# Odd questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311 "2008-03-22T03:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/61 "2008-03-24T22:48:48Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Snap a photo of a llama. Snap a photo of the sign of the local llama farm. Send them to the teacher. With a note that says ‘I believe in llamas!’ or ‘Llamas live!’ [/QUOTE] Or better yet, “I bellieve in llamas!” and “Llamas llive!” When I was in 6th grade my English teacher was out for half the year on maternity leave. We got a fresh college grad in to teach us. Had an argument with her one day because during grammar, she tried to tell the class that the sentence “He is older than me” was the correct choice instead of “than I.” I didn’t know enough grammar to ask her what “me” was the object of, but I knew she was wrong. Still bothers me. grrr ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/62 "2008-03-24T23:10:03Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] Or better yet, “I bellieve in llamas!” and “Llamas llive!” When I was in 6th grade my English teacher was out for half the year on maternity leave. We got a fresh college grad in to teach us. Had an argument with her one day because during grammar, she tried to tell the class that the sentence “He is older than me” was the correct choice instead of “than I.” I didn’t know enough grammar to ask her what “me” was the object of, but I knew she was wrong. Still bothers me. grrr [/QUOTE] Ugh…I would have collapsed. That is my biggest pet peeve – improper use of me vs I. It’s such a simple thing, and yet, you run into people who either a) always use me because they’re rebels without a brain or b) always use I because they’ve always been corrected, so always assume it must be I. Ugh and double-ugh! As for the llamas – had it been my child, I would have had tshirts printed up with pictures of llamas and “I believe in llamas” on the back. I like to be a bitch in subtle ways, but not my kid, not my issue, just found it funny considering the proximity of the school to no less than 3 farms on which llamas are raised! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/63 "2008-03-24T23:11:27Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] I like to be a bitch in subtle ways, but not my kid, not my issue, just found it funny considering the proximity of the school to no less than 3 farms on which llamas are raised! [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: I suppose next you’ll be telling us there’s a unicorn feed and tack store down the road, too. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/64 "2008-03-24T23:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] :rolleyes: I suppose next you’ll be telling us there’s a unicorn feed and tack store down the road, too. [/QUOTE] Right next door to the Dragon Hatchery. Out here in the sticks, we have all kinds of useful farmerys. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/65 "2008-03-25T02:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Uh, yeh – the girl dropped it, but had I been her parent, that teacher would have gotten a field trip less than 2 miles up the road to the **llama farm** there! [/QUOTE] In the teacher’s defense, maybe she never read the signs and _assumed_ they were alpaca farms. It’s an honest mistake:) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/66 "2008-03-25T02:28:20Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] IIRC, we were required to memorize all the counties in Texas while in grade school-----IIRC, that is. (I’m a native Texan) [/QUOTE] Yikes! They never made me do that when I was in grade school in Texas. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/67 "2008-03-25T02:33:24Z")
I can name and place on a map all 5 counties in Rhode Island. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/68 "2008-03-25T02:34:31Z")
A trip to Rhode Island, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/69 "2008-03-25T02:49:56Z")
[Llamas say OBEY](http://distractiblemind.ambulatorycomputing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/llama-obey.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/70 "2008-03-25T03:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Right next door to the Dragon Hatchery. Out here in the sticks, we have all kinds of useful farmerys. [/QUOTE] Speaking of, will you pick me up some chimaera guano next time you head by the menagerie? I’m planting a new row of tomatoes this year and I hear it makes excellent fertlizer. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/71 "2008-03-25T04:56:58Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Speaking of, will you pick me up some chimaera guano next time you head by the menagerie? I’m planting a new row of tomatoes this year and I hear it makes excellent fertlizer. [/QUOTE] You’ve got it all wrong. It’s _manticore_ dung that makes good fertilizer. Sheesh, some people will believe any old old wives’ tale. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/72 "2008-03-25T05:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Speaking of, will you pick me up some chimaera guano next time you head by the menagerie? [/QUOTE] You’ll have to come up to Minnesota to pick it up. I don’t think the post office would appreciate me sending THAT package. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/73 "2008-03-25T05:35:41Z")
