Ignorant People Continue to Misuse the Word “Ignorant”

By Sean Patrick

SEANSSABBATICAL BREAKING NEWS!!!

Everyday, millions of people use the word ‘ignorant’ to describe friends and strangers alike. But a recent report shows that the people who use this adjective most often are actually using it incorrectly.

Rebecca Kimble, a lifetime resident of the Chicagoland area, is a living example of this phenomenon. 

Last Tuesday, after seeing a homeless stranger taking a nap on the bus she was riding on, Rebecca scowled and said, “that guy is soooo ignorant.” Although the man was sleepy, homeless, unbathed, and hairy, there was no indication that he was ignorant. Rebecca continued to spout the insult, calling the bus driver ‘ignorant’ for driving too slow, the mail lady ‘ignorant’ for having thick ankles, and her boyfriend ‘ignorant’ for surprising her with a wedding proposal. 

“She obviously doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” said a coworker who wished to remain anonymous. “I made a joke the other day and she called me ignorant. That would maybe work if my joke was tasteless, but it was a knock-knock joke. And she laughed at it. Really hard. At first I thought she maybe got the word ‘ignorant’ confused with the word ‘hilarious,’ but after hearing her refer to the untimely death of a coworkers spouse as ‘ignorant,’ I have no idea what she thinks ‘ignorant’ means.”

Ironically, when Rebecca is calling everyone ‘ignorant,’ she is in fact being ignorant herself. ‘Ignorant,’ which is defined in Websters as “lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified,” is what Rebecca is being when she misuses the word, since she is lacking the knowledge of the meaning of the word ‘ignorant.’ When she was approached with this information, she called our reporter “ignorant” and stormed out of the room.