This story was told to me by my visiting goddessmother, who overheard the following exchange as she walked through the zoo:
A boy reading a plaque by the primates exclaimed, “Look, Dad, it’s a white-faced gibbon!”
“That’s not a gibb-on,” the father corrected. “It’s a gah-BAHN.”
And thus is another generation warped by misinformation.
{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}
4 comments:
And what's a gah-bahn? Some sort of fast highway for German primates?
"achhh" to quote me (shakes head).
This kind of stuff makes me NUTS.
I saw a young boy (what, 6? 7?) excitedly look up at his dad and declare "a spider is an arachnid!" Clearly he just learned this, and my biologist heart was warmed.
Then the dad looked down, disgusted look on his face, and scolded in an angry voice, "No it is not. A SPIDER is an INSECT."
ARRRRRRGH!
Makes me feel stabby.
Seriously, I need an "I'm a BIOLOGIST" cape that I can WHIP out, w/big superhero boots, & suddenly JUMP in front of them, and intervene.
"Hello. Do not be afraid. I am a PROFESSIONAL biologist. THIS is an intervention. You, sir, are mistaken. Your child is absolutely correct. Spiders are arachnids. They have eight legs. Insects, on the other hand, have six legs. Here you go, young man. You have a bright future ahead of you," and then hand the child a (non-transferable or cash-able) certificate good for a four year college education as a biology major.
And make a dramatic exit.
Can we be that in our next life?
=)
Hey, Bio-Blabber,
That's a Super fantasy! Hope you win the lotto and get to do it. You know how it is--when you're multi-rich, you're eccentric. When poor, you're nuts:).
Biobabbler: I love the fantasy, too! And, while neither of us is likely to be able to hand out college educations, I think we very much need to petition our loved ones for Biologist capes and boots with which to leap into the fray and correct the ignorant, misinformed, or just plain dumb.
Post a Comment