Look, we’ve all made our fair share of whoopsies along the way. Sometimes it’s simple absentmindedness, a brain fart, or one of those moments when your brain just seems to clock out entirely. Other times, though, a mistake is so spectacularly dumb that even you can’t quite fathom how you got there.
Luckily, they say we learn from our mistakes—though we can’t promise you’ll learn anything from this list except a newfound appreciation for your own common sense. That’s because we’ve rounded up some of the most hilariously cringeworthy examples of people saying or doing things so impossibly dumb that you have to wonder if even a single brain cell was involved. Some showed a flicker of self-awareness after the fact; others were already in way over their heads, and a few somehow doubled down with complete confidence. Whatever the case, the results are equal parts cringe and comedy gold.
#1 Entitled Parents
#2 No Looks Can Justify That Dumb Response
#3 Some People Aren’t That Bright
These days, we seem to give things that appear entirely opposite to stupidity a whole lot of thought—we talk about think tanks, thought leaders, smart homes, and artificial intelligence. But we surely don’t need lists like this to remind us that there’s still plenty of stupidity around us, too. Humans have achieved some remarkable things, but that does not make us immune to doing dumb things.
In fact, as complexity researcher David C. Krakauer explains, “the degree of stupidity available to any system scales directly with the intelligence that system possesses—more intelligence begets greater feats of stupidity.” In other words, being as equipped as we are—with language, abstraction, technology, institutions, and ideology—only makes us capable of making even bigger blunders.
#4 Too Many People Don’t Know That South Asia Is, In Fact, A Part Of Asia
#5 This Sign
#6 Patience
That’s because, as Krakauer points out, stupidity actually requires a surprising amount of intelligence. Someone who simply doesn’t know the answer to something is ignorant, not stupid. And there are now seemingly infinite ways to remedy that almost instantaneously (hello, Google). What is truly (and perhaps impressively) stupid, he explains, is taking an easy problem and, through complicated theories, elaborate beliefs, or sheer misdirected ingenuity, making it much harder than it needed to be.
As he puts it, “stupidity takes an easy problem and, with great effort and misdirected ingenuity, makes it hard.” In other words, there’s a difference between not knowing better and putting considerable effort or brainpower into making the wrong answer seem right.
#7 Asking Real Questions Here
#8 The Employees Kept Wondering Why My Wife And I Were Laughing Throughout The Store Like Idiots. About 25 Of These “Alternative Math” Signs
#9
But Krakauer is also careful to point out that not every mistake is a sign of sheer stupidity. We get things wrong for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we just don’t have enough information. Sometimes our wires get crossed and we’ve simply misunderstood. Or sometimes it’s an “honest misapplication” of something that worked in a different situation but no longer applies. All of these are just ordinary human errors, and probably nothing to be too hard on ourselves about.
#10 Smart People
#11 Ahh Yes…the Universally Standard Unit Of Door-To-Wall
#12 Guy Riding Down The Road Holding A Dresser On Top Of A Car On A 50 Mph Road
But if these are “the misfortunes of our lives about which we should be forgiving,” Krakauer sees stupidity as something more specific. He says: “Stupidity begins where error is elaborated, defended, refined, institutionalized, and made the foundation for further action.”
In other words, the problem isn’t necessarily getting something wrong in the first place; it’s what happens when we take that mistake and choose to build on it—doubling down or finding ways to justify it—instead of correcting course. In the process, we just make things even worse.
#13 Flawless Logic Right Here
#14 Millipedes Are Not Insects, Frogs Are Not Reptiles, Arthropods, Reptiles, Amphibians Are All Animals
#15 Yes.. Very Smart Indeed, Definetly
So perhaps one thing that separates a recoverable mistake from monumental stupidity is as simple as a serving of humble pie. In fact, David Robson suggests as much in his “guide to not being stupid,” written for the BBC. He, too, explains that “Even the smartest people can be fools.” One way to become “a little less stupid,” he suggests, is to practice intellectual humility: questioning the limits of what we know, examining the assumptions behind our decisions, seeking out information that might challenge our thinking, and considering whether there are other ways of looking at the situation.
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#16 I Don’t Know Dude, Where Could It Have Possibly Gone? I Think Something’s A Little Shady Here
#17 Seriously? If You’re Going To Roast Our System, At Least Understand Your Own
#18 “Spanish Is A Language – People Aren’t Spanish”
And perhaps part of that humility is also being able to laugh at our mistakes. As Cezary Pietrasik, author of Homo Idioticus: Why We Are Stupid and What to Do About It, shared with Jennifer Gerlach, LCSW, “Humor is a great tool in unearthing stupidity and showing the ridiculousness of our positions.”
