What Revolves Around the Earth? [ The French Answer ]
By Daniel Miessler on December 1st, 2007: Tagged as America | Education
This is astounding stuff. I can almost understand the contestant just freaking out because the nervousness, but what about the audience? I honestly don’t even think most American audiences would have done so poorly.
Thanks to medienkritik for the link.:
--
Well, the Americans would get just as confused. I mean, first you have the Earth revolving around America, and then what do you have revolving around the Earth?
What, oh yeah, the moon. Right, so Earth around America and moon around Earth.
Comment by BanjoPlayingHamster — 12/1/2007 @ 3:39 pm
I really thought for a while that Jean Pierre Foucault, the presenter, was going to give the guy the answer! Well, he still got €1500! I hope his geography teacher was not watching!
Comment by Internet Junkie — 12/1/2007 @ 3:47 pm
well, when France makes a decision and the world watches and reacts then the French will think the same thing. not that it’s right, it just happens to be the current situation. i’m sure in most of the 20th century the French looked down on everyone else. the way i was treated from my multiple trips there sort of confirmed it for me.
besides, i’m sure most Americans don’t even know what the Sun, Mars or Venus are. maybe if they call it the ‘big light in sky’ or the ‘big dot at night’ they ‘might’ get it.
Comment by xian — 12/1/2007 @ 4:00 pm
I am le tired? I am le stupid?
Comment by alec — 12/1/2007 @ 4:14 pm
Technically . . .
Both the Earth and sun rotate around each other, as does the Earth in the Moon. Imagine a pole representing gravity that connects the center of the Earth to the center of the sun. Now choose a point on the pole that’s really close to the center of the sun, say like 1 inch from the center of the sun, but not at the very end of the pole. If you spin the pole about that point, that’s more or less how the Earth rotates about the Sun, but note that the Sun is moving every so slightly about the Earth as well.
Comment by Technically . . . — 12/1/2007 @ 4:34 pm
Didn’t it occur to you that 50% percent of the audience is fucking with the candidate and is responding some nonsense just to emphasize the stupidity of the question ?
Comment by Palindrom — 12/1/2007 @ 4:40 pm
well, I’m french and I must : 1 apologize for our poor aptitudes in physic. 2 try to find a poor excuse to our stupidity : the french word “gravite” is less understandable than the english word “rotate”. It’s almost like “gravitation” and yes, the earth turns around the sun due to the gravitation, so…. Oh fuck! I resign, we are morons.
Comment by notcrumb — 12/1/2007 @ 4:48 pm
This is certainly appalling.
However, my native language is French, and I watch a lot of European French TV shows re-broadcast in Canada.
I can tell you this level of ignorance is not typical. I have seen some very complex French TV game shows, involving words and phrases. The questions are difficult and challenging. The participants perform at a level with which a university graduate would have trouble keeping up.
Certainly orders of magnitude above your typical North American game show.
Comment by Pierre — 12/1/2007 @ 4:59 pm
Gotta love Pierre - “certainly orders of magnitude above your typical north american games show.”
I just knew someone was going to come along and say, ‘hey, this is an anomaly, we’re still smarter than you!’
Granted, you’re right. Americans are, by and large, a rather dumb lot. Our religious mythologies and their death grip on science attest to that better than any game show. I also wouldn’t contest that the French are, to a large degree, a higher order of intellectuals than north americans.
But, I’d have to add that they have a bit too much of an ego, and can’t let something pass that shows they too have idiots. (even the ones in Canada. :)
Comment by Dan — 12/1/2007 @ 5:30 pm
Americans would have done just as poorly. We have a TV show called “Are you smarter than a 5th grader” for crying out loud.
Comment by jason — 12/1/2007 @ 5:31 pm
Hey! Let’s watch a lil’ bit of a program designed to attract a massive audience, especially people who are not too bright or just tired after a long day at a mind-numbing job, and then comment on how this candidate (selected on which criteria? we’ll never know…) miserably fails to answer a stupid question.
And then, why not use this as a basis to determine whether all French people are arrogant or daft or something else…? Seems to me about as scientific a reasoning as the sun gravitating around my rear-end.
Comment by notpaloalto — 12/1/2007 @ 5:40 pm
The translation and some of the comments mistakenly use “rotate” instead of “revolve.” In science, rotate means to spin. Revolve means to orbit around.
Comment by abcde — 12/1/2007 @ 5:43 pm
Well, the French have outsmarted US even in being stupid.
Comment by raindogmx — 12/1/2007 @ 5:47 pm
Everyone here so far has been wrong.
