exasperation

Ok, sure, if someone doesn't know the basics, then they can't be an expert in that thing. But that hasn't been what we've been talking about in this thread, and your initial comment was that someone can only be said to understand a thing if they can explain how it works.

And I'm pointing out that:

• Some people are bad at communication, and understand things they can't explain, because their explanatory ability is hindered by their communication skills.
• Some specific concepts are not easily reduced to words, so they are inherently difficult to explain. That doesn't mean they can't be understood, or that nobody understands them.

Dropping back to only talking about the basics kinda ignores huge swaths of human knowledge and understanding.

No, some people are just bad communicators in particular mediums, and some mediums are bad channels for conveying other ideas.

Fundamentally, not every bit of knowledge is easily translated into words (or images). You see it a lot when teaching others how to cook (or especially bake), where smell, texture, feel, and all those are both important and knowable, while simultaneously difficult to describe. I can show people how to bake a sourdough loaf, but reducing it to text loses a lot, to the point where the typical person won't be able to actually derive the knowledge from that text. And plenty of people I've tried to teach don't have the attention to detail to be able to absorb it. I can be an expert in the actual craft while not quite grasping why other people in my orbit just don't get it. That's the phenomenon of superstar athletes retiring and then struggling to become decent coaches.

The experts in a lot of fields didn't learn their knowledge in a book. Or even instructional videos. Limiting your definition of "knowledge" or "expertise" to only be the subjects that can be learned in those settings is too small a view.

No amount of book reading will teach someone how to be a good basketball player, a good guitar player, a good public speaker, a good friend, or even a good writer. That doesn't invalidate their expertise, or even require they be good at explaining their craft to be considered knowledgeable in those fields.

At the end of the day, plenty of people are bad at communication. But just because someone is bad at communication doesn't mean that they're inherently not knowledgeable. And that's the fundamental error in your view.

If you're dealing with a spatial problem but can't draw what you are trying to explain, that is indicative that you don't know what you're dealing with.

I really feel like you're digging in your heels on a fundamentally flawed point. Plenty of people are bad at drawing. That doesn't make them bad at visualizing or reasoning spatially, or somehow invalidate the spatial understanding that they do have.

My ability to explain things in Spanish isn't all that well correlated with my internal knowledge of those things, but is more closely correlated with my Spanish skills in those subjects. At the same time, there are nonverbal people who understand stuff without the ability to meaningfully convey messages to other humans.

The ability to communicate is its own skill, independent from other areas of knowledge, such that the correlation between ability to explain to others and the actual internal understanding is weak, at best.

I mean, the linguistic mastery necessary to be able to talk around gaps in vocabulary is still itself a skill set completely distinct from knowledge about a different subject.

Plenty of skills aren't easily reduced to verbal explanations, or even the ability to teach. Plenty of world class athletes become mediocre coaches, frustrated that their players don't seem to get things the way they used to. Same with musicians, actors, public speakers (merely repeating the words of a speech won't necessarily carry the same charisma and gravitas), and all sorts of other experts.

One can know something without being able to explain it. That doesn't invalidate the knowledge.

Nah, some people are just bad with words. They can know how something works but can't explain it because their vocabulary doesn't capture some of the nuances. I've seen this a lot in self-taught experts, especially.

Plus there's always the possibility that the vocabulary is limited from the audience perspective. I definitely know how certain things work, but detail is lost when I oversimplify it for my kids or something, because I'm explaining it to them rather than to a more knowledgeable adult with a stronger base.

I'm imagining a set of big naturals

I like to call it lost wages.

Mammals evolve into ant eaters.

Yeah, for those of us whose school-provided sex education was actually informative, including puberty and sexual health units in mandatory health class in multiple different grades, I don't see why this would have to be inherently badly taught.

It's a weird "oh it's impossible to teach anything properly so let's not try" attitude that applies to a lot of discussions about education, even core academic subjects like math and science and history.

Skiing can be cheap if you just happen to be local to where you want to go. Used equipment can be cheap and last a long while and season tickets can be a good bargain on a per day basis at that point. I used to do that when I lived basically on a ski mountain.

But then you catch the bug and then you have to plan out $2000+ trips just to be able to do that once after you move away.

Cooking is basically better than free.

Yes, ingredients and equipment cost money, but the end result averages out to be cheaper than if you didn't know how to cook. And even if you take on more expensive ingredients or tools, you're probably offsetting even more expensive restaurant meals that you would've eaten.

The real advice is to realize that every job has components that are not fun.

There are professional athletes who still love to play their sport, and intend to retire into coaching, but hate dealing with marketing and promos and media availability. Lots hate the travel. Some don't like some of their teammates or coaches.

I know doctors who hate dealing with the paperwork, and programmers who hate dealing with documentation or testing, and lawyers who hate tracking their timesheets. But each of these are part of the job. The question is whether the entire bundled package deal is a pretty good job or not for yourself.