Now most of us use duvets, the old housewife's law of 'top to bottom' seems pretty redundant...?

Question

not to mention 'sides to middle'.

Then there's how many bushels in a peck, or chains in a furlong, or even (if asked) who discovered America. In my school days we'd have confidently answered Christopher Columbus. But now the 'right' answer could easily be Eric the Red when we all know it was Prince Madog anyway, or maybe St Brendan the Navigator?

How much 'useless' information is swimming about in our heads, and was it really worth the bother of learning it all in the firs place when it can only lead to confusion in later years, and an almost certain and humiliating defeat in 'who wants to be a millionaire?

Answer 1

LOVE this question! You've put words on a thought thats been in my head for years.

When I look at the complexity of the universe I know that we finite humans haven't attained a millionth % of the "Knowledge" available to us .History was written by those with pen & ink, from their viewpoint and most of the information wasn't available to them. Mankind's futility show in their efforts over time, even in it's history books.
Who choses the issues (subjects) anyway? :)
Blessings- Juju

Answer 2

Amazin answered this question with sides to middle (reusing sheets). My wife and I (both 57) still try to practise the rigid economy that our parents used. I can still see my old school exercise books which came printed on the back cover with all those old measurements, and I remember learning them by heart. I also learnt the alphabet, mental arithmetic, all the parts of speech, parsing a sentence, the anatomy and physiology of the human body, the periodic table, conjugating foreign verbs, woodwork, metalwork, cookery, etc. Anything I couldn't learn at school I learnt at home. I think I was seven when I had to lay the fire in the morning, and when I got home I had to get the fire going (often by holding a sheet of newspaper across the fireplace) and peel the potatoes and other vegetables for supper, etc. And then make the meal. I did my homework in the evening in my room. When I was 9 I found a book that my beloved grandfather had left in a box - Teach Yourself Portuguese. So I did that. And I read anything and everything that I could lay my hands on from the library. Some people should be rewarded by society but they aren't, of course. One female librarian gave me a ticket to the adult section of the local rural library, although she knew I was under age. I read and read and read ...
So, no, I'm not sure how much useless information is swimming about in our heads. I learnt Latin, later on I got O levels, A levels, a degree, then an MA, then a PhD. Now all my children are away and I work as a male nurse in a home for old people with dementia and Alzheimers.
Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't!

Answer 3

I guess you didn't expect a serious answer, but the truth is that what we are taught in school is limited to the knowledge of the teachers. It is not acceptable to question the present paradigm.
So, as school children we are fed with what the teacher's know, which tends to be at least 30 years out of date.
My headmistress told a group of sixth formers, way back in the early 60s, that the capital of Brazil was Rio de Janeiro. We all protested and said, 'No, it's Brasilia'. She was not amused!
I once explained to a friend how ten-pin bowling came into being. (Because men were playing nine-pin bowling at lunch time and not coming back to work - so nine-pin bowling was banned). She looked at me and asked, 'Did you get that from a book of useless information?'.
Rumour has it that the human brain is more powerful than the most powerful computer. It's just our search engine which lets us down.

Answer 4

Aha! Sides to Middle. My old grandma told me about that, bless her, but I had trouble believing it.

Seems when a cotton sheet has started to wear, it gets a bit thin in the middle, where people have been lying on it, but is still as good as new around the outside.

The thrifty housewife would sit down and cut the sheet in half, and sew it with the sides joined together in the middle, and the middle bit on the outside edge. Then she'd have to sew the rough edges so they didn't fray, and everyone would have a seam line under their bottom.

Sounds dreadful to me. Wonder if it was just a war time thing?

Answer 5

Interesting i spose. Yesterday I came across Geremy Starnwaldt's old place of living. Saw the 'due for demolition' sign erected. House was hidden behind 4 rows of chestnut trees, and barely visible.
Contrary to popular belief, the term 'Nazidom' was coined by G.S - a political thinker - 1900 to 1963 - to describe socialist and nationalist parties' need to govern all they surveyed.
Some useless information i was taught at school. Seems a pity now everyone is a dying anyway.

Answer 6

I put the 'useless' information swimming about in my head to good use when I do my crossword puzzles. Obsolete terms fit into the Across and Down little squares very nicely.

I do agree with you about how useless it was to learn so many things during our school years. I was terrible in Geography class but now the names of so many countries have changed anyway. Too much information for this old brain! LOL

Answer 7

Columbus thought he was going to India and Saint Brendan was looking for Cork, Eric the Red discovered GREENLAND and Supported Man U, not the brightest of souls were they

Answer 8

I used to work in a nursing home for alzheimer's patients, and some of them had been highly educated, and they blathered on, bits and pieces of information, strung together in a non-cohesive way that made no sense. All that storage capacity filled with tidbits that did them no earthly good in the end, they had forgotten whether the underwear goes on the head, yet remembered facts about Lindberg and Nazi pulverizers in detail.

Answer 9

Mine is even worse with phone numbers. I can remember mine from 1941 with the street address forever implanted in my mind. I wish someone would explain to me why I still at times have to look up a friend's phone number. Sometimes I have deleted them accidently from my caller ID.

Answer 10

Sides to middle I still practice,sheets are so expensive.
I remember the saying.." If you a good husband wish to wed,first make the foot and then the head"At least it kept your feet warm!