I Stand Corrected

My wife is doing dat, der learning thing, and as she learns, she educates us along the way. It is actually quite interesting, but never one to let things pass quietly, I thought I would share some of my knowledge too.

"Did you know that America is the only country where they have tornadoes?" I asked.

My statement was greeted with looks of skepticism by Kathy and the smarty-pants principal that were listening.

"It's true. I read about it while ago."

At the golf course, the guy collecting the money started talking about Cliff Clavin from Cheers for some reason. Perhaps due to my name, I'm thinking.

"Did you know that America is the only country where they have tornadoes?" I asked.

Another buddy looked shocked.

"That is true," the old man behind the counter said. "Only in the United States."

Feeling pretty good about things and ready to shock the world with my tidbit of knowledge, I settled in front of the television as my wife prepared for a Monday test.

"Ask me a few questions," she said.

I glanced at the paper as she spouted off information regarding connective tissue and ligaments, and a whole bunch of other stuff that was foreign to me. In the middle of it all, as I marveled at how much she'd learned, and wondered if my learning days were done, my cell phone beeped to show that I had an e-mail.

"I was skeptical," it said. "So you don't lose a bar bet."

My heart sank. The smarty pants principal had gone and looked it up. Turns out that tornadoes have been spotted on every continent except for Antarctica.

The one piece of knowledge that I had over everyone else - shot to hell.

Now I know how Clavin felt.