Back during the 1950s, a USSR elementary school is discussing the definition of different words. The teacher asks “who can say what catastrophe means?”
Dmitri raises his hand, “if my mother dropped her groceries on the way home, that would be a catastrophe.”
Teacher: “not quite, that would be a misfortune, it wouldn’t be a catastrophe.”
Svetlana raises her hand and says “if a plane were to crash, that would be a catastrophe.”
Teacher: “not exactly, that would certainly be a tragedy but not a catastrophe.
Then Sasha raises his hand, “if our great comrade Stalin died, that would be a catastrophe.”
Teacher: “very good! That would indeed be a catastrophe. How did you know that was correct?”
Sasha: “well, it wouldn’t be a misfortune, it wouldn’t be a tragedy…”
Reminds me of a joke.
Back during the 1950s, a USSR elementary school is discussing the definition of different words. The teacher asks “who can say what catastrophe means?” Dmitri raises his hand, “if my mother dropped her groceries on the way home, that would be a catastrophe.” Teacher: “not quite, that would be a misfortune, it wouldn’t be a catastrophe.” Svetlana raises her hand and says “if a plane were to crash, that would be a catastrophe.” Teacher: “not exactly, that would certainly be a tragedy but not a catastrophe. Then Sasha raises his hand, “if our great comrade Stalin died, that would be a catastrophe.” Teacher: “very good! That would indeed be a catastrophe. How did you know that was correct?” Sasha: “well, it wouldn’t be a misfortune, it wouldn’t be a tragedy…”