Do you know much?

CACTUSWENDY · May 4, 2008

I have been around some folks through the years that do not retain, or even know what may be considered trivial things, If it does not pertain to them, they could care less about even knowing about it.

Example: A 41 year old woman, when asked something about Ellis Island, had no idea what or where it was, let alone what took place there.

When questioned about how they do not know things, the replies often involves something to the effect….’If it doesn’t apply to me or my life…..I have no need to know it’.

Jay Leno has a spot he does somethings asking folks on the street normal everyday questions with surprising results.

I am the first to admit that I am not a storehouse of great wisdom by any means, but have always thought it was a good trait to have a little knowledge about lots of things.

Even at my age, I still find it important to learn about stuff. Each day I try to acquire at least some nugget of new information.

Do you think that as writers we are more data-info minded? From reading the posts here on this forum I have seen a wealth of knowledge, insight, and revelation.

What do you think? Do you find it important to keep adding information to your brain cells?

HeronW · May 4, 2008

Much was a character in one of the Robin Hood books I read a loooonnngggg time ago, so I do know him!

On the other hand--AW has revived old brain cell memories I didn't know I had still functioning. I know more than I thought I knew. :}

Mr Flibble · May 4, 2008

What did happen at Ellis Island? Um, is it near the Statue of Liberty...Ohh I know, the X men did that thing there....I think.

I find when I get a new piece of info to put in my brain, and old piece drops out the back.

Stormhawk · May 4, 2008

Without wiking: I'm pretty sure Ellis Island was where they used to "sort/process" the immigrants before letting them into the city. (I remember a joke on The Nanny, where an old woman says her ancestors came across on the Mayflower, Fran responds that her family came through Ellis and now they don't know who they were).

I do agree that what used to be common knowledge even twenty years ago seems to have disappeared, but it also depends on other factors. When I was in college, I was at the cinema with a friend and there was a poster for The Alamo movie. She looked at it and said "A-LAM-o, what's that?" "o_0' Well, it's-" "Is it a remake?" "No, it's based on historical events where-" "So, it's real then?" "Yes..." It might be worth noting that I also went to college with someone who didn't believe in evolution.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · May 4, 2008

And just think of all the stuff we were taught that's been disproved/replaced since we were in grade school. That B.A. I got 30 years ago is... ::sigh::[SUP]tm[/SUP]... worthless.

aka eraser · May 4, 2008

Most of my vast storehouse of largely-useless knowledge was the delightful (but largely accidental) byproduct of reading everything I could from the age of six.

Some of it stuck.

Danger Jane · May 4, 2008

I have a photographic memory so basically anything I hear or read that is somehow interesting/important...sticks. Very convenient. I'll let you know how it's doing in a few decades :tongue

SPMiller · May 4, 2008

I've lived in Texas all my life, but I went to Ellis Island in 2000, so obviously I know more about that than your average person. Even before I visited, I knew what purpose it served.

You know Leno just doesn't show the clips where people answer correctly, right? I mean, that's the way it used to be. I haven't watched Leno lately. But I'm pretty sure they just throw away the clips with people like me in them so that you can feel good about yourself by laughing at the ignorant ones.

Puma · May 4, 2008

Okay - now anyone know what Castle Gardens was? And when Ellis Island opened? Many more immigrants than you'd imagine who came to New York DIDN'T come through Ellis Island.

Back to the subject - I'm often very amazed at how little some people know, even PhD's when they get away from their specific field of expertise. And, I don't feel my BS from over 40 years ago is worthless - education wasn't watered down back then. Puma

steveg144 · May 5, 2008

I think it's absolutely critical to keep adding data to our brain cells. Data = raw material, and let's face it, as writers anything and everything we come across is potentially "material," so we should be constantly sifting data the way a baleen whale skims for plankton. :tongue

NicoleMD · May 5, 2008

I have an absolutely HORRIBLE memory, but it doesn't affect my writing in the slightest.

Sometimes it's a good thing, because I can watch a favorite movie or read a favorite book with fresh eyes each time. I think technology has also become a brain crutch for some people. When I was younger, I used to know all of my friends phone numbers by heart, but now, thanks to my cell phone, I have about three numbers memorized, and two of them are my own.

Nicole

Phaeal · May 5, 2008

It doesn't make me sad that people don't know things. What makes me sad is when they say they don't need to know things and show no interest in learning.

Like my friend who let me say Archaeopteryx three times without asking what it was, and whose eyes glazed over when I told him.

I don't know. Whenever someone says a word I don't know, I want to know what it means. In fact, I'll make myself a pest about it.

It also makes me sad when people believe what they want to believe, with no regard for what is. I think this tendency is linked to the willful, even proud ignorance.

Melenka · May 5, 2008

I am a font of useless information. I don't retain everything, but there are a lot of random facts or snippets of information rattling around in my brain. Once in awhile, they come in handy. Stories that people tell me, pieces of conversation overheard, random news reports, moments witnessed - all stay with me and inform my writing. I wonder if I am more aware because I write or if I write because I am more aware. I think I'll go have a beer with Descartes....

