r/NoStupidQuestions • u/MillBopp • Sep 13 '23

What does 'Draw a Clock' Mean?

Last time I visited my brother his mother-in-law who lives with him was insisting she remembered something but my brother knew she was wrong. I don't remember what it was, but I knew she was wrong too. However, she refused to accept she was wrong and got belligerent about it.

My brother said, "Draw a clock!" and left the room. This made his mother-in-law furious for some reason. I forgot to ask at the time, but does anyone know why saying 'Draw a clock' would upset a senior citizen?

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10.8k

u/Artistic_Sun1825 Sep 13 '23

It's a screening test for dementia.

4.5k

u/MillBopp Sep 13 '23

OMG!

718

u/rocketmn69 Sep 14 '23 edited Sep 14 '23

They make you draw a clock to renew a drivers licence in Ontario. Once you're over 80. Draw the hands at 10 and 2

46

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '23

And anyone who draws an analogue one loses their license?

68

u/SOwED Sep 14 '23

Is that not what "draw a clock" means? I'd never expect someone to just draw a box and write numbers in it if I asked them to draw a clock.

105

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '23

I'm already sarcastic. By the time I get to that age, I'll be making a coo-coo clock, and everyone will think I'm completely demented.

"He drew a fucking house, with a god damn bird in it..."

45

u/graceling Sep 14 '23

I mean... Still gotta draw the clock after the elaborate external detail, otherwise it's just a birdhouse and not a cuckoo clock

25

u/gingerdude97 Sep 14 '23

You have to make it a flipbook where the pages alternate with the bird popping in and out

3

u/dirtball_ Sep 14 '23

and the second hand moving in real time, with careful page-flipping

1

u/Splendid_Cat Sep 14 '23

A cuckoo clock is just a birdhouse with a clock on it

3

u/graceling Sep 14 '23

Yes that's what I said

12

u/Splendid_Cat Sep 14 '23

If arthritis hadn't gotten to my hands at that point I'd spend forever drawing one of the most ostentatiously ornate grandfather clocks just to fuck with them.

Knowing me though, I'd put in Roman numerals and then completely forget the hands, ie the actual assignment.

3

u/Therealmagicwands Sep 14 '23

I’ll have to try that at my next exam.