Are You Smarter Than a 4th Grader?
April 29, 2008 by Allison
I’m pretty sure I saw a guy I remember from grade school today. Given the length of time that has passed since then, I tried to do some kind of reverse missing-child age progression to verify…but eventually I started creeping myself out with my staring and opted against approaching him. [I am simultaenously cursed/blessed with an insanely good memory for names and faces...I usually keep it to myself in the interest of avoiding any kind of stalker vibe.]
I’ll always remember that kid because he taught me a very important life lesson. In the 4th grade, he told me that dinosaurs had very small brains relative to their body size. Now I had absolutely no knowledge about dinosaurs, but I just knew that he could not be right about that. No way could something that big have a small brain. And that’s what I told him. Vehemently. Adamently. Self-righteously. He, of course, defended his position and sought affirmation from the teacher. The teacher told me that he was right and I nearly died from embarrassment. The lesson I learned was this– don’t talk about what you don’t know, and for crying out loud, don’t ever, ever disagree with somebody unless you are right (and even then, it’s probably not worth it).
It’s great that you were able to glean some lesson from that encounter as the subject matter was definitely wanting.
Other than that lesson in humbleness, has the wonderful knowledge of dinosaur-brain-size served you in any way in your life? So many of us would have dismissed the important moral of social etiquette and simply learned that it’s better to insult such useless trivia than debate it.
Wow, you might have something there. I could have totally ridiculed him for showing off with useless trivia and avoided the whole embarrassed about being publicly wrong episode. Then I could have moved on to the kid from Jerry Maguire.
I too have the curse of an insanely good memory. I went to a huge high school, and just yesterday at my new office I met a guy. When he introduced himself, I was like, “oh yeah, you’re Gina’s brother…..”. He probably thinks I’m a freak now. I also recently did the same thing in Wal-Mart with Brian’s stepmom, who I met once, years ago.
I must make an attempt to avoid the stalker vibe.
You would think they would be flattered that you remembered them, and not at all frightened by stalker vibes
Good lessons to learn, definitely.
(And Alyson, I went to a huge high school that was nevertheless the only HS in that small, rural county…and that whole “I know your brother/cousin/parents/uncle” thing was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to get the holy hell outta there!)
Reminds me of Miranda Lambert’s “Famous in a Small Town” song!
Out of the mouths of babes.
This is something I’m struggling with now. I’ll say something and MLI will argue back with me. I know I’m right, so I’ll respond in kind, and then he will too. Back and forth…blah blah blah!
How do you argue with someone who is so adamant in their own beliefs? It’s like arguing with a rock!
That is eerily similar to my experiences with the imp. We’ll be reading a book together and she’ll tell me that a panda bear is a polar bear. I’ll correct her, and she will reply, “No, it’s not a panda bear.” I drop it immediately because it turns into the rock argument to which you referred. Usually she’ll think for a minute and then say, “That’s not a polar bear, it’s a panda bear,” as though it was her idea. I can’t really make fun of her for that. #1, she’s 2 1/2 years old. #2, I’m the same way…sometimes I have to feel like something is my idea for me to go along with it.
There was a time when I thought I was smarter than a 4th grader. Now I am not so sure. My three year old nephew spent a morning educating me on the life of the pterodactyl and how they could benefit us today if they were still living.
(OK, his daddy is a rocket scientist… but darn, it smarts to be outwitted by a young ‘un)
I remember faces, but have a hard time remembering names to go along with them.
My kid knows more Spanish than I do….little smarties!
LOL … in college they called me “Rain Man” because of the stalkerish way I quickly memorized the “meet book.” Or is it “meat book?” I’d be introduced to a new person and I’d say, “Oh, you’re from Elkins Park …” Oddly enough, most people did not find this endearing. Which explains a lot. But anyway … I feel your horror. I do stuff like that all the time, even today. In fact I am going to do a Google confirmation right now to make sure that dinosaurs did in fact have pea brains.
I have never heard of a “meet/meat book” but I would have eaten that up…anything to aid a stalking habit
We had something like it…called “First Year Faces” or something like that? You had the option of sending in a photo, answering a few questions about what you were interested in, etc. It helped to be able to learn peoples’ names in your dorm, classes, etc. “That girl with the long curly hair…could be her…no, not her…YES. That’s her. Catherine.”
It also came out before move-in day, so that’s how my roommate and I figured out that we were both guitar players. That was nice to be able to discuss over the phone a time or two before we were thrown into un-air-conditioned dorms together…in Virginia…in August.
I always felt sorry for the people in un-air-conditioned dorms…every now and then somebody would draw a chalk body outline outside of the non-A/C dorms to demonstrate the misery.
…so he tells me the Allisonasaurus will actually lead you to believe it has a little pea brain when in fact its brain is very large relative to its body size. Of course by the time you’d of figure this out it would have stalked you, cornered you, and eaten you.
The only thing know to thwart the Allisonasaurus was a prehistoric restraining order. 
HA!
Roar.