# Anyone else get annoyed with people's lack of knowledge on skyscrapers?



## deadhead262 (Feb 28, 2012)

I cant stand it to be honest. For example I have friends who dont know about the Burj Khalifa and one who thought the empire state building is the tallest in the world still. Another friend thought 9/11 was in 2002hno:, he deserves a shot in the head for that. Anyone else get frustrated when someone talks about buildings and has no clue what they are saying.


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## Tiaren (Jan 29, 2006)

So, let's talk about brick gothic churches in the Baltics and hopefully I won't get annoyed with you, if you can't keep up with my knowledge in that field.
Seriously, knowledge of skyscrapers isn't everything...


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## deadhead262 (Feb 28, 2012)

Tiaren said:


> So, let's talk about brick gothic churches in the Baltics and hopefully I won't get annoyed with you, if you can't keep up with my knowledge in that field.
> Seriously, knowledge of skyscrapers isn't everything...


Fair enough. I am not saying that they should know how many manhours went into mining the materials which they used to build the building, but I think basic things like the tallest building in the worlds name and the location of these buildings is important.


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## JohnnyMass (Feb 6, 2005)

This may come as a surprise for you but there are a lot of people with absolut no interest in architecture in general and skyscrapers in particular and there's nothing wrong about it.


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## Kopacz (Mar 16, 2011)

Well I think it's pretty weird that tv avoids them at all costs. I just heard lately about Shanghai Tower in the news, where they were praising its height. However, it was only for a few minutes and no one cared to say that it won't be the highest building and that there are other just as impressive constructions around. 
Even here in Poland people are not aware of taller buildings in other cities than Warsaw. No one knows what Sky Tower is (Poland's highest "to roof" building) and when they see something new, they think it's in Germany or New York 
Same goes to big cities - if the old WTC or Willis Tower is not in the view then no one has a clue what they're looking at. It's a bit weird that with all the talk about WTC that is still getting turned up every year, no one in the tv decided to inform people that it is being redeveloped. 
I don't think people need to know a lot about skyscrapers, they just need to know that things are changing, but it requires a lot of effort from the mass media, and that is not possible. I will bring the WTC again - it's better to re-air an old show about the Twin Towers than take time and effort to show what's going on there actually.


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## windowsoftheworld (May 20, 2012)

I don't care.


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

"Look! It's the Empire State Building!" *Points to Chrysler/Woolworth/40WallSt*

I love the new Freedom Tower *Takes a picture of 4WTC*

I also have a friend who cannot name a skyscraper other than the Empire State Building.


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## Disturbing Reality (Mar 28, 2011)

> *Anyone else get annoyed with people's lack of knowledge on skyscrapers?*


nope. what annoys me is people who don't understand that not everyone is interested in skyscrapers


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## CCs77 (Jul 30, 2008)

No, not at all.
I think it would be much more annoying the people's lack of knowlodge in many other issues (and in that I could be included myself sometimes too) that are more important than a Skyscraper. 
Anyway, when a friend of yours makes a incorrect statement in that field, just smile, correct the error and if you can, and he or she is interested, expand the subject by showing some pictures, for example, and then get over it. Everybody, including yourself, would be happier.


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## CCs77 (Jul 30, 2008)

ThatOneGuy said:


> "Look! It's the Empire State Building!" *Points to Chrysler/Woolworth/40WallSt*
> 
> I love the new Freedom Tower *Takes a picture of 4WTC*
> 
> I also have a friend who cannot name a skyscraper other than the Empire State Building.


Nothing wrong with that. For a person that is not very interested in skyscrapers, all that buildings are similar and easily to be confused, since the ESB is just the most famous of all, the person would think all of them as the ESB. But for example, would you differentiate Manhattan Bridge from Williamsburgh Bridge, both in NYC?

Or could you differentiate a Rembrandt painting from one of Van Gogh? (I'm not sure if I can myself)

Or name the principal works of Oscar Wilde? (neither can I)

Or name the president of Ivory Coast? (I have absolutely no clue, don't even know if they have president, prime minister or what)

Or name the capital city of Costa Rica or Paraguay? (those ones I know, Costa Rica's is San José and Paraguay's is Asunción )


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## Sarcasticity (May 21, 2005)

Not really. Every time I have visitors to NYC, I tend to point at a building and tell them history or facts about the building and I do get annoyed when they just say "oh, okay cool" then look away.


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## Ewan117 (Feb 5, 2010)

deadhead262 said:


> Fair enough. I am not saying that they should know how many manhours went into mining the materials which they used to build the building, but I think basic things like the tallest building in the worlds name and the location of these buildings is important.


Nope, you shouldn't be annoyed at all. People only live by whats in the media, unfortunately, towers like ESB and Eiffel are the only two which gets repeated time and time again. That's why they are the ones that come to mind.