“The French” are not dumber than “The Americans”, nor vice versa. Even if such a broad generalization was supportable by some evidence, basing it off of a single, 2-minute clip from a game show is a bit of a stretch.
The sad fact is the entire world is filled with morons, with higher incidences in game show audiences than almost anywhere else.
Comment by American Expat — 12/1/2007 @ 6:00 pm
notpaloalto : not boot-licking but ass-licking. Ask your wife (and see you on Tuesday).
Comment by notcrumb — 12/1/2007 @ 6:18 pm
well them being French, I thought his answer and subsequent audience vote would be Venus since it represents femininity, heck they’d probably vote “Vagina” if that was of the answers
Comment by matelot — 12/1/2007 @ 6:19 pm
and why do French copy-cat exactly an US production ?
Comment by matelot — 12/1/2007 @ 6:20 pm
I bet if they ever sent a man to the moon they would get it right.
Comment by Chloe — 12/1/2007 @ 6:45 pm
what revolves around the earth?
weapons of mass destruction
Comment by dick assman — 12/1/2007 @ 6:48 pm
Well obviously the Us think the world revolves around them! Hey matelot why don’t you get a brain and find out that this is not a US show!! Maybe you ever heard of Endemol!?! Then this DUTCH company is the mother to all reality shows and also the producer and owner of the rights of that show.
Now, let get a flight to the US so can spend my Euros wisely :-P
Asta la vista Bambinos
PS:check Kellie Pickler on http://tv.popcrunch.com/is-kellie-pickler-smarter-than-a-5th-grader/
Comment by Fouffy — 12/1/2007 @ 7:07 pm
je suis retard
Comment by prasoc — 12/1/2007 @ 7:20 pm
I won’t try to extrapolate one single answer to obtain a deep analysis of French/American differences.
I just want to point out that the title of this post is not the translation of the question. I think that for someone with limited science skills there’s a huge gap in understanding between “revolves around” or rotates around (a visual idea) and the notion of gravitation.
On a cultural note, I want to say that French public school has lot of problems but religious bias is not one of them. A teacher who would decide to mention creationism in a science course would have to face the anger of a lot of parents.
Comment by Norikazu — 12/1/2007 @ 7:39 pm
You may not be aware of this but the US has a huge cultural influence outside its borders. I think the right to copy-cat this production has been bought in a lot of countries.
Comment by Norikazu — 12/1/2007 @ 7:49 pm
17 - actually, they’re both licensees of the original UK production.
Comment by tc — 12/1/2007 @ 8:04 pm
That’s very interesting that the audience polled that way.
Technically, the 2% who said Mars rotates around the earth were also correct.
Comment by Dave Myers — 12/1/2007 @ 8:51 pm
Rotate and Revolve are frequently confused. Ite helps to know the etymology of the words.
Rotate comes from the latin word Rota, wheel. In other words, rotate means to spin like a wheel or top, on its own axis.
Revolve means to come back again, to cover the same path once more. That’s what you do when you go around in a circle.
The question was originally asked with Revolve. If the questioner had asked, “what travels in a circle around the earth?” the answer might be clearer to the participant. But he was obviously confused, because he immediately changed revolve to rotate.
And in fact, neither the Earth or the Moon truly revolve. Their paths are more like a twisted braid as they revolve together around the sun. It so happens that the center of mass of the Earth-Moon system is beneath the surface of the earth, but it is not at the Earth’s center.
Comment by Ted S — 12/1/2007 @ 8:58 pm
… And of course, I use the term circle loosely. The approximate path in the Earth’s non-Newtonian reference frame is more elliptical than circular.
Comment by Ted S — 12/1/2007 @ 9:00 pm
Well, “gravite” is certainely not a word used in every day conversation. it shouldn’t be directly translated into rotate. Actually for somebody who doesn’t know the correct definition it’s not easy to guess what it means. It could as well mean what have a gravitational influence over earth, in which case the sun could be a correct answer. Not to justify this guys lack of knowledge, but I can easily understand that the public gets confused. The poll would have given a completely different result if they used the world “tourner” ou “rotation”.. OR maybe not ;-)
Comment by bob — 12/1/2007 @ 9:01 pm
Everyone gets nervous- and this sometimes leads to a bout of temporary confusion.
It’s a human thing.
Comment by wm — 12/1/2007 @ 9:22 pm
There are no excuses for this.
Comment by PENIX — 12/1/2007 @ 9:43 pm
The question is poorly phrased and linguistically non-specific. Given that this is a show that is based on one factually “correct” answer, this question should never have been asked. If it were more akin to the American LSATs where multiple partially correct answers are allowed and you are instructed to select the most appropriate, this question, and the answer, the moon, would make sense.
The concept of frame-of-reference at the very least comes into play, and is not mentioned in the question. From our perspective on Earth, both the Sun and Moon orbit the earth, and only the Sun appears to rotate or revolve (the same face of the Moon always faces the Earth). Gravite, does not mean “revolve” or “rotate” to begin with. Orbit is the word that should have been used.
Jeopardy doesn’t have these same problems.
Comment by Modern Demagogue — 12/1/2007 @ 11:33 pm
I’m never watching TV again. Don’t misunderestimate me: I’m serious this time.
Because TV’s gots electrolytes. And no, our childrens is not learning. To the batcave with a hard drive full of survival pdfs!
Comment by chris neglia — 12/2/2007 @ 12:59 am
This is originally a UK show, you know
Comment by bah — 12/2/2007 @ 1:54 am
Palindrom makes a good point, if I was in the audience; I would’ve picked the Sun too. Screwing around with the guys head would be hilarious. (Not because I didn’t know the basic science in it)
Oh yeah, someone said that they would hope his “geography teacher” wasn’t watching… I don’t remember learning about the celestial bodies in Geography.
Comment by Jqwerty — 12/2/2007 @ 6:21 am
‘MERICAN SMART, FRENCH STOOPID! U HUH HUH HUH
Comment by Kongo — 12/2/2007 @ 10:27 am
epic!
he did look frozen staring at his screen, and ‘gravite’ is not the best word, but still hilarious!
don’t judge all French by one contestant, uh and one studio audience har har
Comment by Dru — 12/2/2007 @ 11:02 am
Actually, there’s a known trivia research that established that 50% of americans actually do not know the name of the first man on the moon - some even said Kennedy!
Let’s face it, all countries have idiots in equal proportions. So the question might be, which country has more idiots or the bigger idiots ;)
Comment by MonsieurX — 12/2/2007 @ 2:53 pm
For the record “Millionaire” was first an English show. The stupidity of the audience and the contestant say less about a nationality than it does about people who watch game shows, or nearly any television shows for that matter.
Comment by Dustin — 12/4/2007 @ 7:17 pm
I admire the host the most. If it was me I’d crack out hysterical when he said final answer is the Sun.
Comment by Kai — 12/8/2007 @ 1:58 am
I really don’t think it is necessary to have all this America bashing…We Americans aren’t as dumb as you think. Sure we have a stupid president but that doesn’t mean that we are all morons.
Comment by Uncle Sam — 12/8/2007 @ 4:42 pm
America has some really stupid people, but we also have a lot of smart ones. Most people are somewhere in the middle.
Comment by SiriS — 12/9/2007 @ 1:07 am
Sarcozy caught the dumbing-down virus from Bush. This guy must have kissed Sarcozy on the lips.
Comment by puttputt — 12/9/2007 @ 10:50 pm
I think it’s so cute that all the foreign countries think it’s necessary to flame the US when the French can’t figure out what revolves around the Earth. Grow up.
Comment by Kitsym — 12/10/2007 @ 4:45 am
1.) The French, in general, are not stupid. 2.) Americans, in general, are not stupid either. 3.) The stupid ones always end up on the internet, thus embarrassing and creating a poor image of the person’s home country. 4.) It’s very sad when people honestly believe an entire country is stupid or ignorant just because the media portrays them as such. Is it “cool” to think Americans are stupid? Because honestly, as I sit here typing this as an intelligent, educated adult, I find myself thinking, “I don’t think any country as a whole can be categorized as stupid, fat, arrogant, horrible, or otherwise. So, as such, why do people assume those things of me, simply because I was born to a country portrayed as such on the news?”
Think before you type. It could just make all the difference.
Comment by Joe — 12/10/2007 @ 5:03 am
The French, in general, are not stupid. Well mistakes like that are very fecking stupid. (gobshite)
Comment by Brendan — 12/10/2007 @ 3:47 pm
Pues que va a ser? La luna pendejos. Tenia razón Nietszche:
“Pinches Europeos de mierda decadentes”
Que pendejismo, sigan viendo Big Brother!
Que asco se ha vuelto la humanidad!
Comment by Simius — 12/11/2007 @ 1:11 am
@ American Expat Well said! When I watch all of these games shows and watch people make the wrong answer on obvious questions I always yell at the TV about how dumb they are. But I’m pretty sure if I was on said show with all of those damn people staring at me and cameras and stuff I’d make the same damn mistake! =)
Comment by Ilikeboobs — 12/11/2007 @ 1:26 am
[...] revolves around the Earth? dmiessler.com | grep understanding knowledge Chris __________________ Colorado Red Ford Mondeo Ghia X TDCI …. completely standard at the [...]