Bergerac · May 5, 2008

Too Much General Knowledge Is Brain Clutter

I think that the writers, maybe more than any other group aside from stage actors, are hungry for knowledge. But we are all selective, as selective as any other non-writer, in what interests, inflames, or excites us. I have a great breadth of knowledge but little depth except in the areas I specialize in and I would wager that that's true of most non-fiction writers and for fiction writers who have taken verisimilitude to heart.

However, I think trivia crowds the mind and I believe selective voracity for information best serves the writer.

Sherlock Holmes, during a discussion with Dr. Watson, in A STUDY IN SCARLET, probably put it best:

My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled around the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.

'You appear to be astonished,' he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. 'Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.'

'To forget it!'
......

'But the Solar System!' I protested.

'What the deuce is it to me?' he interrupted impatiently: ' you say that we go round the sun. If we went around the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.'

KTC · May 5, 2008

I have almost zero retention. I rediscover things daily. It's a terrible way to live, but not in my control.

brokenfingers · May 5, 2008

The more I know, the more certain I am that I know nothing.

kuwisdelu · May 5, 2008

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

rhymegirl · May 5, 2008

CACTUSWENDY said:
Do you think that as writers we are more data-info minded? From reading the posts here on this forum I have seen a wealth of knowledge, insight, and revelation.

What do you think? Do you find it important to keep adding information to your brain cells?

Personally, I do a lot of reading so I know I'm always adding info to my brain cells.

But I think it's also true that different people retain different info. If I'm reading something that is very interesting/inspiring/relevant to me, I'm much more likely to retain that information. On the other hand, if I have to read material which I find boring or simply not relevant to my life, I'm much more likely to forget it moments after I read it.

I'm also good at retaining a lot of trivia stuff. My sisters call me up when they have questions about movies, actors, actresses, songs, singers. I remember names, the years when certain movies won for Best Picture.

So, rather than writers being good at remembering data, I think it's people who READ.

A. Hamilton · May 5, 2008

I absorb a lot, and can recall much of it, but not with total accuracy. usually I will remember a definition or a system or a theory or a description, but not the title/name for the thing. and sometimes I don't know if what I remember is fact or some version I concocted in my head while pondering.

johnnysannie · May 5, 2008

Puma said:
Okay - now anyone know what Castle Gardens was? And when Ellis Island opened? Many more immigrants than you'd imagine who came to New York DIDN'T come through Ellis Island.

Back to the subject - I'm often very amazed at how little some people know, even PhD's when they get away from their specific field of expertise. And, I don't feel my BS from over 40 years ago is worthless - education wasn't watered down back then. Puma

Ah! The very question I was going to ask.

Castle Garden was the entry point for immigrants BEFORE Ellis Island; my great-grandfather came through there and I believe it was located at the tip of Manhattan (island). It was sometimes also known as Castle Clinton.

And it looked like this:

DragonHeart · May 5, 2008

I'm one of those people who knows a little bit about a lot of things. Sometimes I know a lot about something obscure, depending on how interested I am in the subject. I watch a lot of the History and Discovery channels and usually jot down notes about things that catch my eye. I'll go look them up online later (usually wiki for an overview) and from there I'll just keep going until I either get bored or start going in circles.

I do pick things up from other sources like reading, mostly mythology and such as I usually read fantasy. When it comes to things like technology though I prefer visual aids, otherwise I feel my eyes glazing over from all the technobabble.

I have a good memory for details so I tend to retain a fair amount of what I learn. I do openly admit to being terrible with dates, though.

~DragonHeart~

Shadow_Ferret · May 5, 2008

CACTUSWENDY said:
If it does not pertain to them, they could care less about even knowing about it.

Yup. This is pretty much how I live. I can hardly name any current "stars." My wife watches ET and those other "celebrity" shows and I'm constantly going, "Who's that?" I can't name what the most popular TV shows are. Have no idea who is on the NYTimes best seller list. Don't know who is on the current Top 40 list.

slcboston · May 5, 2008

I seem to have accumulated and stored every little trivial thing I've ever come across. I *know* it's all in there... but rather unfortunately it doesn't always come out when I want it to, or even correctly.

I like to think my brain has become this vast repository (with big, vaulted ceilings for some really great echoes

) because I read voraciously. Any subject, practically, and on a constant basis. I'm always eager to learn something new.

Except in this year's Presidential race. I've had enough now, can I sleep until November, please?

RLB · May 5, 2008

DragonHeart said:
I watch a lot of the History and Discovery channels

I love those channels. DH and I watched the entire series on the American Revolution last summer. I was proud that I knew a lot of it already and public education hadn't failed me entirely, but I also learned a ton. And Modern Marvels? Love that show.

But most of my knowledge comes from reading widely. I just finished a book where I learned more about corn than I'll ever need to know. And corn sex. Not people having sex in corn fields, mind you (though I've read a couple of those as well) but actual corn reproduction. I'm going to be a hit at my next cocktail party.

Mr Flibble · May 5, 2008

Okay - now anyone know what Castle Gardens was? And when Ellis Island opened?

not american so no, I don't know, and know even less why I should tbh (I had a vague idea it was to do with immigration, and the X men) What you know is so intrinsically linked to where you are....Do you know the signicficance of the Isle of Dogs?

But yes, I tend to pick up ramdom bits of trivia all over the shop. Some stay, if they are interesting. If not....sometimes it stays anyway. Until it gets tipped off he edge by something else.

Do you know much?

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