How to deal with a Mr. Know-it-all

Good morning everyone and welcome back to another Cecil’s World in Print. How many of you know someone who thinks they knows everything? You know the kind of person I am talking about. When you start talking about something, that person can always add something to the conversation because he or she knows everything. It really bothers me because they have done everything, seen everything and been everywhere. No matter what you are talking about, they can add to the story. I wonder sometimes if these people had a lonely child hood and are just trying to fit in. I hate to be rude to them, so most of the time I just keep my mouth shut and listen to what they have to say. But sometimes I catch myself adding a little to a story just to “pump it” up a little when “Mr. Know-it-all” starts his tale. I have some good friends like that and a few kin people who fall into that category.

Now for all of you who know a little bit about everything and have enough information to write a book I have found a test I want you to take. Anyone can take the test but is especially for know-it-alls. Here are the nine questions. Keep score and see how you do before checking the answers, and believe me it is not easy.

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward.

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle?

6. Three English words beginning with dw.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh.

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with S.

Well how do you think you did? I had problems with Nos. 3, 6 and 9. I guess I am not a know-it-all. Now here are the answers:

1. Boxing

2. Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Asparagus and rhubarb.

4. Strawberry.

5. It grew inside the bottle.(The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree.  The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)

6. Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

7. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. Lettuce.

9. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

It is not as easy as it looks. I really think you have to know it all to do well on this test. I will have another skill tester for you next time. That’s it for another Cecil’s World in Print segment. I will see you next week right here in the Morning news and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News 13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.