When I was young, the idea that Leif Ericson had come to America was officially “discredited.” That was when J. Edgar Hoover said the Mafia was a myth, just as every professor now agrees that race is a myth.
Something else that was agreed on was that the barbarians outside Rome only wrote stuff on rocks. Norsemen and Germans were illiterate, everybody said, except for writings on rock.
I was all of thirteen when I first heard this, and what immediately occurred to me was all those kids who would later write on rocks LEARNING to write on rocks. There has never been a single primer found on those rocks the Norsemen wrote on. Apparently they just went straight from illiteracy to chiseling complex writings on rocks.
If all the papers were burned in 1900, all we would find today would be chiselling on the Jefferson Memorial and tombstones. Would we really be stupid enough to think the people in 1900 were illiterate except for a few engravings on rock?
Yes.
#1 by Don on 10/23/2004 - 11:45 pm
RE: “Apparently they just went straight from illiteracy to chiseling complex writings on rocks.”
My son started chiseling on rocks at the age of 3, just after he was weaned and taught the ten commandments.
#2 by Anonymous on 10/25/2004 - 1:08 am
Maybe Bob should give special display to the great comments like Don’s. They sure are funny and right on target.
#3 by Bob Whitaker on 10/25/2004 - 10:53 am
If that second one you, Don?
#4 by Don on 10/25/2004 - 7:04 pm
No, the anonymous comment is not by me, but I will thank that person for their kindness. As Robert E. Lee said, “He (or she) should not be more polite than I am.”
Don is Don, but sometimes I use – shhh,Horace – When I feel like including some contrarian comments for effect.