General Chat

Posted a similar thread a few years ago. Re-hashing for my own purposes. Interested in the answers.

What useless things were you taught at school, such as the completely useless 'co-efficient of linear expansion of iron'.

The pretty useless such as the opening paragraph of Twelfth night, which appears in a quiz every year or so.

The jokey useless 'do you say the yolk of an egg is white, or the yolk of an egg are white. ( I know).

Happy days

'high heels were invented by a woman who kept being kissed on the forehead'.

Latin mythology - only useful in crosswords :-D

Latin at grammar school,never got the hang of it ,loll and was a complete dunce with it in lessons and exams
Geometry too was complete no no to me ,But loved algebra although never found a use for it after school :-(

Completely useless - co-efficient of linear expansion of iron???? You're nothing to do with railways or bridges then? Co-efficient of linear expansion of metals, I assume you're not an electrician or in electronics/computers?

I for one enjoyed my physics lessons and have found it helped me understand in things I came across in life. :-)

Latin and Algebra :-| :-D :-D :-D. Totally useless to man and beast.

x = -b plus-or-minus the square-root of b-squared - 4ac all over 2a :-D

The formula for solving quadratic equations..... One of my maths teachers used to make us prove it.

Andy

Trigonometry.. still don't even understand what it means..lol :-S

Cookery. Cheese straws and fairy cakes.

Poetry. What's the use of that?

Poetry is beautiful.... :-D :-D

Algebra, geometry but then it's important, IMO, for everyone to have the exposure of the subjects already mentioned. Who knows which child will be the next Einstein, Shakespeare or whatever?

Shakespeare wrote plays.....to be watched. When they are dissected and analysed in the classroom, it takes away any potential enjoyment.
Latin, which wasn't offered at our school, is the Root of many European languages. If you were to have a smattering you might have a chance of working out what something means. Plants and animals (and probably other things) have Latin names. Very handy for the botonist or even the (back) gardener. :-D

How to tell the mental demeanour of a cow in a field by the way it swings its tail.

Having to learn by heart .......... they rode into the Valley of Death

gave me nightmares

:-(

I don't think I was taught useless stuff, just that I was pretty useless myself at some things.

Physics was totally beyond me, not helped by the fact that the physics teacher absolutely terrified me. Both the domestic science teacher and the art teacher suggested I might do better at Latin. Unlike Shirley (we went to the same school though at different times) I did like Latin and went on to do it at A level. DetEcTive is right. A knowledge of Latin is a great help with many modern European languages, including English.

Just thought of something useless - I've never found a need for knowledge of Caesar's endless b****y Gallic wars

Something different.........

I learned Scottish Country Dancing at primary school............

Can't say I've done much of it since moving to Australia :-D

When I was in Junior school,I learned that you couldn't get a job in the post office if you wrote with your left hand!...and was made to believe that you were a bit retarded if you were that way...had the strap from headmaster.

How times have changed...and I still write left handed.I took French and Latin at school and have O levels in both...
I know a lot of people think Latin is a dead language ,but do agree that it helps with both English and other languages.It has helped me many times,especially when living partly in Spain....and identifying plants etc..
When I was at school you had to have Latin to go to University......that was before they introduced a lot of ..useless ..degrees in obscure subjects.

How to make an embroidered kettle holder.

How to make peppermint creams.

Maypole dancing.

Not to get on the wrong side of the nasty, two faced little bully or he would set about you with his cane.

How to write many, many hundreds of lines. Actually, I loved writing lines and would do anybody's for them.

That birds slept in their nests (!?!).

Which birds lay eggs with white yolks? :-S

Try it with other people Graham. They usually fall for it. Many thanks to all for your excellent and interesting replies.

Re lines. We used to have to write facts out, possibly 100 times. Was an excellent way to memorise them.

Best wishes to all. Happy days