Holla!-caust

Hey, American adults! Have you heard of the Holocaust? If you think that's a dumb question, have I got a story for you!

Someone made a Nazi reference as a joke, and a guest at my house, a twenty-something female with whom I was not well-acquainted, asked what a Nazi was. I didn't think she was serious at first, but when she said, "Well, like, I've heard of it before, but I don't know..." I realized she wasn't just playing dumb.

"Well, you know what the Holocaust is, yeah?" I asked.
"Ugh! That's something comedians reference all the time, but I don't get it," she said.
"You don't know the Holocaust?"
"It's something really bad, right?"

She figured that out from context clues, so it's not like she's a total moron. That's when it hit me.

"Did you go to California public schools?" I asked.
"Yeah..."
"Well that explains it."

As a former California public school teacher, it is my professional opinion that she is pretty fortunate that she can string a sentence together. Her response to this backhanded compliment?

"Oh yeah, we didn't learn anything. My Spanish final was to watch Patch Adams in English. Then we had to write a paragraph about it... also in English."