Kamal Ghorui
Should general knowledge be renamed general ignorance? According to Global Language Monitor, a new word to describe a new thing, in fields as diverse as science and slang, is coined every 98 minutes, resulting in over 5,400 additions annually.
If this were not information overload enough, terms that have long been and continue to be in common usage are being revealed to be factoids, or manufactured facts, like fake news.
This was brought home to me recently when a reader, Harmeet, forwarded to me a post, billed as The World’s Easiest Quiz, with PS that passing requires only 3 correct answers – “Only total duffers will fail!!”
How long did the Hundred Year War between England and France last? Where are Panama hats made? From which animal do we get catgut? In which month is Russia’s October Revolution observed? What is a camel’s hairbrush made of? Canary Islands in the Pacific are named for which animal? What was King George VI’s first name? What colour is a purple finch? Where are Chinese gooseberries grown? What is the colour of Black Box in a commercial aircraft?
The answers: The Hundred Year War lasted 116 years, with time taken off to catch the latest episode of GoT. Panama hats are made in Ecuador. Catgut is got not from felines but from sheep and horses. Russians observe 1917 October Revolution in Nov, the time shift caused by changing from the old calendar to the new.
A camel’s hairbrush is made of squirrel fur, Canary Islands are named not after little yellow birds but dogs, George VI’s first name was Albert, Al to pals. Purple finches are crimson, Chinese gooseberries come from New Zealand, and a plane’s Black Box is orange.
I scored a perfect zero, which makes me a prime duffer, two exclamation marks and all. Thanks to such verbal misdirection, the more ignorant we remain, the less likely are we to be wrong.
Or, as Plato put it, only I know because I know I know nothing.
Editor’s note: the writer confirms his perfect ignorance by ascribing to Plato the famous quotation from Socrates.
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