Bill Nye's arctic/antarctic mix-up

[jakeXT]

During a debate on climate change conducted during Sunday's edition of "Meet The Press," Bill Nye, known as "The Science Guy," seemed to have his poles a bit confused, holding a picture of the Arctic while discussing the Antarctic, Climate Depot reported.

"Would you say that the Antarctic has less ice than it used to?" he asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., while holding a picture of the Arctic.

http://www.examiner.com/article/science-guy-bill-nye-confuses-south-pole-with-north-global-warming-debate

If you know the origin of a word, it's much easier to remind yourself what is meant.

arctic

(from Greek arktikos which means northern) northern polar region of the earth which includes almost the whole area of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent areas of Eurasian and North American continents.

http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/words/word.pl?arctic

from Gk. antarktikos "opposite the north"

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ant+arctic

[Scuba]

1. So climate change IS a hoax. Thanks jake!

[jakeXT]

3. I have always gotten it wrong years ago, I think that happens when you memorize terms without their

origin or meaning.

[Skinner]

2. Help me understand your post.

Is it your belief that Bill Nye actually does not know the difference between the Arctic and Antarctic?

[jakeXT]

6. They both start with "a" and it's easy to mix them up, especially when you just memorized them

without thinking about them.

[Skinner]

7. You didn't answer my question.

Is it your belief that Bill Nye actually does not know the difference between the Arctic and Antarctic?

[jakeXT]

8. Of course he knows the difference, one is located around the the south pole, the other around the

north pole. That's the easy part. As I said, in the past it took me always a couple of seconds to be sure I had the right name. It was always clear to me that anti is opposite, but I asked myself always, "opposite to what"? What's the default ?

[earthside]

4. Not a 'debate' anyway.

For heaven's sake, that airhead David Gregory did as much or more talking than the other two participants.

Why Bill Nye agreed to this, I don't know, I suppose for the laudable reason of continuing to raise awareness of the seriousness of the climate change crisis.

But, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha Blackburn isn't even as qualified as Ken Ham to be on the other side of Nye on an issue like global warming. The format of the encounter made complete answers and cogency impossible.

I recorded Meet the Press and just watched this segment -- the first time I've watched any of that show in decades -- and even this made me realize again why I never watch it. What a waste of time.

[pangaia]

5. He was just showing what a nitwit Blackburn is....

..in secret code.