# Twain Dickens was a sway French writer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twain-dickens-was-a-sway-french-writer/49288>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 10, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twain-dickens-was-a-sway-french-writer/49288 "2001-01-10T04:53:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twain-dickens-was-a-sway-french-writer/49288/1 "2001-01-10T04:53:43Z")

</div>

Hi everybody.

Last Friday, I took part in a seminar that grouped me, a bunch of high school English teachers, and a bunch of college English professors together to grade a bunch of 11th graders’ term papers.

Each student chose a “notable American” and wrote about his/her contributions to society. Some of these papers were quite . . . illuminating - so illuminating that many of us had tears in our eyes and were unable to breathe due to the intensity of our emotional responses.

Did you know:

- Albert Einstein was born in 1789 and died in 1955?

- Emily Dickenson was painfully shy and often depreciated in front of strangers.

- Muhammad Ali did not earn a college degree, but the student’s neighbor informed him that Ali had attended the University of Hard Knocks. The student was, unfortunately, unable to confirm this information.

- Jackie Robinson was especially noteworthy for serving as vice-president of Chock-Ful-O-Nuts and playing football in college. [The paper made no mention of the fact that Robinson was the first Black man to play in baseball’s major leagues.]

- Susan B. Anthony was hung in Ephigy and later buried in Syracuse.

- Ted Turner suffers from bipolar disorder, violent mood swings, an insatiable sexual appetite, and cyclothmania. However, despite these few setbacks, he is an excellent sailor.

- Charlie Chaplin faced several challenging obstacles in his life: several divorces, disapproval of his politics, and hobo-faced homosexuals.

You know, I’m so thrilled to be a part of education. Goddess knows, I could never come up with this stuff on my own.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twain-dickens-was-a-sway-french-writer/49288/2 "2001-01-11T03:05:51Z")

</div>

Okay, I was all right until I got to the part about “hobo-faced homosexuals”. Then I fell off the computer chair.