_checks toilet_ wish I made guano… _pouts_ ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/74 "2008-03-25T07:23:35Z")
A few from my work in the dining hall: Which is bigger, a quarter chicken or a half chicken? What’s the difference between mushroom gravy and chicken gravy? What’s the Bourbon St. Ribeye? (This isn’t such a strange question, except that the words Bourbon St. were pronounced Bower-bon Saint.) I’ll probably think of a few more later. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/75 "2008-03-25T12:03:09Z")
Had my son in the pediatrican’s office for his 13 year old check up. In January. In New England. We were leaving and passed another doctor in the practice who we know and he turned to my son and asked “Been swimming?” My son’s hair was not wet. He was not in for a swimming-related condition. He is not known for his devotion to and prowess in swimming. As I said, it was the middle of winter in New England and COLD. I couldn’t help it- I burst out laughing. Swimming? How about that oldie, “How’s school?” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/76 "2008-03-25T13:27:27Z")
They don’t have indoor pools in New England? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/77 "2008-03-25T13:44:34Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] They don’t have indoor pools in New England? [/QUOTE] Of course we do. The funny part was: what could have possibly prompted the question? In January in New England that wouldn’t be the default question you ask someone you see once in a blue moon! Especially someone who is not a known for their swimming and didn’t look like they had been swimming. It was definitely an odd question in that context at that moment in time! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/78 "2008-03-25T14:52:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Georgia has 159 counties. (Texas has about 270 or so, but Georgia’s well under half the population size and under a quarter of the geographic size of Texas; it’s an almost ridiculous number of counties.) [/QUOTE] Well, isn’t the county a more meaningful socio-gummintal entity in the Old South than elsewhere? I remember being in NC and surprised to see big ole colorful signs along the road: “ **Cucumber County Welcomes You! Zue Keeney, Supervisor** ” Iowa, where I’m from, has 99 counties, most of which are just squares drawn in the tallgrass in 1840something with a courthouse, a cophouse, and an eeensy little green sign on the highway, but I knew people growing up who could name every one. Probably because they had numbers, in alpha order, on your car plates. 1-Adair, 2-Adams, 3-Allamakee…97-Woodbury, 98-Worth, 99-Wright. Texas, OTOH…Texas has enough counties (254) that you can categorize 'em by the kinds of name they have: -counties with a letter missing (Aransas, Fannin, Kenedy) -counties named after common household objects (Coke, Jack, Wood) -counties named for verbs (Dimmit, Falls, Scurry) -counties that look like typos (Erath, Foard, Parmer) -counties that just plain sound funny (Deaf Smith, Glasscock, Jim Hogg, Loving, Motley, and Swisher) -counties that seem to want very badly to be mistaken for other counties (Dallas and Dallam, Gray and Gregg, Walker and Waller, and the trifecta, Hale, Hall and Hill) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/79 "2008-03-25T15:05:52Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] Of course we do. The funny part was: what could have possibly prompted the question? In January in New England that wouldn’t be the default question you ask someone you see once in a blue moon! Especially someone who is not a known for their swimming and didn’t look like they had been swimming. It was definitely an odd question in that context at that moment in time! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Sorry.. misread your original post. I thought it said his hair _was_ wet. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311/80 "2008-03-25T15:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Il Palazzo] A few from my work in the dining hall: … What’s the Bourbon St. Ribeye? (This isn’t such a strange question, except that the words Bourbon St. were pronounced Bower-bon Saint.) [/QUOTE] To be honest that does parse pretty wierd for me too. My sight-reading equated it to something like Sault Ste. Marie, and in my mind pronounced it in fumbling French as something like “Bor-BOWN san ri-Bay”. It took an a couple seconds to figure out what it really was. But if I was reading out loud, I would have looked like a dumbass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-questions/442311.md?page=5)