# My Son is an Idiot... It is official **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198 "2016-04-04T20:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/41 "2016-04-05T20:55:11Z")
Also: The North American porcupine (as seen in the video linked above being stroked by gloved hands) isn’t found in Mexico. OP’s son is more likely to have encountered a [Mexican hairy dwarf porc](http://i.imgur.com/15waceA.jpg), which, despite the name, is much less hairy than the NA porc, and, I would think, more obviously unpettable. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/42 "2016-04-05T22:21:37Z")
Are you sure he didn’t hook up with a girl named Wynona? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/43 "2016-04-05T22:44:14Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > It was stupid. But if that’s the stupidest thing he ever does, I wouldn’t worry. Yes, but will it be? Next could come skunks, leeches, mountain lions, or alligators. Porcupines are well known as a gateway dangerous animal. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/44 "2016-04-05T23:03:04Z")
He’s not NOT licking toads. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/45 "2016-04-06T01:57:01Z")
Your son sounds like the kind of idiot offspring we’d all be proud to have! ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/46 "2016-04-06T03:13:20Z")
I’m glad to report that he did not progress to petting more dangerous animals. A group of them though did notice that a life sized figure of Spider-man seemed to be really lonely so they invited him along for some adventures. He never left the property and was returned no worse for the wear. He did however spend some time at the bar and the pool and was the subject of many Instagram posts before his adventure was over. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/47 "2016-04-06T10:48:13Z")
Your son can now cross this one off of his “bucket list!” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/48 "2016-04-06T12:10:31Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Last summer, one of my daughters touched a cactus “just to see” if the spines are really sharp like we said they were. > > Some people just value first-hand experience a bit too much. [QUOTE=Will Rogers] There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. [/QUOTE] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/49 "2016-04-06T19:24:19Z")
Whoa, Nelly, on the Will Rogers attribution! 'Tain’t so, sez [Factcheck.org](http://www.factcheck.org/2012/11/the-2012-factcheck-awards/)! Scroll about halfway down the page for the full story. > [@](#): > > Update, Nov. 8: This item has been updated to set the record straight about the quotation attributed to Will Rogers in the TV ad. We contacted Steve Gragert, director of the Will Rogers Memorial Museums in Oklahoma, to verify the quote. Gragert got back to us after we had published this article. He told us in an email that the quote is “not valid.”…{snip}…"The language in it, however, would not have been appropriate for Will to have used in his published writings and radio broadcasts.” It was the language that made me research the attribution. Will just didn’t talk like that! ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/50 "2016-04-06T21:47:27Z")
Yes, stupid but not dangerous, fortunately. Sadly, I was brought up in a very strict household, and then went to military college. I wasn’t until I was in the navy in foreign ports that I got to experiment. As we sometimes say in the RCN, “God looks after fools and sailors”. My stupidities involve wandering through several variants of Caribbean slums, drunk, at all hours of the night with nary a scratch:) It sounds like you are a good father btw. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/51 "2016-04-06T22:07:18Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Will just didn’t talk like that! Did you ever hear him talk in Cancun on Spring Break? ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198/52 "2016-04-06T22:25:37Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Nice story to pull out when reassuring young patients who have also done stupid stuff? Check. > > Good for a possible future memoir? Check. > > Bullet point on a CV? Probably not. I was thinking about this… it is all in how you spin it. “Spent time in Mexico doing field research on nocturnal indigenous wildlife. Specifically on the defense mechanisms of the Mexican Dwarf Hairy Porcupine.” Maybe he could apply for a grant to continue his studies next year. Not sure how he can spin “partied with Spider-Man” though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-an-idiot-it-is-official/751198.md?page=2)