I had first laughed thinking that Dirk was just messing around by not know what Chess was as a means to further keep the embarrassment going, but I'm actually not sure if he's ever made reference to it. Considering his situation, it's entirely plausible that he was being entirely serious about never having heard of chess (either from growing up alone or the game just not existing in that universe) unless there is something that I'm overlooking. The whole "we don't have that here" for cotton candy was something I took seriously for the same reason, at least in that it's likely Dirk may not have heard of it even if it did exist in that universe. It doesn't really mean much either way. It's just an observation that I thought was interesting and just a little bit sad at the same time.
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Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr