Things you remember from school but have never used

[Spidey66]

I left 40 years back, but to this day remember that the square of the hypotenuse on a right angle triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other 2 sides aka Pythgoras thereom. I have never used this gem of information in my life.

I also remember "it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife" (the first line of Pride and Prejudice, which I read for O Level English Lit.) Tbf I enjoyed the book and the TV series (not so much the film) but funnily enough have not read another Jane Austen book!

Any other gems you remember?

Quadratic equations. No use whatsoever for most people.

How to play tennis. No interest.

Those letters which represent chemicals. Never needed those.

OTOH, I still use lots of the information I learned in Eng Lit. I still use a recipe I learned in Home Economics and DD who was talking of buying a trendy macrame pot plant hanger was stunned to discover I could make her one.

I an ask permission to remove my blazer in French. Funny enough, never needed that.

Our English teacher, Mr Cosgrove was really cool. To busy looking at him to take any thing in.

It was the most useful thing that I was taught at school. In those days electrical appliances came without a plug. You had to fit one before you could use it.

From the age of 12 this became my job as my Dad was hardly there and my Mum didn't know how to do it and didn't want to learn.

The most useless thing that I still remember (probably inaccurately) is a question from a German textbook.

Ist das Spiegelei unter dem Bett?

Is the fried egg under the bed?

Never had to use this phrase in my travels and I have forgotten all of the more useful phrases.

The letters in the spaces spell FACE. Something to do with reading music. Also how to use log tables in Maths

I remember in primary school doing this type of maths where you had to see if you could draw these different patterns without taking your pen off the paper or going over the same line twice, and finding some sort of formula for it. It was great fun and very interesting but I've never seen it since, my kids have never mentioned learning it and I probably haven't used it in real life

I have found plug wiring a very useful skill. Having moved between Continental Europe, the UK and Cyprus (which has UK plugs) several times, or appliances needed new plugs

Me too!

All my drill team routines. When having to wait for 3-5 minutes for anything, I just go through a routine in my head

Regulations changed at some point so all new appliances have to be sold with a plug in the UK. In the days before this, they often didn't, so the first thing you had to do when you bought an electrical item was wire in the plug.

Jethro Tull invented the seed drill in 1701

1 mole of any gas at room temperature and pressure has a volume of 24 dm squared.

ich bin pumpfahrtstellen - I am a petrol pump attendant.

'Ou et la Boulangerie? Well I have used that in France once or twice.

Organ Morgan from Under Milk Wood in Richard Burton's gorgeously melodic voice. Not 'useful' but randomly pops into my head.

Stuff about Tudors and Stewart's, castles, forts and moats, which I don't 'need' but which I'm glad I know about.

What I didn't learn was how to use a sewing machine which would have been helpful in my Fashion & Textiles class, but my teacher sewed my designs for me. Taught myself later on.

Ich bin ein einzelkind- I am an only child from year 7 German.

I'm not an only child ( but i reckon my brother wishes he was 😃) so have no idea why that has stuck in my head

Speed = distance/time

Never needed to use this.

@WeeMadArthur1

..and azure and lemon and russet and grey...

How to play hockey, strangely enough I've never played hockey since leaving school.

I wasn't a fan of running around a muddy field with hardly any clothes on in mid winter. Once, the hockey field was covered in snow, and we all hoped that hockey would be cancelled. But no, the games mistress produced a red ball, so out we all trooped. Ghastly!

I can remember how to describe my school word for word in french because I had to learn it for a speaking test! I also still know pi to 10 decimal places. I don't know when in real life I would need to do that but my brain still holds on to the information. Yet I can't remember what I did yesterday 😂

What D N A stands for.

All the wives of Henry VIII, their names and the details of their demise. Actually this has actually been ‘shown off’ a few times when in museums or wandering around historic landmarks.

All the French I learned. Any time I’ve tried to use it in France I get a blank stare and then they talk to me in English.

I suppose ‘Je ne parle pas français’ was quite useful, though.

I used to love wiring plugs.

Really when you think about it other than reading, writing and how to do basic maths is all you need.
Everything else is just (sometimes useful) trivia.
If you find that trivia really interesting you might go on to use it in your life in a job or career or just for fun.
It's important to know facts - but most of it will never be used in a persons everyday life.

X=-b+/- the square root of bsquared-4ac/2a.
How to solve a simultaneous equation.
Haven't needed it since 1993 but you never know! Might come in handy!!

People often cite Oxbow lakes as useless stuff from school. But I was very excited when flying somewhere over France to see a beautiful example.

Quadratic equations: minus B plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4AC, all over something that I forget, but as I cannot conceive of being in a position to need to use it, I am not bothered

To add..... I am always quite good at playing Trivial Pursuit 😂