I was thinking "naïve" in the sense of "just not knowing some normal things about the world." It's definitely my, "WAIT--fireflies are REAL??" reaction that makes me laugh after the fact.
A coworker similarly said "WAIT--reindeer are REAL??"
I'm thankful I had maturity to simply say "yes, they're in the deer family, native to Canada and Northern Europe".
They were from China where they probably rarely mention reindeer, and only in the context of Santa Claus.
It's no different from a Westerner rarely hearing about tanukis, and only in the context of trickster spirits in anime and Super Mario Bros 3. How are you supposed to know they're real?
> I'm thankful I had maturity to simply say "yes, they're in the deer family, native to Canada and Northern Europe".
Good for you!
Though I think we geeks are more inclined to understand when others have their "Sherlock Holmes didn't know the Earth revolves around the Sun" moments. :-)
