I have no idea what I am talking about

[Enzo]

A while back I lamented our youth know nothing and cannot answer simple questions about the world they live in. A number of people responded to me (on some other forum, not here) that Google was the answer, kids don;t need to know anything, they can simply look it up.

So I was listening to the radio, and for a reason not relevant, I wrote myself a little joke:

My wife complained her nylons smelled funny, so I told her, "Hose by any other name would smell of feet."


Oh, not my best work, but it occurred to me, would these ignoramuses even get that it was more than a simple pun? Would google return the source of the sentence played upon?

I googled "hose smell of feet" and got a lot of amusing hits, but I didn't see Romeo among them.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

Without context, which you can only get from learning, facts are pretty useless.

[Мастер]

I googled "hose smell of feet" and got a lot of amusing hits, but I didn't see Romeo among them.

I liked an aspect of that goofy film from a few years back, where Shakespeare got all his best lines from that religious guy out on a soapbox preaching against the theatres :)

On a more serious note, I'm coming round more and more to the opinion that having facts well understood, burned into your brain, ready at a moment's notice, makes it far easier to put them together in a new way, and come to a novel conclusion, then if you arduously had to look up each fact in a book or on the web . . . if the tools are in your brain already, and you can use ten tools a minute, you can do things you couldn't do if you had to spend a while out looking for each tool.

[Heid the Ba]

Without context, which you can only get from learning, facts are pretty useless.

Agreed. As someone once said "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad."

[Lance]

If you Google the whole sentence,

Hose by any other name would smell of feet

, you get the expected response.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet | Southport Market


www.southportmarket.com/.../a-rose-by-a ... uld-smel...


Jun 25, 2012 – A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ... Climbing roses are tall, but the bottom couple of feet have very few leaves – what can I do about it? .... leaves dry or, better, invest in a watering system that uses a seep hose.









Life Your Way!: A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell NOTHING ...


www.pixiecd.com/.../a-rose-by-any-other ... ould-sme...










by Chris Dean - More by Chris Dean

Sep 12, 2012 – A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell NOTHING Like This! ... He also just happens to have blown a radiator hose upon his arrival the night before. ... she dares to step one single tennis shoe clad foot out of her vehicle for ...













"What's In a Name" by William Shakespeare


www.englishforums.com/English/NameWilli ... ./post.h...


It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor ... What's in a name? that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were ...









Customer Discussions: A rose by any other name would smell as ...


www.amazon.com/other-name-would-smell-s ... /.../1?_...


Mar 12, 2010 – A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. See latest post ... clean from dirty water - Brush rotation indicator; 8-foot hose; 1-year warranty ...

[Enzo]

Fair enough, but what kid these days inputs a complete sentence into anything?


The wife has a favorite joke. We dine at restaurants a lot, where we often hear "Smith, party of two." "Jones party of four" MacDuff, party of 5." and so on. What we want to hear someday is, interspersed in all the rest, "Donner, party of 12." Then Donner, party of 10." And Donner, party of 8." and so on. Well we think it is funny anyway.

We told that one to a hostess at a place once, and she thought it was just hilarious. She ran off to share it with her co-workers. A moment later she asked, "What was the name of that party again?" We told her Donner. We asked if she knew who the Donner party was, and she said no.

So we looked at one another. If she found it funny that some waiting party was shrinking, perhaps leaving to go elsewhere, then what difference does the name make? And if she had no idea who the Donner party were, then why would that be funny.

Sigh...

[Мастер]

We told that one to a hostess at a place once, and she thought it was just hilarious. She ran off to share it with her co-workers. A moment later she asked, "What was the name of that party again?" We told her Donner. We asked if she knew who the Donner party was, and she said no.

So we looked at one another. If she found it funny that some waiting party was shrinking, perhaps leaving to go elsewhere, then what difference does the name make? And if she had no idea who the Donner party were, then why would that be funny.

Sigh...

Maybe excessive fawning?

I can think of some occasions when a service person had clearly misunderstood my joke, quip, whatever, but nonetheless insisted that it was absolutely hysterical, incredibly witty, insightful, et al.

But definitely, if they don't know who the Donner party were, the whole point is rather lost . . .

[Lance]

But definitely, if they don't know who the Donner party were, the whole point is rather lost . . .

I thought it was the weather...

[Enzo]

Sometimes you aim a joke at their knees, and it still goes over their heads.

[Arneb]

Sometimes you aim a joke at their knees, and it still goes over their heads.

Ouch.

They say here, an intern has to know it, a senior has to know where to find it, an attending has to have stadff who knows interns.

Seems to be the other way round now.