We have all been on dates with people that are great.  They are either great-looking, or they may click with you in a more visceral way.  Great people are great.  They’re funny, smart, and are able to ignore your physical flaws (i.e. pimples, a goiter).  However, do not confuse great people with exceptional people.  While great people can only be great, exceptional people can possess a myriad of traits.  For example, it is true that some exceptional people are great.  However, a person that practices bad hygiene probably smells exceptionally bad.  A person who rarely goes outside may be exceptionally pale.  Finally, a person that hates certain people because of their skin color is probably exceptionally racist.

Though there are many exceptional people, the rest of this post will focus on people that are exceptionally ignorant.  Going out with an ignorant person is, in many ways, more aggravating than going out with someone who is mean, cheap, or angry.  While you can ignore unkind people by zoning them out or throwing drinks at them, you cannot ignore ignorance.  It is always there, and it is, in many ways, worse than anything else in America.  For example, when your date is preparing to pay for dinner, he/she will often be confused by the concept of gratuity.  Though gratuity can be complicated, it is usually not.  Also, gratuity is a terrible example for me to have just used because, if you’re on a date, they’re not going to add gratuity because there are only two of you (hopefully).  Okay, ignorant people are also quite often confused about the difference between appropriate and inappropriate small-talk.

If, within ten minutes of a date, your significant other brings up the fact that he/she is still in love with an ex, even though it’s been eight years since he/she was dumped, the fact that he/she strongly believes that President Obama was not born in the United States, or the fact that he/she would rather be asleep, you may be dating an exceptional person.  Don’t worry.  Try to have fun with it.  Play a game in your head where every time your date says something ignorant, you take a shot of whiskey.