The Funniest And Most Unexpected Things Found In Real Textbooks
Many students consider their school textbooks to be boring. But once in a while, someone will find a gem in there that makes them laugh. One time, someone found a woman saying hello to people in a bush. Another time, a textbook claimed that you can pronounce "E" backward. To see more of these unexpected, hilarious textbook sightings, keep reading.
It Seems Like He Already Has Her Number
In this Spanish textbook, a boy calls a girl to ask what her number is. Wait...he calls her to... the authors didn't think that one through.
It is possible that she called him, and he asked for her number, which he cannot find on that dinosaur of a phone. But that requires too much narration.
Well, They're Not Wrong
In this textbook's footnote, the author explains that they did not title the section "Introduction, since "nobody reads the introduction." And nobody will know, "because nobody reads the footnotes either."
Well, this Redditor was in the 1% of people who do read the footnotes. The author has a point--how many times did you read textbook introductions in school?
Oh Hey
Textbook authors struggle to keep students' interest. The illustrator for this French textbook had one idea; they drew a woman greeting two people in a bush.
This image rapidly went viral, with many people speculating on what those people were doing in the bush. Perhaps they were simply speaking French.
An Art History Textbook Forgot The Art
If a textbook author forgets to correct a typo, that's fine. But this person forgot to include the art in this art history textbook.
But only two pages lack art photos, right? Nope. The entire 700-page textbook has no art pictures, which makes the subject difficult to study. How did this even make it to print?
Thanks For Explaining What Words Are
According to this textbook, someone saying "aawagga" is "speech incomprehensible." Nobody needs clarification that that is incomprehensible.
Apparently, this page is part of a diagram showing the Glasgow Coma Scale, or symptoms of people in comatose states. But even in context, the "word" looks like somebody slammed their fist into the keyboard.
An Anatomically Accurate Diagram
If you open an anatomy textbook, do you expect to find an anatomically correct diagram? You shouldn't. This textbook has the diagram of an extra long man and incredibly long horse.
The diagram is supposed to compare the length of both species' intestines. But out of context, it is hilarious.
How Do You Pronounce Backwards?
This Latin textbook is incredibly helpful. You can tell because the author claims that "Ǝ" is pronounced like "E" backward. How is that even possible?
If you want to know how it's actually pronounced, the Ǝ sound (or ǝ) is pronounced like an "a," "uh," or "ou" depending on the word and language.
Ah Yes, The Colors
What's the best way to learn colors? Most likely, it's by seeing the word next to the color. That's what this French textbook author was going for, except they forgot that the book is printed in black and white.
This is why teachers rarely ever rely on the textbook. Otherwise, students would be learning Fifty Shades of Gris.
Not The Cakes!
You won't believe how many cakes DC villain Lex Luthor stole in this textbook. Forty cakes, as many as four tens! That's too many cakes.
After this textbook joke went viral, DC included the frame in one of their comics. Now, in the DC universe, Lex Luthor is officially a cake stealer.
We Can't Answer That Question
What do all math textbooks need? That's right-- a random photo of a raccoon. And nobody is more confused than the author who captioned it.
It seems that the author was writing, "Why is it pictured here?" to address the editor, but somebody forgot to remove it from the final version.
Justin Bieber Is Always Thinking About You
According to this psychology textbook, Justin Bieber has "been thinking about you a lot." If any fan out there believes that he doesn't know you exist, know that he is using his prefrontal cortex.
If the goal of this blurb was to make students remember what the prefrontal cortex does, the author succeeded. They gave every reader an existential crisis.
Finally, A Cat That's Prepared
A cat falls westward from a parachute at 120 mph, and a train heads east at 50 mph. If they are 200 miles apart, how long will it take for them to collide?
We're kidding. This "well prepared cat" was actually found in a physics textbook. Few people know what it was doing there.
How Many Different Ways Can You Say United States?
This textbook author must have had a word count minimum because they found as many ways to say "United States" as possible. This is why students never read the introduction.
Speaking of which, did you know that the United States is made of a bunch of united states? You learn something new every day.
Apparently Egypt Is In South America
This geography textbook illustrator had one job: label the geography correctly. But apparently, that was too difficult, because they put Egypt in South America.
The illustration is in an AP World History textbook, which means that some AP students might think that Egypt is in South America. Isn't that reassuring?
He Is Pretty Cool
If you don't know what an Aplysia californica is, check this psychology textbook. It is clearly a cool sea slug; you can tell by its sunglasses.
But if it takes off the sunglasses, it'll just be a sea slug. Then it can't participate in neurological studies of learning and memory.
Someone Help Him!
When the illustrator drew a hand reaching out of a garbage truck, they probably thought that nobody would notice. But we did. This engineering problem just turned into a horror story.
Perhaps this author wants you to calculate how that person can escape the trash, but that seems unlikely--even for this weird textbook.
How Scientists Weigh Dinosaurs
If you've ever wondered how to weigh dinosaurs, just look at this diagram. You throw a whole dinosaur into a beaker and measure the water.
We're pretty sure this is how scientists and archaeologists weigh dinosaurs. They just need a very, very large beaker or a very, very small toy dinosaur.
That Cat Did Not Enjoy Prison
According to this textbook, criminal Roméo Phillion was allowed to keep his cat in prison. But the cat did not seem to like it. He looks traumatized.
Not only has that cat seen some horrifying things in prison, he also did not commit any crime. That seems like an unfair deal.
Ronny Isn't Messing Around
A Redditor found this comic in their little brother's textbook. The textbook is actually about introducing Christianity to others, but Ronny is a hard customer.
He is also the most straightforward boy to ever exist, apparently. He wasn't even trying to be polite. He just doesn't want any more friends.
Fire: The Fastest Method Of Travel
At a glance, nothing seems off in this diagram. It is comparing the chances of death in three situations. But when you get to the end, you'll realize that it's comparing the most "dangerous ways to travel."
Apparently, fire is the second-worst way to travel. The next time you hop into a fire cockpit, consider the odds.
