The same way someone might not have heard of Yuri Gagarin, the first person to reach outer space.[0] In the US, we only hear about the first person to step foot on the moon. I certainly didn't know Yuri Gagarin's name; I had to Google it. I wouldn't even recognize it if I heard it.
Or the One-China policy.[1]
Or that the United States doesn't have a prime minister. Ever told someone you're from the US and been asked who your PM is? They're not referring to your project manager.
Or that they might actually be the Virgin Islands' president without realizing it.[2]
Or any of the following websites, which are among the top 10 most visited websites according to Alexa:[3]
3. Tmall
5. QQ
6. Baidu
7. Sohu
8. Tmall login
9. Taobao
10: 360.cn
In this case, it sounds like the person who made the comment knew of the space shuttle; they just didn't know much about it or recognize it by name. I bet many readers here could say the same for many of the aforementioned items.
Yet if you went to China and asked about Tmall, I bet you'd get some funny looks. I don't really know for sure, though; I'd never heard of it until today. Sure, I know of Taobao, and I could've guessed that the T in Tmall stood for either Tencent or Taobao, but heck if I know what they do. I misspelled it as `Tmail` initially and only realized my mistake after Googling it.
Or the One-China policy.[1]
Or that the United States doesn't have a prime minister. Ever told someone you're from the US and been asked who your PM is? They're not referring to your project manager.
Or that they might actually be the Virgin Islands' president without realizing it.[2]
Or any of the following websites, which are among the top 10 most visited websites according to Alexa:[3]
3. Tmall
5. QQ
6. Baidu
7. Sohu
8. Tmall login
9. Taobao
10: 360.cn
In this case, it sounds like the person who made the comment knew of the space shuttle; they just didn't know much about it or recognize it by name. I bet many readers here could say the same for many of the aforementioned items.
Yet if you went to China and asked about Tmall, I bet you'd get some funny looks. I don't really know for sure, though; I'd never heard of it until today. Sure, I know of Taobao, and I could've guessed that the T in Tmall stood for either Tencent or Taobao, but heck if I know what they do. I misspelled it as `Tmail` initially and only realized my mistake after Googling it.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-China_policy
[2]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-president-virgin-isl...
[3]: https://www.alexa.com/topsites