Most incorrect thing you were taught?

Kolido · 16-04-2012 6:53pm

carolmarx wrote: »

I'm not disputing that people in this country on SW are looked after. But the fact of the matter is that there are people in this country who aren't even in that position. A minority of people are homeless and can't feed themselves, a minority, but they are there. Anyway this isn't a thread on poverty in Ireland, I was merely saying I think my teacher was quite wrong in her assumption that there is no poverty here.

I think you guys are confusing Absolute povery and Relative poverty.

Absolute poverty doesn't exist in Ireland, unless its a lifestyle you choose.

Capt'n Midnight · 16-04-2012 7:00pm

Rastapitts wrote: »

that there was a santa!

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),[1] often known as Santa Anna[2] or López de Santa Anna and sometimes also "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government. Santa Anna fought first against Mexican independence from Spain, then in support of it. Though not the first caudillo (military leader) of Mexico, he was among the earliest.[3] He held the rank of general and/or the office of president (or both concurrently) at various times over a turbulent 40-year career; he was president of Mexico on eleven non-consecutive occasions over a period of 22 years.

joseph brand · 16-04-2012 7:24pm

mishkalucy wrote: »

I corrected a science teacher twice. Both times I was right.
First time he laughed it off.
Second time he threw one of those wooden dusters at my head, near miss

Similar story. Myself and a classmate were talking in maths class. The teacher, thinking he was cute, asked me to finish the equation on the board. I pointed out where he was wrong (he was). He promptly kicked us both out of class. Good times.

jblack · 16-04-2012 7:43pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),[1] often known as Santa Anna[2] or López de Santa Anna and sometimes also "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government. Santa Anna fought first against Mexican independence from Spain, then in support of it. Though not the first caudillo (military leader) of Mexico, he was among the earliest.[3] He held the rank of general and/or the office of president (or both concurrently) at various times over a turbulent 40-year career; he was president of Mexico on eleven non-consecutive occasions over a period of 22 years.

There's more than one:

The Hyundai Santa Fe comes in a 2.0 Litre 2WD, 2.0 Litre 4WD, 2.2 Litre 2WD Automatic, 2.2 4WD Automatic. The Hyundai Santa Fe also comes with our 5 Year Triple Care package as standard

deise go deo · 16-04-2012 7:45pm

mikemac1 wrote: »

He was correct

Gluastain became carr

Nope, Carr was the old Irish word for Charoite, it predates the word Car in literature.

Gluastain is a recent made up word.;)

thethingis · 16-04-2012 8:18pm

pickarooney wrote: »

It's not even the biggest 'Phoenix park'.

I think I heard its the biggest "walled" park in Europe.

thethingis · 16-04-2012 8:19pm

Kolido wrote: »

I think you guys are confusing Absolute povery and Relative poverty.

Absolute poverty doesn't exist in Ireland, unless its a lifestyle you choose.

Poverty in the 80s was when you didnt have a video.

UrbanSea · 16-04-2012 8:45pm

It's amazing how stupid some primary school teachers are/were.

I remember when I was in about fifth class I had this female teacher. I wrote an essay, and included the word ''tsunami''.

She corrected it and called me up to ask me what it was. I told her it was from a Japanese word and was a tidal wave. She tutted and said that it was wrong, no such word exists.

I can still remember her standing up at an assembly (she was vice principal) after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, saying ''Does everyone know what a tsunami is now?''.

I was thinking ''yeah, I hope you do now you silly bint.''

laoch na mona · 16-04-2012 9:18pm

i have a L.C history book which says all unionist violence in the north was self defence

Duggys Housemate · 16-04-2012 9:34pm

laoch na mona wrote: »

i have a L.C history book which says all unionist violence in the north was self defence

Really, link?

Insect Overlord · 16-04-2012 9:36pm

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Really, link?

How do you link to a book?

Duggys Housemate · 16-04-2012 9:37pm

Insect Overlord wrote: »

How do you link to a book?

They do often be online

IM0 · 16-04-2012 9:37pm

that a magical man who lives in the sky loves us all, but still watch's while we masterbate

IM0 · 16-04-2012 9:39pm

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

They do often be online

*snigger*

Duggys Housemate · 16-04-2012 9:42pm

IM0 wrote: »

*snigger*

That was deliberate, although given the level of intellect of your last post I am not surprised you didn't get the obvious. Also, it's masturbate.

Kolido · 17-04-2012 8:09am

Insect Overlord wrote: »

How do you link to a book?

Leave your address and where in your house/school we may find it.

Meow_Meow · 17-04-2012 10:05am

Everyone is special.
Someone forgot to mention that some people in life get to be more 'special' than others.

onlyrocknroll · 17-04-2012 10:23am

Lots of things that I've been since corrected on by a mixture of third level education and (mostly) QI.

That before Columbus sailed to America that everybody believed the Earth was flat.

That The Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon. (How the fck do people believe that one)

That we only have 5 senses.

That St. Patrick was the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, (he may have been but it's far more likely that it was Palladuis. I'll admit that St. Palladius's Day doesn't sound as catchy)

etc

I wouldn't be too harsh on individual teachers for believing these really thinks because everybody does, but the Department of Education should really go about educating the educators about this stuff.

mikemac1 · 17-04-2012 10:35am

A sink drains clockwise here
In Australia it does the opposite

Then I read that was a myth

And now I don't know what's true or not

watna · 17-04-2012 11:24am

mikemac1 wrote: »

A sink drains clockwise here
In Australia it does the opposite

Then I read that was a myth

And now I don't know what's true or not

It's not true - I did some physical experiements when I moved to NZ. Also, apparently the toilets and sinks we have mean that water is forced down anyway so if it was true you wouldn't be able to see it (I vaguely recall reading about that somewhere)

Quazzie · 17-04-2012 11:45am

watna wrote: »

It's not true - I did some physical experiements when I moved to NZ. Also, apparently the toilets and sinks we have mean that water is forced down anyway so if it was true you wouldn't be able to see it (I vaguely recall reading about that somewhere)

It does spin the opposite way in the southern hemisphere, but the amount of water required for it to be noticeable is considerably larger than a toilet or a sink. A large swimming pool wouldn't even be large enough to be effected by the Coriolis effect.

