Am I the only one who believed Brian didn't know who Shakespeare was?

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  • JulianaJuliana Posts: 4,996
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    dunkan wrote: »
    Yeah and the gangs shake their spears at each other!

    Hmm, that sounded a bit saucy!

    Huge great big spears that could hurt ya.

    Ooooer....taxi!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,298
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    Juliana wrote: »
    Huge great big spears that could hurt ya.

    Ooooer....taxi!

    MASSIVE erect spears made out of WOOD... :eek:
  • edinburgh1edinburgh1 Posts: 418
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    I didn't do any Shakespeare at school (but I know who he is and his works)
  • PitmanPitman Posts: 28,495
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    he was having a laugh, though he really should have given himself up as now they probably think he's a muppet. :cool:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,298
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    edinburgh1 wrote: »
    I didn't do any Shakespeare at school (but I know who he is and his works)

    I only ever studied Midsummer Night's Dream. Didn't interest me in the slightest, but anyway.
  • Rose*~*Rose*~* Posts: 7,008
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    I've only just seen the clip, and no, I do not believe he does not know who Shakespeare is or what Romeo and Juliet is about.
  • Backward BoyBackward Boy Posts: 4,470
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    This thread should be renamed Are You Naive and Easily Lead Then Sign Here. Me thinks people are being a touch gullible.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,298
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    Rose*~* wrote: »
    I've only just seen the clip, and no, I do not believe he does not know who Shakespeare is or what Romeo and Juliet is about.

    Well I know Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers who can't be together or sthg, but I don't know much more.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,774
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    This thread should be renamed Are You Naive and Easily Lead Then Sign Here. Me thinks people are being a touch gullible.

    See post five.:D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,845
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    Acting or not he was doing what a good HM do and that's entertaining us. Best laugh I had in ages from BB.:D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,385
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    biomorph04 wrote: »
    is that true or do you assume that everyone does shakespere?
    Plant wrote: »
    As far as I know it's on the curriculum for GCSEs.
    Aspartame wrote: »
    It certainly used to be true. Not sure if all English exam boards still feature him or not.
    dunkan wrote: »
    It's true as far as I'm aware. Is it not compulsory?

    Yep, it's true. When I did it with OCR last year, there was nothing on it in the exam, but one piece of coursework on Shakespeare was compulsory. You also do it at SATs level in Year 9.
    s'pose hes only 19?! ....it was the bit where he said something like 'the guy from so solid?!'

    I'm 17, and if I ever say something as stupid as 'Who's Shakespeare?', I'd turn myself into a psych ward :eek:
    dunkan wrote: »
    Hmmmm, if he didn't attend school when Shakespeare was being mentioned (which would be on many occasions), he might have avoided it. In everyday non-school life, I hardly ever hear Shakespeare mentioned

    But you do SO much Shakespeare to prepare for it. I did 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in Year 8, 'MacBeth' in Year 9 for SATs, then 'Romeo and Juliet' for my MEDIA piece of coursework in Year 10, followed by studying the actual play for my SHAKESPEARE piece of coursework.

    That's MONTHS worth of English lessons...

    And regardless of whether Shakespeare is mentioned in everyday life or not, you can't avoid ALL knowledge of him. If Brian was being serious, his memory is incredibly weak!
    goldenhair wrote: »
    Helen....Jade.....Nikki.....now Brian. Oh these people are out there all right!. This programme says more about the British education system than any politician ever could.

    Well Nikki was hardly stupid. Just spoilt, irritating and whiny...but not particularly dim
    Juliana wrote: »
    Maybe Brian's birthday falls in July or August and he was able to leave school early and did not complete his GCSEs

    Uhh...why would his birthday make any difference? If he were born in those months, he'd be 15 when he sat his GCSEs, anyway. And you are only allowed to leave school after finishing your GCSE courses.
  • Backward BoyBackward Boy Posts: 4,470
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    froglet wrote: »
    See post five.:D
    I hope you didn't use an indellible marker
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,774
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    Acting or not he was doing what a good HM do and that's entertaining us. Best laugh I had in ages from BB.:D

    That was the first time I have laughed out loud this bb. Made it all the better that Liam was managing to slot a bit of Hamlet into Romeo and Juliet when he was trying to explain.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,774
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    I hope you didn't use an indellible marker

    Well it would save writing it on every day.............. I might give it some thought. :D
  • pammi_ipammi_i Posts: 6,851
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    He was however intelligent enough to win a place at university. Quite a feat.

    You don't have to be intelligent to go to uni now. So called universities are falling over themselves to get students in order to get the funding they require and in order to keep their pass rates up they make their degrees easier. By insisting that 50% of the population get degrees, Blair devalued degrees, universities and generally turned the British education system into a laughing stock.
  • JulianaJuliana Posts: 4,996
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    dunkan wrote: »
    MASSIVE erect spears made out of WOOD... :eek:

    :D

    Funny story.

    I never knew that 'wood' meant an erection (seriously)

    I was in B&Q with one of those huge trolleys full of plants and was trying to get through a doorway when a man and his wife tried to get through the other side of the door.

    I said 'Go ahead you first' as I thought it would be easier as he wasn't pushing a trolley and didn't seem to be carrying anything. He said 'No you first, please' I said 'No,no you go' but he insisted.

