My high school English literature teacher threw the class a curve once on a quiz about a poem. He said, "I'm curious to know if any of you looked this up. The poem refers to greaves. What are greaves?" Noticing our puzzled expressions, he added, "I'll give you a hint. They're an article of clothing."
Apparently, no one looked up the definition of greaves, because no one answered his question correctly. (Greaves are shin guards.) After we received our graded quizzes, a student asked him, "Did you know you straightened your tie when you said, 'They're an article of clothing?'"
"So, that's what happened!" the teacher exclaimed. "I was trying to figure out why half of you thought that greaves were ties. I thought, How on Earth did they come up with that? The poem is about knights on horseback, so after reading your answers, I had this weird visual of knights wearing suits of armor and ties."
Looking back, it's amusing that so many students in an upper level English class made such a bizarre connection.
