Not recently, but when I was in High School, we were taught that Shakespeare’s plays weren’t written down until later. They were cobbled together from people who could remember the lines and wrote them down later.
When I went to college I learned a) not even remotely true and b) High School is basically bullshit to keep you busy until you go to college.
I hear people say the phrase “it’s high school biology” a lot. Yeah, high school biology is simplified to the point of being just plain wrong.
I remember doing really well in high school chemistry. I learned all about the electrons orbiting the nucleous. I take chemistry in university and am immediately told that’s an outdated model from the 1900s nobody uses. Why the fuck did I study it then? Because quantum physics is complicated? So you just teach the wrong thing because the actual truth is complicated?? It’s really no wonder people have no scientific literacy when high schools explain how the world works like nobody has discovered anything new since 1913.
There’s a Pratchett quote that I always think about in this context, about “lies to children”
As humans, we have invented lots of useful kinds of lie. As well as lies-to-children (‘as much as they can understand’) there are lies-to-bosses (‘as much as they need to know’) lies-to-patients (‘they won’t worry about what they don’t know’) and, for all sorts of reasons, lies-to-ourselves.
Lies-to-children is simply a prevalent and necessary kind of lie. Universities are very familiar with bright, qualified school-leavers who arrive and then go into shock on finding that biology or physics isn’t quite what they’ve been taught so far. ‘Yes, but you needed to understand that,’ they are told, ‘so that now we can tell you why it isn’t exactly true.’
Discworld teachers know this, and use it to demonstrate why universities are truly storehouses of knowledge: students arrive from school confident that they know very nearly everything, and they leave years later certain that they know practically nothing. Where did the knowledge go in the meantime? Into the university, of course, where it is carefully dried and stored.
I could’ve cut that down more, but I like that whole chunk. I think there is a usefulness in the lies to children approach, if done well. As you highlight though, it can be frustrating when the simplified thing that’s being taught isn’t just simplified, but straight up wrong.
It’s not just high school. That’s just how chemistry is taught because it’s extremely complex and requires many simplifications to be able to teach it to a lay person in any meaningful capacity. Good instructors will mention these simplifications, but it’s likely your current understanding of certain things (especially organic compounds) is also overly simplified. It’s unfortunately the only way to teach it.
I sheepishly left a class on Shakespeare I signed up for in college because it became immediately apparent that my high school classes on the same subject did not actually prepare me for the next level and I felt like a complete fucking idiot just listening to the lecture.
Probably a jumbled up recollection of the pirated plays people would scribble down to sell to printers or to competing theatre companies.
The First Folio and other “good” sources were probably not directly from Shakespeare’s drafts either, but from revised working scripts that the King’s Men had around. Still a vast jump from there to “weren’t written down until later.”
In general, there’s a lot of needless mystery and “bardolatry” surrounding Shakespeare, when in fact he was reasonably well documented for a commoner, has had every single scrap of evidence for his life and career scoured over a dozen times, had works of uneven quality, and most of what’s unique about him jibes perfectly well with a half-educated prodigy coming in from the country and working in a milieu that was kind of edgy and open to experimentation.
Maybe the thought was that even Shakespeare took themes and plots from earlier work and even from stories that come from oral traditions?
I used to believe that common sense existed. You know, the usual stuff, like water is hot and fire is wet…
But then it occurred to me a few years ago, that what people believe to be ‘common sense’ are actually the things that nobody bothers to teach the next generation.
Meaning that common sense is only as common as one’s elders teach you. So when the elders assume that you automatically know certain things, they won’t bother teaching you.
Hence, common sense does not exist.
One of the most difficult things to learn about past societies is how the average person lived, because nobody would actually write that down.
It’s happening again too. Gen X, boomers, and late millennials grew up thinking the young had a natural talent for computers, so they cut funding to typing and computer classes. Turns out we (the older tech talented folks) grew up with tech and were taught along the way with how to type and how to use computers.
Kids however are growing up on ipads, with UIs specifically designed to be easy to use. They’re going into college not knowing how to type, how to make a PowerPoint, or even how to navigate a directory structure. Everyone assumed it was now common knowledge and it’s setting them up for failure
So true. I do a bit of teaching and kids have recently lost all computer skills I thought was basic.
“Where’s my work gone?”
“Where did you save it?”
“What do you mean?”
