Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 March 21

= March 21 =

History of average number of years getting formal education
How has the number of years that we spend getting an education grown along the centuries? How many people studied and for how long at all back at the days of the Roman empire, Middle Ages, Modern era and so on? --Fend 83 (talk) 13:54, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I am not sure the question can be answered... because the very concept of what "an education" means has changed. Blueboar (talk) 14:00, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Possibly, but we do have some articles that might help - Education in ancient Greece, Education in ancient Rome, cathedral school, monastic school, medieval university... Adam Bishop (talk) 15:18, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Raising of school leaving age has some information, but focused on recent decades. Raising of school leaving age in England and Wales goes back to the 19th century in regard to England and Wales, and similar things occurred in other countries, especially English-speaking ones. Itsmejudith (talk) 17:32, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Beavis and Butthead
Why are Beavis and Butthead always shaking and kind of laughing constantly? They are doing this all of the time and I wonder why they both do this. --Gaffearedding (talk) 21:08, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Previous discussions have established that this is not a discussion forum for asking opinions or speculation about unspecified character motivations. If the information you want is not present in the series (which would make this question unnecessary), there's little chance we can answer this question. Ian.thomson (talk) 21:19, 21 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Primarily, because they're drawn that way. Aside from that, they're hyperactive and stupid. Beavis in particular eats way too much sugar. They both watch too much TV, and take a lot of shots to the head. That much is in the show. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:22, 21 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Indeed, Jessica Rabbit already got it right in her popular quote: "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." The same applies to Beaves and Butthead. --Noopolo (talk) 21:40, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I'll admit, I stole it from her. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:58, 22 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Some cultural critics have commented and attempted to analyze the "heh-heh-heh" and "huh-huh-huh" of B&B-H:
 * For example Paul Lewis in the chapter "Joking Criminals and Criminal joking: Killers and Copycats in Beavis and Butt-Head, Bumfights, and Jackass", pp 56ff in Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict (University of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 9780226476995)
 * "a laugh track for fantasy escapes from nuance, reflection, subtlety, and, perhaps most of all, empathy" / "the sadism of their humor flows [...] from and amoral disregard for the consequences of their actions"
 * or Douglas Kellner in the chapter "Beavis and Butt-Head: no future for postmodern youth", pp 143ff in Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the Post-modern (Routledge, 1995, ISBN 9781134845705)
 * (their laughter) "may signify that in their space they rule, that Beavis and Butt-Head are sovereign, that they control the television and can do any damn thing they want".
 * Both authors are more nuanced in their diagnostics than these quotes might suggest. ---Sluzzelin talk  22:31, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
 * To add a bit of OR to that last point (thought it may have been published, too), Butt-head rules the couch zone. There, he's the cool, smart, leader. Hence, he has the lazier, confident "huh huh huh". Beavis, as his sole subject, shares in his glory and wisdom, but is also the only one around to take the whippings. That, and the lack of confidence in his own stupid ideas, is why his "heh heh heh" is a higher, faster nervous laughter.
 * When they're in Todd's zone, Butt-head's laugh kicks up a notch and his willpower drops, almost to Beavis levels, because Todd is the coolest guy in the world. Beavis doesn't think so, but defers to Butt-head's judgment.
 * It may be the only reason Beavis laughs at all, this fitting in. And Butt-head may just find it amusing. But that's for the highest judge to declare as fact. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:02, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
 * And yeah, at the south pole, there's Stewart. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:10, 23 March 2015 (UTC)


 * After a couple of hours of watching old episodes, I've found two things that stop the laughter: Bad standup comedy, in "Comedians", and mass nudity, in "Naked Colony". In the first case, Butt-head started up again after getting the idea to become a comic, and Beavis immediately followed suit. In the second, they were paralyzed for hours. Beavis comes to first, asking "Hey, Butt-head. Did you see that?" Butt-head says "Yeah...huh huh", again starting Beavis' "heh heh".
 * Suggests again that Butt-head's the catalyst. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:50, 25 March 2015 (UTC)