Common Knowlege....

Cicero • Nov 25, 2009 1:45 pm
When does something cease to be uncommon? I took a plagiarism quiz and missed a question. I marked it as "common" knowledge. So is there some kind of update I am missing as to what is common knowledge today? How am I supposed to know what everyone knows, as opposed to what they don't know?

Shall I just give reference to everything just assuming they know nothing? Just to be sure?

The question still stands-when does knowledge become common? Who is this "everyone" that knows this knowledge?
Flint • Nov 25, 2009 2:01 pm
Cicero;611957 wrote:
I took a plagiarism quiz and missed a question.
Is this a Stephen Wright joke? I don't get it.
Cicero • Nov 25, 2009 2:56 pm
No I seriously had to take a plagiarism quiz for school.........It hasn't been funny so far....:)
SamIam • Nov 25, 2009 4:01 pm
Heh! I just figure that whatever I know is common knowledge. ;)
regular.joe • Nov 25, 2009 4:06 pm
Now I'm curious, what was the plagiarism quiz like?
Sundae • Nov 25, 2009 4:30 pm
I also vote to see a plagiarism quiz.

But in the meantime, common knowledge (aka received wisdom) is for me a euphemism for urban legend, or cliche.

We have a whole quiz show based on it here, called QI.
Unfortunately, despite the questions and answers of the host being properly researched, during the first series the panel's additional comments were not checked before broadcast, and a lot of guff seeped through. I watched it aghast, and decided the object of the show was simply lying for fun.

I'm glad to say it's tightened up a lot now. I still check snopes for anything I consider fishy though.

BTW - did you know the American who bought London Bridge thought he was buying Tower Bridge and didn't find out his mistake til after he paid to have it shipped all the way home? Stupid Yank, hahahaha.
lumberjim • Nov 25, 2009 4:47 pm
some people should die......
that's just unconscious knowledge

bah dum
bah dum
bah dum bum bump bumm
DanaC • Nov 25, 2009 5:26 pm
There are two different types of 'common knowledge'. One is 'common knowledge' which most people know. The other is a more specific academic application in which something is 'common knowledge' within that field. It's the latter that is relevant within a plagiarism test.
Cicero • Nov 25, 2009 7:13 pm
I found a "common knowledge" quiz, not the one I took for school of course, but much like it!

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072873469/student_view0/common_knowledge/common_knowledge_quiz.html


Heh...I missed one on this one too!! lol!
DanaC • Nov 25, 2009 7:25 pm
10/10 :P
Aliantha • Nov 25, 2009 7:30 pm
10/10 here too. We must have the same common knowledge Dana. ;)
SamIam • Nov 25, 2009 8:22 pm
7/10. I'm terrible. See, I told you that if I know it I just assume everyone else does too. :headshake
DanaC • Nov 25, 2009 8:29 pm
Much of that stuff was stuff I didn't know. It's about whether or not it is in common usage, not necessarily by you. I couldn't say for sure any of the big statistics like size of a country, population figures, distance of the earth from the sun, the regnal dates of European monarchs. But all of those are common knowledge.
Alibar • Nov 25, 2009 8:53 pm
I once foot-noted a phrase my professor said was a truism and didn't need a reference.

SamIam, I've usually assumed if I know something, so does everyone else, but, over and over, I've learned it isn't true. However, if ya ask someone if they know a certain something, invariably, they will respond they do.

Had no problem teaching teens, since, I knew they didn't know what I know, but, teaching adults is the pits for a totally different reason.

Taught adult classes in clay sculpture for five years and they didn't want to do outside work and seemed to think objects should materialize from their hands with little effort of their part. :eek: Fortunately, there were a few who did work at it and became very good.
Cicero • Nov 25, 2009 9:44 pm
SamIam;612273 wrote:
7/10. I'm terrible. See, I told you that if I know it I just assume everyone else does too. :headshake



Yah that's what I think.....If I know it...Everyone else must have known it first! The last one to know...lol!
Crimson Ghost • Nov 26, 2009 3:13 am
Can't we just copy a plagiarism quiz from somewhere?
DanaC • Nov 26, 2009 8:42 am
Alibar;612295 wrote:
I once foot-noted a phrase my professor said was a truism and didn't need a reference.

.