Pingback by What revolves around the Earth? - BRISKODA - The Skoda Forum and Community — 12/11/2007 @ 12:24 pm
re: and why do French copy-cat exactly an US production ?
Comment by matelot — 12/1/2007 @ 6:20 pm
They don’t, it’s produced by the same company and/or licensed there by. Now as for you, the correct usage is “A US production.” don’t get caught up in the a[n] preceding vowels, it only proceeds vowel sounds. U of US is Yoo in sound, thus An Yoo-Ess not A…. don’t make fun of a culture if you yourself cannot extend the reason around your own languages grammatical structures.
Comment by robeph — 12/11/2007 @ 3:19 pm
Hey, at least he’ll be working more hours if the French finally shake the Socialism yoke. Of course, do you want someone like him working more? Let’s hear some guesses as to his occupation. Seriously, some US guy several years ago blew a gimmie question early on in the game. It was so simple I can’t even remember-all I know is I said “What an idiot”. I didn’t say “What a stupid American”. So. we’ll leave it at “What a stupid idiot”.
Comment by Larry — 12/12/2007 @ 1:52 am
“don’t make fun of a culture if you yourself cannot extend the reason around your own languages grammatical structures.
Comment by robeph”
That should of course be “language’s”, unless you happen to be patronising a polyglot, when “languages’” might be appropriate. Feeble-minded amateur grammar Nazis (the sort who correct single-character mistakes that could easily be typos) are often troubled by confusion stemming from the similarity in form of possessives (which generally take an apostrophe in English) and plurals (which don’t). Do take better care next time…
Comment by John — 12/12/2007 @ 4:02 am
I tell you, with the countless examples of stupid Americans, it’s some what refreshing to see someone point the light on another country.
As for all of you who spend your time online going “stupid american idiots” realize this; yes there is a large majority of americans who are dumb as a stump, but that is true in any culture/region. Also realize there is an inverse to that.
If your elitist views of where you live dictate your opinions of others…seriously, consider dying in a fire.
Comment by Andy — 12/12/2007 @ 8:06 pm
I am American. This video is painful to watch. I have never, NEVER, met an american as dim witted as this man. Even the audience chose the sun over the moon? How is this possible? No, this could NEVER happen in America. Perhaps the contestant could get the answer wrong, but the audience would never be split 50/50. The fact of the matter is that American’s may be arrogant and self centered in general, but the intelligence of our president in no way reflects our populous. Who, by the way, are the economical, research, development, and scientific powerhouse of the world. That is not an opinion, it is statistical fact. More products, inventions, innovations etc. come from America than anywhere else, including Japan. The economy of the world is gaged in relation to the strength of the American dollar. Why? Because America has the strongest economy and most financial influence worldwide. America’s crime rate is high, our foreign policy is a joke, and our populous may primarily consist of overzealous religious bigots, but the stupidest country, we are not.
Comment by Brian Williams — 12/16/2007 @ 9:29 pm
what a dumbass… I hope someone robbed him in the parking lot after the show and took his 1500.
Comment by Bill — 12/18/2007 @ 5:37 pm
[...] stupid?! Ok, I can’t even begin to explain this one. See for yourselves. __________________ Harry Roberts Design | PR Design Labs | CSS [...]
Pingback by How stupid?! - Graphic Design Forum and Web Design Forum — 12/20/2007 @ 9:38 pm
There’s no excuse for ignorance like this. There is no pressure in the studio, you may take as long as you want on “Who wants to be a Millionaire” (and on the UK version, they take DO take forever).
Comment by Primal80s — 12/21/2007 @ 3:35 pm
Not all Americans are as dumb as most of this message board thinks. Albeit, there are plenty of questionable people in the USA, there are many others who actually believe, and act like, the world doesn’t revolved around them. Now how about that?
Regardless, maybe this video was lost in translation. I don’t speak French, only Spanish and English.
Comment by Dan — 12/22/2007 @ 9:41 am
This is pretty embarrassing. Most of the audience thought the sun revolved around the earth? That concept was disproved hundreds of years ago. And for all of you saying an American audience would have done just as poorly- think again. I’m American, and I could have answered that question before first grade.
Comment by Adam — 12/22/2007 @ 8:58 pm
As the few french comments state, the phrasing and choise of words was bad in the french version of the question while the subtitled english version was as perfectly clear. That is what must have confused the contestand and audience as well, in addition to those ppl that were just messing with him.
Even if the majority of the French mistook sun for the moon, they would still outsmart the American majority that mistook Bush for president.
