Thursday, November 11, 2010

Mr. Know-it-all

From time to time you run into what my mother used to call a Mr. Know-it-all.  They are usually spouting off about everything and they are always correct in their opinions.  They are in fact very annoying to those of us blessed with only the average amount of information.

When they are truly upsetting I have a method to cause them to at least pause.  It is to remind them that as far as history books are concerned the last man on earth to know everything was Desiderius Erasmus.  Now this fellow was born in Rotterdam and was deemed to know everything in the world as it existed back in the 15th and 16th centuries.  He knew all the languages (civilized), all the mathematics, all the philosophy, theology, and in fact everything.  He knew the lot.  He died in Basel, Switzerland at age 70 in July, 1536.

However from time to time some obnoxious person arrives who seems to think they have taken over Erasmus' place.  I usually mention this to them and that is mostly the end of Mr. Know-it-all!  To find out more about Erasmus click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderius_Erasmus

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