Funny False Historical Events

My first college finals were drawing near, which meant that professors and teaching assistants (TAs) were frequently talking about them.  Some even held review sessions.

During a world history discussion section, the TA said that a few years ago, one student wrote on his 20th century history final, "The U.S. got drawn into WWII when Japan dropped an A-bomb on Pearl Harbor," and we laughed.  He proceeded to tell us that the professor almost decided to fail the student in the course, especially when they had spent most of the quarter covering the two World Wars.

When I mentioned it to people outside the class, some answered, "I would have failed him."  We just couldn’t understand how someone could get that information wrong since we’ve been hearing about WWII since we were little.

Two years later, during a prep class for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), the verbal instructor was teaching us how to lie on our essays, and wanted us to practice.

He announced, "I want you to use this example," and wrote on the board, "The Smurfo-Muppetian Conflict of 1978."

Several us were saying, "I’ve never heard of it."

He replied, "Of course you haven’t, because it’s not true.  I want you to practice lying on your essay."

We laughed as we practiced, which made it hard for me to write about about Smurfs and The Muppets.  As we finished and left, I kept laughing.  However, I had to push the false event out of my mind and suppress my laughter as I drove to my summer school class.  I know I was crazy, but after stepping out of my car, I laughed the whole way to the classroom.  Fortunately, I was able to get through class without it getting in the way.  I still don’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking and laughing about "The Smurfo-Muppetian Conflict" all day.

Both false historical events show how stupid, crazy, or creative some people can be.  I know not everyone will think they’re funny, but I sometimes still laugh when I think about them.

For those who weren’t premed in the U.S., the MCAT is a standardized test required for medical school application.  It has four sections: verbal comprehension, physical sciences, essays, and biological sciences.  There are two essays, and in both of them, we had to use current or historical events as examples to support our points.  Unfortunately, it is often hard to come up with real life examples, so the instructor was telling us how to lie as a last resort.