"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." (Albert Einstein)

Eu tenho um livro chamado The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said, de Ross and Kathryn Petras, Doubleday, New York, 1993.

Selecionei algumas dessas pérolas para efeito de comparação com nossas gemas. Com este riquíssimo material, um professor pode, por exemplo,

a)   fazer uma eleição na classe para a escolha da melhor (ou pior) frase;

b)   dividir os alunos em grupos para estabelecer comparações entre as frases, dividindo-as por assuntos;

c)   brincar de psiquiatra e desafiar a classe a pesquisar e diagnosticar qual é o problema mental dos autores dessas frases – se é que eles têm algum;

d)   etc.

Bom proveito.

1.   If crime went down 100%, it would still be fifty times higher than it should be. (Councilman John Bowman commenting on the high crime in Washington, D.C.)

2.   They always bite the hand that lays the golden egg. (movie mogul Samuel Godwin, talking about film directors)

3.   In a few weeks it had been found out that this promise was full of emptiness. (W. Brodrick, British statesman)

4.   Members and Non-Members Only. (sign outside Mexico’s Mandinga Disco in the Hotel Emporio)

5.   It’s about 90% strength and 40% technique. (Johnyy Walker, wrist-wrestling champion, talking about what it takes to be a champ)

wrist-wrestling

6.   Tense, Gender and Number: For the purpose of the rules and regulations contained in this chapter, the present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future, the present; the masculine gender includes the feminine, and the feminine, the masculine, and the singular includes the plural, and the plural the singular. (in the 1973 state code for the Department of Consumer Affairs, California)

7.   We’re launching this innovation the first time. (New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker)

8.    In no way is it possible for a person to be in two places at the same time, especially if there is a great distance in between. (Judge Amado Guerrero, Mexican Tenth District Federal Court)

9.   Send all he details. Never mind the facts. (telegram from the editor of the old New York World to his Washington correspondent.)

10.               After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal, the school department is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of David Steele to the post. (Philip Streifer, superintendent of schools, Barrington, Rhode Island)

E agora, as nossas, cuja autoria goes without saying:

11.               I'm saluting the cassava, one of Brazil's greatest achievements.

cassava

12.               When we create a ball like this one, we become homo sapiens, or woman sapiens.

13.               Brazil’s self-sufficiency has always been insufficient.

14.               Manaus Free Trade Zone is the centre of the Amazon, because it is the capital of Amazon.

15.               Inflation has been one of our great achievements in the years of President Lula’s administration and mine.

16.               All those running for president wish for one thing only: to become president.

17.               In Portugal, unemployment is something like 20% now. In other words, one out of four Portuguese workers is out of work.

18.               To begin with, I’d like to say that I have high respect for the Varginha's space alien.

Varginha's space alien

19.               Children's Day is also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Teachers’ Day, but it is World Animal Day as well, because whenever you look at a child there’s always the figure of a dog hiding behind the kid.

20.               Yesterday I told President Obama that he obviously knew that once the toothpaste comes out of the dentifrice, it hardly ever goes back into the dentifrice again.