I've done something very similar. Footnoted a historical fact that was apparently common knowledge within a particular area of the field.
Cicero • Nov 26, 2009 5:10 pm
Crimson Ghost;612502 wrote:
Can't we just copy a plagiarism quiz from somewhere?



http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/site...edge_quiz.html

Just click the link...There's no reason to take up that much space here...
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 26, 2009 5:29 pm
Alibar;612295 wrote:

SamIam, I've usually assumed if I know something, so does everyone else, but, over and over, I've learned it isn't true. However, if ya ask someone if they know a certain something, invariably, they will respond they do.


I have the same problem, when the people I know, know something, I assume everyone knows it. I have, however, learned to separate the people I know, and the people I know online.
DanaC • Nov 26, 2009 6:16 pm
I generally know an awful lot less than the people around me know. I might know more about a couple of things, but mostly, once you take sci-fi trivia and a few very specific areas of British history out of the mix, I am utterly clueless most of the time about most stuff.
casimendocina • Nov 26, 2009 11:35 pm
Seems to me from what I've been reading that Dana knows quite a bit.

I feel pretty much the same as you, except my areas of expertise are more towards Latin/Central American political history....so not very useful really.
monster • Nov 27, 2009 2:30 pm
Crimson Ghost;612502 wrote:
Can't we just copy a plagiarism quiz from somewhere?


groan

(:lol:)
Cicero • Nov 27, 2009 2:34 pm
doh! lol!
Tulip • Nov 28, 2009 1:45 am
This may be off topic but I was wondering something. Y'all know that if a mole(on your body) changes in shape or color, you should go to the doctor to have it checked out. I assumed this is common knowledge so I said to someone, "[B]They[/B] say if a mole changes....(etc)...checked out." That person asked me, who are they? I was stumped. :neutral: So, who are they or how should I have phrased the sentence, or am I simply saying it wrong?
Crimson Ghost • Nov 28, 2009 1:59 am
monster;612969 wrote:
groan

(:lol:)


Cicero;612971 wrote:
doh! lol!


I knew eventually you'd get it.
Urbane Guerrilla • Nov 28, 2009 2:14 am
Alibar;612295 wrote:
Taught adult classes in clay sculpture for five years and they didn't want to do outside work and seemed to think objects should materialize from their hands with little effort of their part. :eek: Fortunately, there were a few who did work at it and became very good.


Sturgeon's Law right there.
Spexxvet • Nov 28, 2009 9:08 am
Cicero;612198 wrote:
I found a "common knowledge" quiz, not the one I took for school of course, but much like it!

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072873469/student_view0/common_knowledge/common_knowledge_quiz.html


Heh...I missed one on this one too!! lol!


10 correct (100%)
0 incorrect (0%)
0 unanswered (0%)

I'm surprised. I didn't know there were hard and fast rules.
Clodfobble • Nov 28, 2009 10:29 am
Tulip wrote:
So, who are they or how should I have phrased the sentence, or am I simply saying it wrong?


Dermatologists?
monster • Nov 28, 2009 10:56 am
Clodfobble;613129 wrote:
Dermatologists?


God.

If god says it then it's common knowledge sure as eggs.


It's probably in the bible somewhere.


Skinheads Chaper 11 Verse 6
And the Lord spake to Wilhelmina and sayed unto her for Lo your mole is all weird-looking. you must have lain with the devil and ye shall be stoned to death. But wait, I'm'ma forgive thou if thou visitest with an dermatologiste.
regular.joe • Nov 28, 2009 3:12 pm
Tulip;613063 wrote:
This may be off topic but I was wondering something. Y'all know that if a mole(on your body) changes in shape or color, you should go to the doctor to have it checked out. I assumed this is common knowledge so I said to someone, "[B]They[/B] say if a mole changes....(etc)...checked out." That person asked me, who are they? I was stumped. :neutral: So, who are they or how should I have phrased the sentence, or am I simply saying it wrong?


They are the reason I am building a bunker in my back yard. If you don't know who they are, then you do not gain entry into my bunker. :D
ZenGum • Nov 28, 2009 6:56 pm
It is common knowledge that common knowledge is less common than is commonly thought.

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sexobon • Nov 28, 2009 10:21 pm
That implies a disparity between common knowledge and commoners' knowledge in a global community. How do you account for that?
ZenGum • Nov 28, 2009 10:51 pm
Do you really want someone to answer that?
sexobon • Nov 28, 2009 11:16 pm
:headshake ... :lol2: