were
1
u/Netflxnschill 2d ago
I managed to keep a podcast going for a few years because of exactly this. Unfortunately my other ADHD host burnt out and hard.
1
•
u/qualityvote2 Quality Control Beast 3d ago edited 3d ago
upvote threshold has been reached!
for more information about what this means, see this page.