And really, nowhere is that ridiculousness clearer than in this list.
#19 Keeping Everything In Place
#20 We Don’t Know How Puzzles Work In Texas
#21 Hmmm
#22
#23 Idiots At My School
#24 If Ever You Think You’re An Idiot, Think To This Guy
#25 Be Smart For Once
#26 I Think This Person Forgot How Downloads Work
#27 “Goodbye Italy, Hello Rome”
#28 This 200 Us Dollar Textbook Is Just A Printout Of The Online Version Complete With Useless Hyperlinks And Video Thumbnails
#29 Great Question
#30 Friend On Fb Posted This Announcing Her Upcoming Gender Reveal Party
#31 A Diamond Dozen
#32 Two Livers!
#33 Here Is Something That’s Not Political For A Change. I Took This Screenshot A Few Weeks Ago With The Intention Of Posting It Here But I Forgot About It
#34 I Don’t Even Understand How People With This Logic Get Through Their Day
#35 I Don’t Know If This Is A Misunderstanding Of Math, The Calendar, Or English
#36 He Listens To His Car Stereo Way Too Loud
#37 I Don’t Think This Person Understands What A National Park Is
#38 I Cannot For The Life Of Me Understand Why The Cans Are Sparking
#39 “Do Europeans Have Access To Internet?”
#40 I Don’t Know About You, But Eating Medium Rare Chicken Is Great
#41 You Had One Job
#42 I Can’t Imagine Being This Stupid
#43 Apparently Some Americans Don’t Know That The Northern And Southern Hemispheres Have Opposite Seasons
#44 Really Digging In Her Heels On This One
#45 Human Breast Milk Is 100% Vegan
#46 Was It That Hard To Understand?
#47 After Telling My Wife About The Penny Trick To Tell How Much Tread Is Left, I Asked Her To Send Me A Picture Of It, And She Sent Me This…
#48 Women Are Such Prunes
#49 High
#50 When You Don’t Know How To Cook And Are To Embarrassed To Admit It
#51 I Love It When Stupid People Convince Themselves That They’re Smart. Even Better, When They’re Jerks About It
#52 That’s Not How Acronyms Work
#53 Who’s An Idiot?
#54 It’s A Ferret, If You’re Confused
#55 I Was Confused Until I Realized It Was For Aroma And Not Wiping
#56
#57 Some Dumb Questions Found On Yahoo
#58 So They Actually Do Their Research On Facebook
#59 People Don’t Understand Constants
#60 Accidentally 🏳️🌈 (It’s Absolutely Not Intentional As It’s A Faith Based Café)
#61 Very Confused On How People Still Don’t Know How To Use A USB
#62 *you’re
#63 My Brother’s An Idiot
#64 Fiancé Wanted An Iced Latte…
#65 New Guy At Work
#66 When You Make The Reference, Yet Don’t Understand The Reference
#67 Sometimes, Stupidity Is An Art Form
#68 Tupac
#69 Going For The Full London Experience
#70 Fixing A Toilet Leak. I Took 2 Trips To Home Depot, Worked With A Hernia, Had A Pain In The Neck Time Putting The Wax Ring And Screws On…only To Install The Toilet And Forgetting About The Door. I’m An Idiot
#71 Otum
#72 I’m An Idiot
#73 Facebook Friends ‘Homemade, Carnival Style, Deep Fried Oreos’
#74 Impeccable Logic
#75 “If It’s Stupid And It Works, It’s Not Stupid”
#76 Bus Driver Found A Lost Debit Card And Put It Where People Can See It
#77 I Told A Customer It Wouldn’t Work, But She Insisted. When She Saw It, She Said Nothing And Left
#78 To Understand What Bar Graphs Are For
#79 “Show Me A Game With Bigger Global Ratings Than The Superbowl”
#80 I’m An Idiot
#81 What An Idiot
#82 Tried Everything, Even An Ax
#83 Asked My Dad To Print A Form For Me
#84 Thats Not How File Sharing Works Hun
#85 Math Is Hard
#86 Saw This Van With Upside Down Vinyl
#87
#88 Safety Is Overrated, All You Need Is Sheer Will And Absolute Belief In Your Plan
