I usually start with “How much time do you have and do you really wanna know all the context?”
“Do you really want to know? Or would you prefer the lies-to-children version?”
I would actually love to find a nice big list of examples of this. Mostly because I want to know about stuff I’ve taken as truth
The way people learn about atoms is basically a series of nested “this isn’t exactly correct but understanding it like this helps you comprehend whatever we’re learning”, because electrons are so crazy that we had to expand our definitions of basic principles further and further to explain the fucked up shit they do.
Classical physics is another one. It’s appropriate for everything you possibly fathom, but increasingly, modern technologies require some additional compensation for time and space dilation.
I know it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, but if you didn’t know about it already, it’s not a bad place to start: List of common misconceptions
Okay, so… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all… I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again - I would. Garak was right about one thing: a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it… Because I can live with it… I can live with it… Computer - erase that entire personal log.
Definitely remind myself to ask if they want the long or short version before launching off into it.
I can see my wife die a little every time I’m about to nerd out. So I spare her details.
That’s why I ask if they want the full in depth explanation or the short one. Well it happened once during Dune so far, she asked for the full one. I can’t even recall the question but she thought it made more sense after at least, maybe to do with blade fighting and shields, they really hammer it in the novels. Though to be fair any Dune explanation sounds better from the books than either movie, okay I haven’t seen the last half of Lynch’s Dune in decades but the first half didn’t explain things well so I don’t expect the last half to be better from my fuzzy memory.
Dune may be a bit of a special case compared to the franchises listed too.
Also if you ask a simple question and they reply with “Well yes and no.”
