Hubris: Breakfast of Champions

So last night at the mall-school fundraiser event, there was a "R U Smarter than (a 5th grader)" game.

One of the first grade teachers threw down the gauntlet to me, so of course I joined him in the "participant crowd". That section of audience where we might be called onstage.

And of course, I was called! After having watched a woman spin the wheel and get a $25 question each time, then see her lose $250 accumulated to a geography question, and be pretty boring to watch, you can bet I was itching to get up there, show off my very big brain, and make it entertaining at the same time.

The first question I got was for a $100!! YAY. It asked which book might I find volcano information in: Weather and Climate, Ring of Fire, or something else. I knew immediately it was Ring of Fire because I'd watched Michael Palin's series of the same name. Next question was $25, and I got that right as well. Then came the question that humbled me. "What is the lowest prime number? Is it 1, 2, 3, or 5?"

I should have asked the smug-looking blond 5th grader in braids. But no, I thought I knew this. I thought I knew the rule was "A prime number is any number divisible only by itself and one" To my warped brain, somehow I thought one and one would count. So that's what I said. Turns out the answer is 2.

I was shocked, and convinced somehow there'd been an error. Amazing how messed up pride can be, isn't it?

When I got home, I immediately looked up why 1 isn't a prime number. Turns out the definition is that a prime number is any integer greater than 1 which is only divisible by itself and one.

Well, at least I could sleep well knowing I'd honestly made a mistake, rather than the game organizers.

Oh, and in my list of things I never thought I'd hear said:

Today one of the other kindergarten classes was at the hallway bathrooms. As we pass by, I hear a teacher exclaim to a boy, "Did you just lick the door?!"

I just about bust out laughing right then and there, both from the gross-out factor and from the sheer mischief in the boy's eyes. Right away it made me think of the mom at http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/