# How much of what the Modern Major General knows is actually useful for an officer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517 "2011-09-16T14:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/21 "2011-09-17T22:20:00Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > ``` > I know the scientific names of beings animalculous: > In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, > > ``` > > Ok, basic science is good, but at this point, he’s repeating himself. In this verse he seems to be talking about microbiology (see [animalcule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animalcule)). Might be useful to know what your subordinates can get infected with when their legs get blown off. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/22 "2011-09-18T02:19:30Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Exactly - you said often - “frequently” - only once! I would like to see two North American Anglophones butcher that bit. Iunno which regional dialect would be best. Philly, Newfie, Southerner… …or perhaps Eye-tal-eye-an? I turned down an invite to sing in our local savoy because of my fear of being swamped in law school. This delightful nerdery is making me sad! ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/23 "2011-09-18T12:52:52Z")
Gibert and Sullivan might provide some insight into the qualities of late 19th century the peacetime Major General, but I do not think their satire is any help in evaluating modern reality. Since WW2 and maybe since WW1 Major Generals have been Division commanders, a military Division consisting of 10,000 18,000 or so men organized and trained for\* combat\*, the same population as a small town, except that in a real war _everyone_ in the town is going to try to kill someone. When one asks how big an army is, the number of divisions will give the best idea of the army’s fighting strength. Most Major General incompetent careerists were probably either dead or relieved of duty within a few months of the beginning of WW1. Whatever role careerism played pre-WW1, I believe sunsequently earnest effort was made to base promotion on merit. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/24 "2011-09-18T14:32:36Z")
But didn’t he become an honorary pirate? That’s got to count for something. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/25 "2011-09-19T22:51:24Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You mean he’s not really an orphan? What’s more … he never was one! (Thanks for the straight line. Sorry it took me four days to knock it down!) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/26 "2011-09-20T00:25:54Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > What’s more … he never was one! > (Thanks for the straight line. Sorry it took me four days to knock it down!) Am I to understand that, to save his contemptible life, he dared to practise on our credulous simplicity? (This is the only place on teh Interwebs where I can mangle G&S quotes and have a fair chance of someone picking up the cue. Astorian did oblige back on post 18. I love this place.) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/27 "2011-09-20T04:42:46Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Am I to understand that, to save his contemptible life, he dared to practise on our credulous simplicity? > > … Yes. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/28 "2011-09-20T11:16:35Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Yes. Our revenge shall be swift and terrible. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/29 "2011-09-20T12:05:36Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > ``` > I'm very good at integral and differential calculus; > > ``` > > Ok, math is good, but isn’t Trig necessary for ballistics? That’s gotta hurt Trigonometry is commonly taught as a subset of differential calculus, often because they have have the same applications, so I think our Major General is pretty safe here. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517/30 "2011-09-20T12:30:35Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I remember this bit from one of the Black Widower stories. > > The story doesn’t take place in a leap year. Frederic was born on leap day, but he’s 21 years old when the story opens, so it’s the year after a leap year. That puts the year of the action at 1877. > > In the story, they say that it’s possible that the Major-General could have heard the score a year before the play opened. I don’t know enough of 19th-century theater to judge if that’s plausible or not. > In any event, it’s much more likely that the Major-General would have heard of ‘that infernal nonsense Pinafore’ in 1877 than in 1876. Well, except the music for Pinafore wasn’t written until 1878; Gilbert barely had sketches of the libretto finished by the end of 1877. So I guess General Stanley really was ahead of his time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-what-the-modern-major-general-knows-is-actually-useful-for-an-officer/596517.md?page=1)