Hahahaha, that's really funny! "It's not like that at all" :)
My understanding is that the black box analogy is understood by some normal people, but not most.
How could you have made for a more enjoyable interaction? Some thoughts that come to my mind:
People who otherwise aren't intelligent often have somewhat smart things to say within their domain.
Right! And this is why I tried to get her talking about fashion. I think your suggestion of asking more specific questions is very helpful. I'll definitely try that next time I'm having trouble with the more generic "tell me about your expertise" type questions.
This thread is for asking any questions that might seem obvious, tangential, silly or what-have-you. Don't be shy, everyone has holes in their knowledge, though the fewer and the smaller we can make them, the better.
Please be respectful of other people's admitting ignorance and don't mock them for it, as they're doing a noble thing.
To any future monthly posters of SQ threads, please remember to add the "stupid_questions" tag.