Solair · 17-04-2012 11:56am

_LilyRose_ wrote: »

Getting a handy A1?

Exactly! I mean, it's not like Irish, British, Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders etc don't take English in France to get a handy 20 out of 20 in the Bac' either!

What's really worrying is when you're a native speaker, and you get a less than perfect result, in an exam that would not be considered particularly hard.

[nerdy aside]
The Leaving Cert Language programmes, if you hit the A1/A2 grades would probably only be a A2/B1 level in the CEFR, assuming that you had a good level of oral fluency, which the LC doesn't really test, as you can score a relatively high grade by learning-by-heart and studying exam questions.
CEFR = (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment), which is the standard by which language proficiency is compared.

The CEFR grades are as follows:

A Basic User A1 Breakthrough or beginner
A2 Waystage or elementary
B Independent User B1 Threshold or intermediate (Good Hons Leaving Cert)
B2 Vantage or upper intermediate (Hons Leaving Cert + Time Abroad in target language country)
C Proficient User C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or advanced (University+Time Abroad)
C2 Mastery or proficiency (Fluent)

At the C levels, you would be comfortably able to work or study in the target language.
At the B grades, you'd be able to get by as a tourist / visitor.
At the A grades, you'd struggle to be understood.

In general, language learning / teaching in English-speaking countries is abysmal compared to most continental European countries (except Spain).

A lot of it has to do with the fact that when you come from a country that speaks one of the major world languages i.e. English, Spanish (and to a degree, Mandarin and a lesser degree French) you don't have to bother that much as there is a vast wealth of media in your native language. Where as, if you speak even any other European language, even German, you absolutely have to learn a second language to function and get access to a wide range of media. If you're from a small language country, you're utterly screwed if you don't speak at least 1 other major language.

Improved teaching mythologies and much more use of real media from target languages would help a lot! I find, in Ireland anyway, a lot of language-teaching is done without the context of the target country. I mean, why not throw in a bit of French gritty, urban culture into French class ?? It would give them a sense that France isn't all croissants, baguettes, picnics and TGVs!

I have also never understood why Spanish isn't more widely available. It's a HUGE language, second only to English and opens up the whole Latin American market, and compared to other EU languages it's modern, grammatically simplified and really learner-friendly with VAST amounts of media and pop culture.

[/nerdy aside & rant]

skylight1987 · 17-04-2012 12:08pm

Two questions i asked as a child that two different teachers couldnt answer and fobbed me off with rubbish
Why does ireland have a president and a taoiseach?
Why, if we are in 1982 ( thats the year i asked the question) is this known as the 20th century?
Now as an adult i find these easy to explain to a child
The president represents the country and the taoiseach runs it
The first century 0 to 100 was the first century 100 to 200 was the second and so on
Now whats hard to explain about that
Yet this is what i was told.
Because ireland is a great country, now get back to your work
and oh its very complicated and your to young to understand it.
those answers still bug me.

Nervous Wreck · 17-04-2012 1:27pm

I before E, except after C.

A B C D E F G H I.... Point disproven!

pickarooney · 17-04-2012 1:51pm

_LilyRose_ wrote: »

Getting a handy A1?

Would you not just skip the class and sit the exam?

fungun · 17-04-2012 3:13pm

UrbanSea wrote: »

It's amazing how stupid some primary school teachers are/were.

I remember when I was in about fifth class I had this female teacher. I wrote an essay, and included the word ''tsunami''.

She corrected it and called me up to ask me what it was. I told her it was from a Japanese word and was a tidal wave. She tutted and said that it was wrong, no such word exists.

I can still remember her standing up at an assembly (she was vice principal) after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, saying ''Does everyone know what a tsunami is now?''.

I was thinking ''yeah, I hope you do now you silly bint.''

maaan, like that only seems a few years ago to me. For you its when you were in primary school and you are now an adult.

Time goes all weird when you grow up

Canard · 17-04-2012 4:20pm

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I before E, except after C.

A B C D E F G H I.... Point disproven!

...The C is there, and the I isnt before the E. So thats actually following the rule?

I remembered another one today. Not exactly something I was taught but the riddle "Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son" with the answer being "hes looking at a picture of himself" makes no sense. The dad is his own son?
Once again, a primary school teacher. :rolleyes:

Quazzie · 17-04-2012 5:02pm

Patchy~ wrote: »

...The C is there, and the I isnt before the E. So thats actually following the rule?

I remembered another one today. Not exactly something I was taught but the riddle "Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son" with the answer being "hes looking at a picture of himself" makes no sense. The dad is his own son?
Once again, a primary school teacher. :rolleyes:

He is looking at a picture of his own son.

Capt'n Midnight · 17-04-2012 6:23pm

Patchy~ wrote: »

I remembered another one today. Not exactly something I was taught but the riddle "Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son" with the answer being "hes looking at a picture of himself" makes no sense. The dad is his own son?
Once again, a primary school teacher. :rolleyes:

never understood that one

Here is one that works courtesy of Flann
The son of Pharaohs daughter is the daughter of Pharaohs son.

Mickey Dazzler · 17-04-2012 6:34pm

That tearing the bollocks off myself did not make me go blind.

Most incorrect thing you were taught?

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