Sometimes I truly despair about the educational standards in our schools. Not regarding obscure PhD theses on particle physics; rather I mean ordinary primary school, high school and undergraduate education.
Years ago I ran a competition for the Most Stupid Comment Ever Made On IRC (internet relay chatting channels). People from all over the world cut and pasted their entries, and emailed them to me in Melbourne. I gave dozens of these comments to a group of three reasonably bright colleagues at my campus, academics who had never heard of IRC. And here are the proud award winners!!!
![]()
10th place getter: Islam is the only ancient religion. Christianity came thousands of years later and Judaism is a newly arrived religion (American woman).
Years ago I ran a competition for the Most Stupid Comment Ever Made On IRC (internet relay chatting channels). People from all over the world cut and pasted their entries, and emailed them to me in Melbourne. I gave dozens of these comments to a group of three reasonably bright colleagues at my campus, academics who had never heard of IRC. And here are the proud award winners!!!
Olympic Games, Melbourne
19563,314 athletes in 17 sports
Plus 158 equestrian athletes from 29 countries whose events were held in Stockholm
19563,314 athletes in 17 sports
Plus 158 equestrian athletes from 29 countries whose events were held in Stockholm
because of Australia's quarantine laws
10th place getter: Islam is the only ancient religion. Christianity came thousands of years later and Judaism is a newly arrived religion (American woman).
9th place getter: "I don't believe Australia was ever at war against Vietnam and certainly not during the 1962-72 era. Nor were 3,000 Australian soldiers dead or wounded. I am Australian and I have never heard of the Vietnam War" (Australian woman).
8th place getter: “I don't like Celsius, it's a very crude scale; Fahrenheit is more precise” (American woman)
7th place getter: “The Nazis were true socialists. Their party was the Nationalist Socialist Party.. that proves it” (American man)
6th place getter: “Papua New Guinea is nowhere near Australia! How stupid Australians are." (German man).
5th place getter: "Melbourne never had the 1956 Olympic Games. Sydney's 2000 Games were the first time the Olympics had been in the Southern Hemisphere" (Australian man).
4th place getter: "I hope Western Australia is no more than 2 hours flight from Seattle. I am going to visit friends in Perth and I never travel more than 2 hours in a plane" (American woman)
![]()
And now the true champions............... drum roll!
Bronze medal: "I am going to exercise my thighs throughout pregnancy, so there won't be any pain in labour" (Swedish woman)
Silver medal:
A man asked the question: "Which was the worst natural disaster in the world in the 20th century?"
One member of the channel gave a possible answer "China's earth quake of 1975 when 30,000 people died".
The original discussant disagreed, saying the Alaskan earthquake was the worst in the world, because China was not in the USA (American man)
Gold medalist and All Time Champion Stupid Comment: "The Bible was originally written in English because English was the language that Jesus spoke with Mary and Joseph (American woman).
**
Have you seen monumentally stupid lines in IRC or in the bloggy world, although please exclude social media since they are always filled with errors in spelling, grammar and facts. We can always add more prize winners!
8th place getter: “I don't like Celsius, it's a very crude scale; Fahrenheit is more precise” (American woman)
7th place getter: “The Nazis were true socialists. Their party was the Nationalist Socialist Party.. that proves it” (American man)
6th place getter: “Papua New Guinea is nowhere near Australia! How stupid Australians are." (German man).
4th place getter: "I hope Western Australia is no more than 2 hours flight from Seattle. I am going to visit friends in Perth and I never travel more than 2 hours in a plane" (American woman)
Australia, Papua New Guinea and West Papua
seem to have once been part of the same land mass.
And now the true champions............... drum roll!
Bronze medal: "I am going to exercise my thighs throughout pregnancy, so there won't be any pain in labour" (Swedish woman)
Silver medal:
A man asked the question: "Which was the worst natural disaster in the world in the 20th century?"
One member of the channel gave a possible answer "China's earth quake of 1975 when 30,000 people died".
The original discussant disagreed, saying the Alaskan earthquake was the worst in the world, because China was not in the USA (American man)
Gold medalist and All Time Champion Stupid Comment: "The Bible was originally written in English because English was the language that Jesus spoke with Mary and Joseph (American woman).
**
Have you seen monumentally stupid lines in IRC or in the bloggy world, although please exclude social media since they are always filled with errors in spelling, grammar and facts. We can always add more prize winners!