I don't think admitting one doesn't know something is any sort of a weakness nor should it be regarded as funny.
The inability to admit one doesn't know something is borne out of insecurity. I do not have insecurity generally. I am an expert in my personal field and certainly do not know all even in that field and certainly not others.
I have already admitted i am not an economist. Now obviously I missed the memo that turned HBOT board from an opinion message board to a policy think tank only inhabited by experts.
The problem, truth be told, about this board generally, is that everyone on here that types something thinks they are some f***ing expert on it and everything else.
So bottom line, I really didn't have to reply that I didn't know something. Everyone on here knows there are a handful of posters who would NEVER do as much.
In fact, I knew by typing that message, I would meet with ridicule ( I looked up who he was after I saw the reference) and rather than pretend to know something I knew nothing of, I felt totally secure in saying, 'yep don't know who that is'.
In my field, if you cant say you don't know something or are not an expert on something you need to get the hell out. Or are asked out.