Towers like Petronas and Taipei101 is more well known in the asia-pacific region only due to its proximity with neighboring countries. You don't see them in the Western media 24/7 like ESB.

Not just that, many people in Aus don't even realise that the 911 site has now got new towers on them, they all think that it will be left empty to commemorate the dead. This will all change of course when its complete and gets advertised world wide in the media etc.

Hong Kong is still famous for its Bank of China building because that has always been the selling tower.

And lets not discuss China because they are still very poor and communist.........

Dubai is a country that can afford to build lots of tall towers........

The media has a large impact on people's perceptions so you shouldn't be mad at people, more like the media...

Like someone else said, towers aren't the most important thing for a country. 

Its just like people liking aircrafts:

Me: yay, I'm sitting on the Boeing 777-300/ER
Traveler: catching a plane to my destination.... 

You have to be reasonable


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## shabangabang (Sep 17, 2009)

I'm not annoyed at all. Put simply, most people couldn't care less. In fact, most people who work in skyscrapers wouldn't know the actual name of the building, unless they work in a landmark. Its a niche interest area, perfect for forums like this frequented by people who do care.


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## Ewan117 (Feb 5, 2010)

^^ Thats pretty true, even if its a nice building, it will still be referred to after its company name, not so much the tower name, ie bhp building rather than city square etc


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## deadhead262 (Feb 28, 2012)

Ewan117 said:


> Its just like people liking aircrafts:
> 
> Me: yay, I'm sitting on the Boeing 777-300/ER
> Traveler: catching a plane to my destination....


 Oh, I had one of those moments. I pointed out a Boeing 747-400 to a friend and he argued with me that it is a Airbus 747.:lol:


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## deadhead262 (Feb 28, 2012)

ThatOneGuy said:


> "Look! It's the Empire State Building!" *Points to Chrysler/Woolworth/40WallSt*
> 
> I love the new Freedom Tower *Takes a picture of 4WTC*
> 
> I also have a friend who cannot name a skyscraper other than the Empire State Building.


 I posted a old skyline picture on facebook with the twins and esb on it and my friend had to ask me which city it was.


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## Kopacz (Mar 16, 2011)

deadhead262 said:


> Oh, I had one of those moments. I pointed out a Boeing 747-400 to a friend and he argued with me that it is a Airbus 747.:lol:


This thread might become interesting with stories soon. One of my friends told me that Boeings are those big airplanes and Airbus is a small airplane, kinda like a "bus".


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## Phoenyxar (Mar 4, 2012)

I'm not annoyed by the lack of knowledge of skyscrapers from my friends in general, but if I show someone a picture of the Chrysler Tower I atleast expect them to know that one... Best reaction ever: "That's that one tower from Liberty City (GTA IV)!" (Since the Zirconium Tower in Liberty City is just the GTA-variant of the Chrysler Tower he wasn't that wrong but still...)

But I do have to say that in general most people around here know a handful of skyscrapers around the world (and they can probably name 2 in our own capital)
And I'm pretty sure the 5 most recognised skyscrapers around here are the ESB, Chrysler Tower, WTC I en II (together obviously, since most people fail to recognize them if they see a single close-up), Burj Khalifa and the Petronas Twin Towers.

I'm not annoyed that people don't know something about skyscrapers, but I do expect them to have a normal base of historic architecture and buildings. But yeah, everyone's just free in chosing their interests, but just a "basic knowledge of everything" is the most you can expect I'd think :3


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## Nouvellecosse (Jun 4, 2005)

I'm annoyed by people's lack of knowledge in general.


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## DFDalton (Jul 16, 2009)

deadhead262 said:


> I cant stand it to be honest. For example I have friends who dont know about the Burj Khalifa and one who thought the empire state building is the tallest in the world still. Another friend thought 9/11 was in 2002hno:, he deserves a shot in the head for that. Anyone else get frustrated when someone talks about buildings and has no clue what they are saying.


Not really. It's an arcane subject. I say "not really" instead of "no" for the following reason: 

The only thing that bothers me is that, as in your example of the friend who thinks the Empire State Building is the world's tallest, average Americans are almost totally clueless as to how badly we have been overtaken in terms of infrastructure during the past decade, and how severely the Bush recession/Obama stagnation has been holding us back. 

America is in serious decline on all fronts (just this past week we found that the U.S. dropped to #7 in terms of global competitiveness for example) and a lot of Americans are just not paying attention to the fact. The false impression that America's skyscrapers are still the world's tallest - which was largely true prior to 9/11 - is simply an expression of how popular perception has not kept up with reality. 

If you think of it, maybe that's what is really annoying you.


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