“At the end of last lesson, show me exactly what you did”
“I clicked the X here, then clicked ok”
He clicked OK to the “do you want to close this document without saving?” box. He is 19. I had to give a really detailed lesson on how to save something to not only him, but half the students I taught this year.
Ah yes, not reading the dialog box and getting upset when it does exactly what it said it would do.
An idea that transcends across generations.
Maybe being bombarded with cookie banners and bullshit popups teaches you to ignore dialog boxes.
Yes, that certently doesn’t help, but this was a problem 30 years ago too.
Maybe we need dialog boxes to ocassionally ask to do stupid shit so people start reading them
- “Invert colors for 5 minutes?”
- “Make mouse gigantic for 5 min?”
- “Turn screen upsidedown for a minute?”
Now you have to read.
This actually sounds like fun!
- “Turn screen upsidedown for a minute?”
Windows has had that feature (without the timeout obv) for a long time. I think it’s the Intel IGA driver and CTRL-ALT-Arrow. A decade ago when I was working for a Community College IT dept, that (and the brightest pink MLP background you could find) was always what you’d get if you walked away and didn’t lock your computer.
Those kinds of pranks happened in school too. That, and tape under the mouse.
I think you just invented Windows 13.
Unfortuanlty if MS does it, they’ll forget the time out part and we’ll be the ones who have to undo it all.
I did IT support at one point, when they have an issue but don’t know what the box said you know you’re having a bad time!
And getting them to replicate the issue and NOT click through the error without reading it was a massive chore
You’ve just activated a form of PTSD in my brain. Stood next to someone and you see the box appear and they instantly click.
“What did that say?”
“Dunno”
Why click on it if you don’t know???
Would you say that common sense changes with the generations? What was once common is no longer, and what was uncommon becomes common?
common sense changes with the generations
Not 4 generations from a massive pandemic that caused a financial collapse that caused widespread poverty and fomented the blame and hate that started the second big war and the generational stress that built, and we forgot why we fucking take vaccines.
Whoa slown down there bud. If history doesn’t repeeat every hundred or so years, how will the children be able to learn history? Think of the children! /s
Once upon a time, it was considered common sense to tie your shoes. Then Velcro came along…
Wait, you weren’t born knowing how to tie your shoes?
I guess about everyone (kids/teens) know how to tie their shoes, but something I saw in the last 10 years or so, kids, especially in big towns, does not how to ride a bike. I’ve seen teens who never rode a bike and don’t know how.
Damn, really?
I almost wanted to comment about how cursive writing is getting lost these days instead, but damn, bicycles?!
Tom Scott only learned to ride a bicycle two years ago: https://youtu.be/P7GKK3liv8M
I was so surprised by that video. Of all people on earth, i for sure didn‘t think TOM doesn‘t know how to ride a bycicle.
And clocks.
LOL, I actually learned how to read analog clocks at age 9, by myself, just by watching the hands tick for like 5 minutes.
Still though, even that isn’t common sense, I had to refer to prior education to know to associate the position of the hands with the hours, minutes and seconds numbers I had previously been taught.
Oh, yeah… I forgot about the common sense part. I was just thinking about changing skills.
Besides all of what you said being wrong…
You think “a few years ago” is recent?
“Common sense” literally just means stuff most people are likely to know.
It used to be common sense to not sneak up behind a horse in the dark. But most people today have no idea why that could literally cost you your life, unless if they watched GoT or something and remember what happened to Hodor.
If horses were still everywhere, it would still be common sense. Because common sense stuff didn’t need to be taught. An average person would have learned that by a certain age regardless of if anyone ever tried to teach them.
Either they’d have been kicked by a horse, or they’d have seen/heard of a person being kicked.
Most of the time when I see people make the complaint you just did, it’s because they’re older and don’t understand information that was important for them, is no longer important for the next generation.
“Common sense” literally just means stuff most people are likely to know.
Here’s the problem, who are “most people”? Have you surveyed whatever group you pick?
“Common sense” is more often than not just whatever your personal bias of “obvious” information is.
For people in my general circles it’s “common sense” to use a password manager, git, etc. For plenty of people they’ll just give a glazed over quizzical look/not even know what I’m talking about.
So as to say, common sense exists in some sense, but it doesn’t “exist” in the meaningful way many people would like it to.
