General Chat

I remember being told when I was in Standard 4, age about 11 in N.Z., that the Battle of Waterloo was fought on the playing fields of Eton. How surprised I was at High School some years later to find it was fought in Belgium. Eton is supposed to be in England. What's it got to do with the Battle of Waterloo. It took me ages to work that one out.
Margaret.

Ditto Jackie, that and others that I can't remember... Did they make you type the letters out with your eyes closed too?

Liz, we had to type over and over again
the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
Love Jackie

On the back of that post, I'd like to say the most USEFUL thing that I learned at school was how to touch type.

Our Typing teacher was like a drill sergeant...and a heavy smoker, she used to go into the supply cupboard for ages and we could hear her hacking up her guts as she got in a crafty ciggie.

Now ladies, all together now "I must...I must..improve my bust!"

Higher Maths,

all I needed to know was how to count money!...anything else was superfluous as far as I was concerned :-))))))......can measure like a good un...by eye.


Susan
x

I just sat and wracked my brain trying to think of something I actually learned at school lol.

The winner of the most useless lesson ever goes to a Geography class in which we learned....wait for it....

....draws it out for atmosphere....







Where the best site is for a settlement. (by water, on a hill, near trees....etc) Blinky useless.

Never
Eat
Chips
Eat
Salad
Sandwiches
And
Remain
Young

Ok it wasnt totally useless but daft!

singing we had greensleves (not due to having no hankies)
early one morning and the teacher a nun spitefull old biddy who knew i couldnt carry a tune in a bucket always singled me out to sing
Love Jackie

basket weaveing, i ask you lol
ann

they taught us how to tell everyone what was in our pencil case in French. i can't remember how to ask directions or remember which is left and which is right, but i can tell you i have a rubber in my pencil case!

Latin, although I managed to get a grade 3 at O level - probably the equivalent of an A * * these days.

I could never quite work out why anyone would want to conjugate a table.

Not to stir the goldfish around with my ruler in a bored french lesson in junior school. Horrible Mrs Rutter sent me to the headmasters room, when I got there I was crying that much that he let me just wash the teachers cups in the staff room.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogroves, and the mome raths outgrabe.
Beware the Jabberwock, my son: the jaws that bite, the claws that catch.
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
He took his vorpal sword in hand; long time the manxsome foe he sought.
Then rested he by a TumTum tree and stood a while in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood, the Jabberwock with eyes of flame came whiffling through the tulgy wood and burbled as it came.
The vorpal blade went 'snicker snack'; he left it dead and with his head he came gallumphing back.
'And has thou slain the Jabberwock, my son? O frabjous day, callou, callay,' he chortled in his joy.

That's as much as I can remember; I learnt this at the age of about 9 (I was the Tumtum tree in my Brownie uniform!)
Not sure that the vocabulary and spelling were of much help - not a clue why we were taught this one!

Helen

P.S. Sewing also - I hated it. To this day I don't own a sewing machine and have resisted all suggestions of one as a 'present'!

Sewing and algebra were the things I hated....probably because i couldnt do either, oh and learning about the arable farming of Russia lol!!


Physics was another one I just couldnt apply to my life, probably why i failed it sooo badly!!

Hello Harry,


Caz xxx

Is a polygram a bit like a strippogram but uses a parrot, without any feathers?

Jac (who also hated maths as well and could see no point to any of it, as she was determined to marry an accountant and he could do all the sums!)

I think that the most useless thing that I learned at school (I use the word 'learn' loosely; I never got to grips with the blasted thing) was 'Modern Maths'.

Never, ever, have I had to add; subtract; multiply; etc. in base 2 or any base other than 10. Nor have I ever knowingly encountered a polygram. :(

Latin again

Amo
Amas
Amat

sadly never needed it much lol!
wrote at the back of my book

Latin is a language
as dead as dead can be
it killed the ancient Romans
now it's killing me

don't think the teacher thought it funny!

Sewing for me!!! God I hated it - once had to make a gathered skirt - mum very kindly sewed the hem for me by hand (so I could take it in to school the following day for marking) as I was going to safety-pinn it up!. The old cow of a teacher said "Very neat Jacqueline, but why oh why did you make the hem so big???"

Mum was not amused!! pmsl

Logarithms....??? I didn't understand them.

Valencies.... " Now girls, this has a valency of ( whatever)

.....What did it all mean?

Thank goodness I've never needed that knowledge.

Gwyn

We were taught how to iron a shirt and the correct way to fold it.....................I'm sure we had coat hangers back then! lol

xx