# Could someone else have been buried in Grant's tomb? Teacher made boy cried. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 21, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236 "2014-03-21T17:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/41 "2014-03-27T21:13:03Z")
SInce I wasn’t there, I can’t judge what really happened. MAYBE the teacher was really being a jerk. But MAYBE the teacher was TRYING to ask a super easy question with a self-evident answer, and was flummoxed to find that the kid didn’t get it. I’m old (53), and I remember hearing teachers or patronizing adult relatives asking all kinds of silly questions LIKE “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Sometimes the question contained the right answer. Examples? “What color is the White House?” “Who painted _ **Whistler’s Mother** _?” “How long was the Thirty Years War?” Usually, teachers who asked these questions were trying either to make the kids laugh or to give a ridiculously easy question to a kid who’d gotten some tougher questions wrong. Problem is, nowadays, if you don’t live in New York City (as I did), you may never even have heard of Grant’s Tomb (it’s not as big or prestigious a landmark as it once was). And many little kids don’t know yet who Ulysses S. Grant was. So, what seems like a softball, gimme question may actually perplex a little kid. If that happens, the teacher should immediately reassure the kid that it was a joke question. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/42 "2014-03-28T15:49:51Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > What color is a green blackberry? > > Red! Another, slightly technical, and really only a viable trick question to someone who’s had a high-school-level education in biological sciences (and specifically taxonomy): What birds are in the genus _Puffinus_? [Shearwaters.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffinus)Not puffins. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/43 "2014-03-29T09:48:04Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > I would think you’d have to have a number of things physically on top of your person. For example, if a single sheet of plywood was on me, I wouldn’t say I was buried under plywood. Now, if there were 100 covering me, then I would. Then you’re a better person than I am. If I had a hundred sheets of plywood atop me, all I’d be saying is, _“Can’ breef!”_ ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/44 "2014-03-30T04:57:36Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > they aren’t buried or entombed. they are resting. Or possibly pining for the fjords. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/45 "2014-03-31T14:58:01Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You’re using Merriam-Webster. Your argument is invalid. OED concurs. So neener, neener, neener. ---
**Author:** ![zenbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7feea3/32.png) [@zenbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenbob)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/46 "2015-01-28T16:57:21Z")
As long as we’re being pedantic about words and dictionaries, I submit that it would be rare if any of you who said so were actually laying in your beds. Rather, you were lying in your beds. As General Grant and Mrs. Grant’s bodies are lying in Grant’s Tomb. > **[To Lie or To Lay? | Get It Write Online](https://getitwriteonline.com/lie-or-lay/)** > > The verbs "to lie" and "to lay" have very different meanings. Find out whether to use "lie" or "lay" and read other free grammar tips at Get It Write Online. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/47 "2015-01-28T17:26:36Z")
> [@zenbob](#): > > As long as we’re being pedantic about words and dictionaries, I submit that it would be rare if any of you who said so were actually laying in your beds. Rather, you were lying in your beds. As General Grant and Mrs. Grant’s bodies are lying in Grant’s Tomb. > > [To Lie or To Lay? | Get It Write Online](http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/051402lielay.htm) Nobody likes a lyer. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/48 "2015-01-28T17:46:53Z")
> [@zenbob](#): > > As long as we’re being pedantic about words and dictionaries… Well, we were… about 10 months ago. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/49 "2015-01-28T18:02:43Z")
But what if Grant was reposing in his tomb while was playing a small ancient Greek harp and using a sodium hydroxide solution and being dishonest? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/50 "2015-01-28T18:11:36Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > They’ve joined the choir invisible! They are ex-people! OTOH, since they are over the ground they can’t be pushing up the daisies! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/51 "2015-01-28T18:14:31Z")
> [@kstarnes](#): > > Some years ago, a teacher made a sensitive classmate of mine cry when he couldn’t figure out whom was buried in Grant’s tomb and well, the teacher made fun of him. I always felt bad about that incident \*Find his/her retirement home. \*Pull the batteries out of his/her remote. \*Manually change the channel to QVC. \*Profit! > [@Chefguy](#): > > Nobody likes a lyer. …well, [maybe somebody does](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ISe0fdoaPs); just not me. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236/52 "2015-01-28T19:04:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Nobody likes a lyer. Soapmakers do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-else-have-been-buried-in-grants-tomb-teacher-made-boy-cried/684236.md?page=2)