Gorilla = "MUN...KEE?"

[trof]

Miz t. volunteers at a kindergarten class helping kids learn their ABCs and sounding out words.
(Typical Democrat. :-))

Today she was working with a little boy.
The book had a picture of a gorilla with the word underneath.
"OK Alberto, what's this word? Look at the picture. Can you sound out the word the way we do it?"
Alberto put his little finger on the first part of the word.
"MUN...KEE?"
Maybe the book needs some work?
:rofl:

[SallyMander]

1. She should teach him the tail trick

Monkeys have tails, apes don't. :D


Yup, I'm a nerd. :blush:

[trof]

2. She says they couldn't see his rear end.

[SallyMander]

5. Well it is a cute story

and a lovely thing for your wife to do!

[trof]

7. Turns out she's a natural.

She started last September when a call went out for volunteers. Our school system is hurting financially, like most are.

I say she missed her calling.
Should have been a teacher.
She connects with these kids.
They're nuts about her and she's really helping them.
I'm very proud of her.
And I tell her that.
We celebrate 40 years of 'wedded bliss' (pretty much) in April.
:-)

[SallyMander]

8. I've seen you post about Miz T before

and it is obvious that you adore her and have a remarkable marriage! It makes me happy to hear about couples like you, being a newlywed of only 5 months, and seeing how many relationships don't make it. Congrats on your 40 years together!

:toast:

I hope she'll keep working with those kiddos -- I have several good friends who are teachers, and they are stretched so thin right now (or being laid off imminently). I'm sure the teachers in your district appreciate her (almost) as much as you do! :)

[trof]

9. Thanks. It was 'love at first sight'...for her.

She'll tell you that, straight out.
It took me a few months to 'come around'.
When I started thinking up (really stupid) reasons why I shouldn't propose, it hit me.
..."You know you want to. Why are you trying to talk yourself out of it?"
D-U-M-B

I'm glad I eventually saw the light.
:-)

[frogmarch]

3. Yes, and then

she could continue by explaining that only New World monkeys have grasping tails. Old World monkeys' tails aren't prehensile.

Also, the nostrils of New World monkeys are farther apart than the nostrils of Old World monkeys.

[SallyMander]

4. LOL!

+10 nerd points! Are you a biologist? :D :hi:

[frogmarch]

6. haha, no, just

a nerd. By the way, thanks for the points. Being a nerd, they mean a lot to me. :D

[frogmarch]

14. I just lost a bunch of points.

After reading what I'd written, I noticed I'd goofed when I said that OW monkeys' nostrils are farther apart than NW monkeys'. It's really the other way around. :dunce:

[SallyMander]

15. Well I had no idea either way

So you still get more points than me! ;)

[nickinSTL]

10. heh.

my friends love to torture me by calling apes monkeys...because it bothers me so much when I see stuff on TV doing it. How many people know that apes don't have tails?

And, for anyone who's seen Kung-Fu Panda...why did Monkey look like a gibbon with a tail? I guess it's possible there's a monkey species that does look like a gibbon with a tail, but...I'm not aware of one.

[Piltdown13]

11. Hmmm...maybe a muriqui

a.k.a. the woolly spider monkey: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/muriqui

The head's a little small, but vaguely "gibbon with tail"-like. Actually, I haven't seen the movie, but it would be very cool if Monkey really were meant to be a muriqui. They are seriously amazing primates, and they don't get the attention they deserve. :-)

[nickinSTL]

12. doesn't quite look like it...

though it's hard to tell in those pics.

Monkey from the movie even has the larger upper body of an ape...with a tail.

This is about the best pic I could find:

[Piltdown13]

13. Yeah, I'd say that's a gibbon with a tail!

Those limb proportions are definitely more gibbon than monkey. Also, the tail is much skinnier than the tails on all the monkeys that this might represent (the semi-brachiating New World Monkeys), which tend to have more muscular, prehensile tails. Oh, well...still an interesting representation to add to my list for when I finally get to teach the media representations of Primates class I've been working on. :-)

[pokerfan]

16. why do our textbooks suck so?

Back in 1964, physicist Richard Feynman was asked to review high school textbooks for the California State Curriculum Commission. You won't believe what he discovered (corruption, fraud, incompetence).

http://www.textbookleague.org/103feyn.htm">Judging Books by Their Covers

Long but amusing and well worth reading if you're interested in science education.

http://www.textbookleague.org/103feyn.htm">