Understanding problem/aide

Understanding problem/aide
Message de miaouss posté le 12-05-2014 à 12:05:40 (S | E | F)
Hi everyone,

I am reading "The Pink Fairy Book" for an apprenticeship but I'm getting stuck with a paragraph. Here it is :
"In the kingdom in which we are now sitting lives a princess who is dreadfully clever. She has read all the newspapers in the world and has forgotten them again. She is as clever as that."

I don't understand, the princess has read all the newspapers in the world (ok, cool) but she has forgotten everything.
For me this princess is not clever, she is a moron.
Can anyone explain me please?
Thank you for your help.

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Modifié par lucile83 le 12-05-2014 12:06

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Réponse: Understanding problem/aide de lucile83, postée le 12-05-2014 à 12:38:17 (S | E)
Hello,

"Edouard Herriot famously said that culture is what remains when one has forgotten everything."
When someone has learnt a lot of things, those things are well-rooted in their mind but they may think they have forgotten everything. That's not true because humans' mind takes in those things, which makes everyone's own personality and intelligence.
That's why we can say that the more we have learnt and forgotten, the more clever we are.
That is a famous philosophical topic Don't worry, I won't write forty pages about it here.

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Réponse: Understanding problem/aide de miaouss, postée le 12-05-2014 à 13:42:03 (S | E)
Ohhh thank you dear Lucile, this is very helpful. Without you to light up my mind I would have remained ignorant.

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