I have another example from work. Most if not all of the people I work with have personal boats, ATVs, etc, and so in their free time tow trailers pretty regularly. We also use trailers at work. Some college interns start working with us, and no one bothers to check their trailer knowledge because (you guessed it) it’s common sense. Which resulted in the college interns trying to drive a vehicle into the trailer when it wasn’t hitched up.
What the interns didn’t know is you want the trailer to be hitched to a vehicle so the front of the trailer stays in place when you’re putting weight on the back. Otherwise the trailer becomes a seesaw and the front end jumps up into the air.
My general rule is if you’re about to say something like, “That’s just common sense,” you should stop yourself. Common sense to whom? In my experience people call something “common sense” when it’s something they’re used to doing and they forget not everyone is used to doing it.
Cute argument. Love it!
I was actually kicked twice by horses when I was a child. Maybe you should pass that information along to the newer generations…
You know, actually teach what you believe should be common sense…
You know, actually teach what you believe should be common sense
…
You completely and utterly missed every point I was making if you still think that’s common sense.
Here’s an example of common sense in 2024, that’s actually relevant to “newer generations” tho:
When someone is that incapable of understanding something, blocking them is better than wasting time repeating yourself.
Again, that’s not common sense. There is no such thing as common sense.
You had to be educated to learn to use digital technology in the first place.
But maybe, just maybe you can listen to your own supposed ‘common sense’, and just drop your argument and go touch some grass or something.
Why do people who are also on the internet always feel like trying to say the other person doesn’t go outside is a valid argument it’s just as likely you’re a basement dwelling virgin who hasn’t seen the sun in months as it is he is.
I’m between pit stops right now, elbow deep in grease and about to have to change a starter on a Hyundai.
And I’ve had more than my share of relationships. Thank you for the insult though.
And yet you still find all this time to argue on the internet? Hopefully one day I can be half as successful as you!
But by creating isolated communities, the common sense will be isolated alongside into clusters of uncommon common senses which will make them not common at all.
I think you’ve misunderstood the comment you replied to. You’re agreeing.
I used to believe narwhals were a fake internet cryptid, but no, real ass aquatic mammal.
Great, now I have to think about unicorns, dragons, and giraffes as cryptids.
hahah wait, wait a minute…
…dragons too ??
hahah wait, wait a minute…
…dragons too ??
Mosquito hawks don’t eat mosquitos or larvae or do anything against mosquitos.
It always seemed odd since they fly like they’re drunk but I figured mosquitos aren’t much stronger fliers so maybe they’re just ‘good enough’ to catch mosquitos. Nope- it’s just a dumb name for a crane fly. I always gave them room even when they bothered me because I figured they’re doing good work eating the enemy, but now I know they’re not allies I swat them like any other pest.
I was always told that the reason you used to see an Olive Garden next to every Red Lobster is because a husband/wife couple owned both chains and wanted the restaurants placed next to each other. Then a decade ago when they kinda stopped doing that it was because they divorced.
I can’t find a single piece of evidence that supports this claim online. The two restaurants were just owned by the same parent company and Red Lobster got sold off in 2014.
Huh, I always assumed it was just because they target the exact same people. The only differentiator is pasta or seafood, in my mind.
This is it. Modern planners use GIS and data analytics to place new stores. In my region Publix and Starbucks are a common thing and usually going for similar demographics, so it’s not unusual to often see them in the same shopping plaza. Similarly dollar stores, Walmarts, and Dunkin’ Donuts always seem to find a place in the same neighborhoods too (in my experience). Those Dollar & Dunkin’ neighborhoods almost never have a decent grocery either.
I’ve heard that Starbucks spends so much doing neighborhood research and real estate trends that if you buy property anywhere near where they are building a new Starbucks, you are likely to see a positive return.
That is a creative way to leverage their work. I like it.
Oh there’s a lot.
- When I was a kid, parents and teachers used to teach, if you have sore muscles a day after an extensive workout, you need to work out even more in order to reduce the soreness. In fact, however, you need to rest those muscles.
- I thought, pepperoni was pepper. (Like bell pepper, just smaller; similar to chilli). Then my girlfriend enlightened me after a confusing conversation, that pepperoni was a kind of salami. And then recently, at a company event before ordering pizza and after a very confusing discussion of what toppings we order, it turned out pepperoni was actually a kind of a salami, but not everyone agreed. So by now I’ve learned that pepperoni is neither of them. It doesn’t exist. It’s listed on pizza menus, and when you order it, you’ll get something for sure, but you won’t know in advance what it would be.