Comment by janne — 12/26/2007 @ 9:03 pm
To the french commenters - bragging you are smarter then americans is like bragging about how much greater you are then a 5 year old child.
We have a right to think your stupid, nobody went “well that was only one person” when on that fifth grader show, the women there said europe was a country, and they speak french there.
We aren’t being gentle with them, so we aren’t being gentle with you.
Comment by MikedaSnipe — 12/27/2007 @ 6:53 pm
..and you all belive it without question, Did any body see this broadcast? cos it would be an easy re-edit!
I can belive one man may be that stupid but come on guys, I think the audience result gives a way the joke dont you think? even asking what gravitates around the earth is easy.
and if you think all of any ONE nation can be more stupid based on a TV show… actually a youtube video then you’re not so bright yourself.
Peace.
Comment by meme — 12/28/2007 @ 1:29 am
If I’d been one of that lot and seen myself on the web… I think I’d crawl into a hole and slit my wrists. Absolutely amazing.
Comment by Peter Scargill — 1/1/2008 @ 9:40 pm
Well that’s pretty grim, but I can’t believe that it’s real surely!
Comment by Simon Swords — 1/1/2008 @ 9:46 pm
You do realize that it is 1500 euros, right Brian? So, if that did happen, they would have taken about $2203.65 USD, if you’re in US. If you’re in the UK, that is about 1,103.97 British Pounds.
Comment by newkiraj — 1/2/2008 @ 2:28 am
To the ignorant people making comments like…
“You may not be aware of this but the US has a huge cultural influence outside its borders. I think the right to copy-cat this production has been bought in a lot of countries.”
…you are really showing your true, arrogant, colours. This show is originally British. It’s produced by Celador, a British company.
The world does not revolve around America. Wake up.
Comment by paul — 1/2/2008 @ 2:27 pm
half the audience was just punishing him for being stupid and not know the moon goes around the earth
had this been america, well im guessing the whole audience would have thought it was REALLY the sun since everything revolves around america, and america is on earth, duhhhhh i be guessin dat the sun dooes too uh huh!
canada rules :D
Comment by W00T — 1/4/2008 @ 4:58 pm
yeah. you all be hating america. there are stupid people all over the world.
Comment by Gio — 1/7/2008 @ 1:14 am
sigh. honestly? i’m american, and i hate america/americans. we are such a worthless, arrogant nation. we call the french arrogant, and in the same breath talk about how “superior” we are? pfft. i can’t wait to move out of this place!
Comment by antipatriot — 1/12/2008 @ 6:12 am
I am pretty sure that the ass kicking he got in the parking lot was from the kids on the TV Show “Are you as smart as a 5th Grader”
I travel to Europe and find the people engaging and intelligent. You can find people like this man anywhere in the world and I feel that it was not really the intelligence of his answer but actually the over analysis of the question that got him into trouble.
But for all the America Bashing I will say this - When I have meaningful debates with my European Counterparts - I find that they are naive ~ misinformed ~ blinded - too trusting of the information put by the Leftist Propaganda Anti-American News / Governments. When I leave they look into what they hear and make up their minds for themselves. They truly have a better understanding of the Missouri term of “Show Me”
Comment by Dennis — 1/24/2008 @ 5:00 pm
and to:
“sigh. honestly? i’m american, and i hate america/americans. we are such a worthless, arrogant nation. we call the french arrogant, and in the same breath talk about how “superior” we are? pfft. i can’t wait to move out of this place!
Comment by antipatriot”
Don’t let the door hit ya in ass on your way out!!!
Comment by Dennis — 1/24/2008 @ 5:02 pm
“When I have meaningful debates with my European Counterparts - I find that they are naive ~ misinformed ~ blinded - too trusting of the information put by the Leftist Propaganda Anti-American News / Governments.”
one of dumbest and most ignorant statements I have seen in a while. I read German, Spanish, British and US American news on a daily basis. You have to search for quite a while to get any news channel delivering information as unbiased and in detail as most European sources. By the way; coming from the country of CNN and Fox News and talking of “european propaganda” is just bizarre.
Don’t forget, your propaganda media made the majority in the US believe in WMD in Iraq. This was not the case with the much better informed europeans. We just all shook our heads in disbelieve when we saw the polls back then. But weel, a few thousand american soldiers down the drains you got it… congrats to you for trying to educate us europeans…
Comment by snusket — 2/25/2008 @ 4:41 am
I just don’t understand why bigotry against America is 1) acceptable and 2)in any way relevant to a French video
Comment by Elton — 3/8/2008 @ 3:53 am