Information about Dunce
For the topological space, see dunce hat (topology).
A dunce cap, also variously known as a dunce hat, dunce's cap, or dunce's hat, is a pointy hat. In popular culture, it is typically made of paper and often marked with a D or the word "dunce", and given to schoolchildren to wear as punishment by public humiliation for stupid or lazy behavior.
While this is now a rare practice, it is frequently depicted in popular culture such as animated television series. Such headwear is most prevalent in Western culture but achieved a certain prevalence in modern China in connection with various elements of the communist movement.
A very similar practice on the European continent was a paper headdress known as donkey's ears, as a symbol of 'asinine' stupidity.
Origins
The word "dunce" was originally a reference to John Duns Scotus, a 13th century scholastic theologian, whose books on theology, philosophy, and logic were University textbooks. His followers, termed "Dunsmen" or "Dunses", were later challenged about their hodge-podge system of hair-splitting and needless distinctions. Their obstinacy over an increasing array of challenges posed first by humanists and then by reformers, led to the term "dunses" to denote fools in general.According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition), "dunce cap" didn't enter the English language until after the term "dunce" was so transformed. John Ford's 1624 play The Sun's Darling is the first recorded mention of the related term "dunce table," a table provided for duller or poorer students; "dunce cap" appears first in the 1840 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.
The Straight Dope notes that Duns Scotus accepted the wearing of conical hats to increase learning, in the belief that it would funnel knowledge to its wearer (and perhaps in emulation of wizards).
Trivia
- In NetHack, the dunce cap is one of two types of conical hats, the other being the cornuthaum. Due to subtleties of how they work, dunce caps protect against death from Mind flayer brain-sucking attacks. http://www.nethack.de/spoiler/yanfaq.txt
- The dunce cap was featured on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money; contestants were forced to wear a dunce cap when they answered a question in the form of a question (Ã la Jeopardy!).
- The dunce cap was also featured on the game show Street Smarts.
See also
External links
- "What's the origin of the dunce cap?", from The Straight Dope website
- Notes from an Introduction to Topology course, from a University of Oklahoma website, with depictions of the topological dunce hat
dunce hat is a compact topological space formed by taking a solid triangle and gluing all three sides together, with the orientation of one side reversed. Simply gluing two sides oriented in the same direction would yield a cone much like the layman's dunce cap, but the gluing of
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Pointy hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history, in particular suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, but they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the
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For the topological space, see dunce hat (topology).
A dunce cap, also variously known as a dunce hat, dunce's cap, or dunce's hat, is a pointy hat.
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Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons (imprisonment was long unusual as a punishment, rather a method of coercion).
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Animated Series are a television series produced by means of animation. The following is a list of animated television series listed by decade and country of origin.
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Communism
Basic concepts
Marxist philosophy
Class struggle
Proletarian internationalism
Communist party
Ideologies
Marxism Leninism Maoism
Trotskyism Juche
Left Council
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Basic concepts
Marxist philosophy
Class struggle
Proletarian internationalism
Communist party
Ideologies
Marxism Leninism Maoism
Trotskyism Juche
Left Council
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Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons (imprisonment was long unusual as a punishment, rather a method of coercion).
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John Duns Scotus (c. 1266 – November 8, 1308) was a theologian, philosopher, and logician. Some argue that during his tenure at Oxford, the systematic examination of what differentiates theology from philosophy and science began in earnest.
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Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus (Greek: σχολαστικός), which means "that [which] belongs to the school", and was a method of learning taught by the academics (or schoolmen
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Hodge-podge may refer to:
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- Hodge-Podge (character), comic-strip character
- Hodge-Podge (soup)
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Renaissance humanism (often designated simply as humanism) was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century. Initially a humanist was simply a teacher of Latin literature.
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Christianity
Foundations
Jesus Christ
Church Theology
New Covenant Supersessionism
Dispensationalism
Apostles Kingdom Gospel
History of Christianity Timeline
Bible
Old Testament New Testament
Books Canon Apocrypha
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Foundations
Jesus Christ
Church Theology
New Covenant Supersessionism
Dispensationalism
Apostles Kingdom Gospel
History of Christianity Timeline
Bible
Old Testament New Testament
Books Canon Apocrypha
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The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language.
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John Ford (baptised April 17, 1586 – c.1640?) was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.
Ford left home to study in London, although more specific details are unclear—a sixteen-year-old John Ford of Devon was
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Ford left home to study in London, although more specific details are unclear—a sixteen-year-old John Ford of Devon was
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-1624- 1625 . 1626 . 1627 1628 . 1629 . 1630 . 1631 . 1632 . 1633 .
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-1840- 1841 1842 1843 1844 . 1845 . 1846 . 1847 . 1848 . 1849 . 1850
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Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens is acclaimed as one of history's greatest novelists
Born: 7 January 1812
Portsmouth, England
Died: 9 May 1870 (aged 58)
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Charles Dickens is acclaimed as one of history's greatest novelists
Born: 7 January 1812
Portsmouth, England
Died: 9 May 1870 (aged 58)
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The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader (an alternative weekly), syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online.
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magician, wizard, sorcerer or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources.
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NetHack is a single-player roguelike computer game originally released in 1987. It is an evolution of an earlier game called Hack (1985), which was itself an evolution of Rogue (1980).
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Alignment Lawful Evil
Type Aberration
Source books
First appearance
Image Wizards.com image In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids (commonly known as mind flayers
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Type Aberration
Source books
First appearance
Image Wizards.com image In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids (commonly known as mind flayers
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Win Ben Stein's Money was an American television game show that ran from July 28 1997 to May 8 2003 on Comedy Central. It featured three contestants who competed in a general knowledge trivia contest to win the grand prize of $5,000 from the show's host, Ben Stein.
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Jeopardy! is an international television quiz game show, originally devised by Merv Griffin. The show originated in the United States, where it first ran on NBC from March 30, 1964 until January 3, 1975; in a weekly syndicated version from September 9, 1974 to September 7,
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Streetwise has a number of different meanings:
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- The Streetwise was a small hatchback made by the MG Rover Group, called the Rover Streetwise,
- Wisdom in a particular subject.
- Knowledge of youth culture, also called Street.
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dunce hat is a compact topological space formed by taking a solid triangle and gluing all three sides together, with the orientation of one side reversed. Simply gluing two sides oriented in the same direction would yield a cone much like the layman's dunce cap, but the gluing of
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Pointy hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history, in particular suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, but they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader (an alternative weekly), syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a coeducational public research university located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma.
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