- This isn’t new, the realization was several years ago, but fits this list nicely: I thought, perfume was something for women. It turned out, there was perfume for men too.
- Parents used to teach, if you read in the dark (on paper, not on a screen, I must add), you’re ruining your eyes. But if you think about it: wtf does low light do to your eyes? By that logic, you’re constantly ruining your eyes while sleeping.
- For some reason I used to think, you could simply delete related entities bound by foreign key constraints in postgres, if you ran the query in a transaction. Once when I finally needed to do this, I learned the hard way I was wrong.
There’s a lot more than this, probably I’ll update this comment in the future. Or not.
I love how this comment covers super common misconceptions, but then throws a super specific database issue in at the end. Gotta have that cascade on delete, unless you want orphans.
Or nullable FK , with on delete set null.
Or have a default value for the FK, and on delete set default.
Parents used to teach, if you read in the dark (on paper, not on a screen, I must add), you’re ruining your eyes. But if you think about it: wtf does low light do to your eyes? By that logic, you’re constantly ruining your eyes while sleeping.
The theory is that frequently straining your eyes is an issue, so reading in conditions that are difficult to see in will weaken them, not that dark itself hurts your eyes.
That was just a theory from coincidence but in reality we figured out that we need ir from the sunlight outside to tell our eyeballs to stop elongating as people grow.
When I was a kid, parents and teachers used to teach, if you have sore muscles a day after an extensive workout, you need to work out even more in order to reduce the soreness. In fact, however, you need to rest those muscles.
Strained muscles need rest but when starting a new workout routine it’s common to experience Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) the next day which you can relieve with light exercise.
Pepperoni (double p) is a type of salami in my view, but TIL that peperoni (single p) are a type of sweet pepper. I knew that peperoncini are a type of hot pepper.
how about actual italians don’t know what the fuck pepperoni is. they have pizza salami, but that weird red sausage is not something you’ll find in Italy
That vapes cause popcorn lung. Only specific vape juice that isn’t sold anymore or hard cbd oil in a vape caused popcorn lung.
That isn’t to say vaping is good for you. It just doesn’t cause popcorn lung
I used to believe business could claim tax breaks for the money we contribute when they ask “Do you want to donate to XYZ cause?”
I learned today about how businesses can’t actually claim point-of-sale charitable donations that show on a receipt for a tax write-off. Also, I learned about how no one can claim tax write-off for cash donations into a charity jar.
So I was just being a greedy asshole this whole time?
Only you can decide that for yourself. I still donate money to causes I believe in, just not to one’s thrust upon me at the checkout. I’m not a fan of guiltlanthropy.
deleted by creator
Any way the wind blows…
NaN == NaNNot every Corner Bakery is, in fact, located at a corner
That I was the only idiot around. My, how wrong I was!
Allowing a Pokémon to evolve earlier results in a stronger 'mon at the end.
I thought that was to balance the faster level gain and learning of moves, but no. The only consideration to letting a Pokémon evolve is “will it learn the move I want”. I was corrected yesterday.
It’s pronounced offen with a silent T. You may think you sound smarter with a hard T, but you’re ignoring the root etymology of the word.
you’re ignoring the root etymology of the word
Thousands of times a day for me, you don’t know the haff of it.
So, the dictionary is not a gold-standard.
It is, in fact, the opposite and in very simplified terms, just a book of how people currently pronounce words and their meaning today. Think of it more as a record book for the time it was printed, rather than a rule book; living languages are funny like that.
If you would like to know more, I highly recommend Word by Word written by Kory Stamper, one of the editors for the Merriam-Websters Dictionary.
The word has always had a t sound since Old English, and it’s part of the reconstructed language Proto-Germanic in the form *ufta. Every other Germanic language displays a t in the corresponding word:
Scots oftin (“often”), North Frisian oftem (“often”), Saterland Frisian oafte (“often”), German oft (“often”), Pennsylvania German oft (“often”), Danish ofte (“often”), Norwegian Bokmål ofte (“often”), Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Swedish ofta (“often”), and Icelandic oft (“often”).
deleted by creator
That’s how I feel about helicopter!
You and J live in a bubble in a hyperloop tunnel. You have not invented “oft” as part of any language yet. Or do You and K live in the anthro and say oof… and laugh every time someone trips on a coconut often enough it becomes mean? Either is possible, yet oft misunderstood.
The earth is flat. I learn this because I read some book called discworld
