a little knowledge is a dangerous thing ?

[crete]

do you agree with this statement ? if yes do you have any examples, tia.

[naz_nomad]

yes ... if you have the knowledge to get a car moving, but not to stop it.

..and can I refer you to the recent 'BB' fiasco....where virtually no knowledge was a dangerous thing

[B00]

Just to change the topic for a sec.....for ages when I first joined AB I thought loooooooooooooooads of folks were called Tia, took me ages to figure out it stood for Thanks In Advance :-(

[alinic]

I dont think its dangerous, In certain circumstances its handy, but it all depends what it is! Dose that make sense!

[whiskeysheri]

Yes.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Body-and-Soul/Q uestion354131.html

[Octavius]

Well yes it is partly true, the phrase more often comes into play when people are drunk and know not their limitations. An everyday example could be the application of First Aid.

As Pope (Alexander, not Benedict) put it: "A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

A little knowledge can also be a saviour, particularly if you know enough to know what you are not good at. For instance, I a little about scalpels and brain operations, but I wouldn't do one.

[snagged]

I agree... a good example of this is people using the internet for (mis)diagnosis of medical problems either for themselves or others...

[boro1986]

What happened to Patrick my house was still intact when i left it this morning

[ladyshy]

I think people with a little knowledge and no idea what to do with it are a dangerous thing. Or people with a little power who previously never had any.

Mind you... I'm scared of people with a little knowledge but a lot of influence.

[Champagne]

By rights, the statement can only be true if the ignorance rears its ugly head.

[OBonio]

Very true. From my standpoint in the IT industry, a little knowledge (my mate told me to try this) can sometimes do more harm than good. An example... a new director here got her new laptop a day before I returned from the Christmas break. She thought she'd be 'helpful' and try and set it up herself..... without any Admin rights on the network... She thought that just setting up an XP account with her name would let her log onto the network... she then proceeded to setup a load of stuff in 'My Documents'. When I got in she complained that Outlook wasn't working and that our wireless network was down. Yes, Outlook won't work because you're not logged in AT ALL, and the wireless network has something called security... And breathe.....

[curlyperm]

knowledge is power - in my experience ; P

[noxlumos]

True.
Example- George W Bush and Tony Blair, clearly "thought" they knew what they were doing but didn't have enough solid and sensible inofrmation to base their kneejerk decisions on.

[robbo82]

That's actually a famous misquotation, the real saying is "A little learning is a dangerous thing", which slightly changes the meaning.

[qprfans]

in your case crete a little knowledge would be a wonderful thing,but i doubt you will ever have any.

[crete]

thanks qpr ? for your contribution.