From the “I don’t normally forward these on” department, I received an e-mail that I thought I’d share. It highlights some of the more ‘unusual’ answers on written tests when the student is at wits’ end. Bonus points if you can answer the questions!
These should get A’s for ingenuity.
those are great
In a college English class, one of the questions was, “What are the last two words of King Lear?”
My answer - “The End”
These are fantastic. I love the one with the hanged man.
All throughout my life, for some reason the word “banana” has been my catchall. If I did not know the answer to a question, I would just write “banana” – or if an essay was required, I would write a lovely bit about bananas. I don’t know why.
My junior year of high school (the year I really did too much LSD during school hours), I found that my English teacher really found that habit annoying. She would give me all kinds of flack about my banana answer, and being the obnoxious creature that I was (and still am, I think) I would find legitimate reasons to use the word “banana.”
My favorite example was during a spelling/vocabulary test in which we had to spell the word correctly and use it in a sentence correctly. The word was “atrophy.” My sentence was “Bananas, when left on the counter for months on end will eventually turn black and atrophy.” After that particular test, I began working the word “banana” into every single sentence for our vocab tests. That teacher, for all that she should have hated me loved me. I almost miss her…
At least the teachers would have derived some amusement from the hapless students’ answers.
Maybe because I’m a bit simple-minded, but for the next few weeks, the words “Here it is!” will cause me get the giggles.
Bwahaha!
I love those. Number 8 has been posted here before, but the others are new to me. I loved the guy hanging on the equation. For some reason that one reads like a geeky Sergio Aragones cartoon.
Thanks for posting these. I thought they were hilarious!
The one with the elephant is my favourite. It can’t roll down the graph because there is a (fairly well-drawn) elephant in the way. I love absurdities like this.
“Find x” is my favourite.
It’s reminded me of the story of a teacher who explained to his class how to do a certain algebra problem. He started by saying “Suppose the answer to this problem is x…” and went through a whole lot of algebraic manipulations on the blackboard to find x. At the end, one student raised his hand. “But Sir, suppose the answer isn’t x? What then?”
I love #7. If you don’t know the answer to a question, make up your own damn question and answer that.
Who knew that you could use calculus to find out the secret identities of super heroes? I’m gonna learn me some calculus and prove my theory that Superman is, in fact, Jimmy Olsen.
Thank you Scruloosee, thank you for the best laugh I’ve had in weeks.
I always enjoy a good 2nd Law joke.
Stranger
Agreed. It gave me a good chuckle now that I have to face my commute home. 
I put a couple of these in my favorites. OH MY GOD THESE ARE FREAKIN’ HILARIOUS!!! I can’t wait to use a few of them myself…
Ha, those are great! I love #3 especially.
This is not quite on the same order, but it made me chuckle. I was tutoring some kids recently who were reading an essay on Jackie Robinson, and we got to a part where it mentioned that Robinson’s brother had been an athlete in the 1936 Olympics. I thought I’d insert a bit of history into the lesson.
Me: "Okay guys, so Jackie Robinson’s brother was an athlete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. And Berlin’s in Germany, right? So who can tell me what was happening in Germany in the '30s?
Student, with a withering glare: “Duh – the OLYMPICS.”
Those are great. For some essay questions, there is the work of the incomparable Peter Nguyen.
Jimmy McPerson, greatest unknown hero of World War II
and
U.S. capitalism and influence on foreign nations
Pure. Gold.