    So I moved ahead and noticed he was carrying a pile of wood behind him and I said 'Oh you've got wood' to which the man went bright red, his wife doubled up laughing and my Sister said a bit of wee came out she was laughing that hard.

    I of course was totally bewildered and thought they'd all gone mad. I was red faced when told what it meant.

    Sorry for the OT.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,298
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    Acting or not he was doing what a good HM do and that's entertaining us. Best laugh I had in ages from BB.:D

    I didn't find it remotely funny, just didn't believe him. I'm no fan of Shakespeare by the way
  • VengieVengie Posts: 7,086
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    Plant wrote: »
    As far as I know it's on the curriculum for GCSE's.

    Yes it is but what if he is in a special classroom for children with learning difficulties? Are they educated to the same level?
  • JulianaJuliana Posts: 4,996
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    pammi_i wrote: »
    You don't have to be intelligent to go to uni now. So called universities are falling over themselves to get students in order to get the funding they require and in order to keep their pass rates up they make their degrees easier. By insisting that 50% of the population get degrees, Blair devalued degrees, universities and generally turned the British education system into a laughing stock.

    I've been wondering how the twins got a uni place?

    They don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the box.
  • Virgil TracyVirgil Tracy Posts: 26,796
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    Why would he lie ?

    is there some theory that he's pretending to be thick ?

    Can they give him subtitles , he mangles his words so badly "roight , I cornt unnerstan hwut's gone on baht"
  • pammi_ipammi_i Posts: 6,851
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    Vengie wrote: »
    Yes it is but what if he is in a special classroom for children with learning difficulties? Are they educated to the same level?
    They are all encouraged to take GCSEs but of course not all of them will pay attention. You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink, as the old saying goes.

    I can believe that he hadn't heard of Shakespeare. He may have bunked a lot of school and his friends may not have brought the notes home so that he could catch up on his homework ;)

    After the short time I spent in secondary education, before I decided I didn't want to spend my time being a political puppet, nothing would surprise me about anyone's level of education. I can certainly think of a few year 11s who would have looked very blank if anyone had said "Wherefore art though Romeo?" to them. It's bad enough that so many still think it means "Where are you, Romeo?" There's so little point in teaching it to most of them, but for those that are interested it is quite enriching to them and so I'm glad they still do teach it. I am just a bit cynical because I was in a very bad school trying to teach science. 30 kids running around with test tubes and Bunsen burners. Ugh! :eek:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,298
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    Juliana wrote: »
    :D

    Funny story.

    I never knew that 'wood' meant an erection (seriously)

    I was in B&Q with one of those huge trolleys full of plants and was trying to get through a doorway when a man and his wife tried to get through the other side of the door.

    I said 'Go ahead you first' as I thought it would be easier as he wasn't pushing a trolley and didn't seem to be carrying anything. He said 'No you first, please' I said 'No,no you go' but he insisted.

    So I moved ahead and noticed he was carrying a pile of wood behind him and I said 'Oh you've got wood' to which the man went bright red, his wife doubled up laughing and my Sister said a bit of wee came out she was laughing that hard.

    I of course was totally bewildered and thought they'd all gone mad. I was red faced when told what it meant.

    Sorry for the OT.

    :D:D

    Very nice :)

    I only found out what "wood" was a few years ago. Mind you, it's an American expression isn't it?

    BTW, do you know what this means : a mate texted me before and said he went out last night 'on an angle' or 'for an angle' or sthg?!!! WTF does that mean? He won't tell me.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 784
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    From what I've seen and heard about the British education system I would guess it's pretty likely that Brian has never heard of Shakespeare. God knows what they teach in schools here.

    I never fail to be amazed how many young people leave school in this country with a shocking inability to read and write basic standard English -some hardly able to do so at all, or even speak their own language properly. The standard of spoken English in the current BBH is pretty dire among several of the HMs - three of them in particular are barely intelligible to me, but I am a foreigner.

    Speaking of foreigners - Gerry, a Greek, speaks excellent English and his vocabulary and mode of expression is first class. Jon and Ziggi are good speakers of their language, as is Carol to a point - and the recently departed Lesley was very pleasant to listen to - she was a real lady.

    It seems to me that many leave British schools speaking fluent gibberish, so let's give them some credit at least.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 78
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    edinburgh1 wrote: »
    I didn't do any Shakespeare at school (but I know who he is and his works)

    Yes, even if he did pass through school unaware of Shakespeare it crops up in all walks of life.

    There's always a film on TV of his works, a news event, the anniversary of his birth, death,one of his plays or Theaters.
    You cant go a day without someone reciting verses or passages of his .... so he must have heard of this 'Geezer'. :yawn:
  • HampshireHannahHampshireHannah Posts: 1,088
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    He seems to have a good vocab and work in IT.?.......oh never mind ..*just remembered my works IT people*

    s'pose hes only 19?! ....it was the bit where he said something like 'the guy from so solid?!'

    I'd just like to clarify what Brian's job entails. He does data entry, which is nothing more than typing in numbers or maybe feeding things into a scanner. Other than a simple grasp of how to use a computer, I doubt any qualifications or experience are required.

    I'm doing Computer Engineering at University and I'd hate to think that people assume that Brian is representative of the whole IT industry!
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