Your girlfriend will appreciate this anecdote, then--my masters-in-history wife said she found it "amusifying."
In one of my education classes, the professor was having us do an idiotic activity that culminated in telling one another one thing we knew about "The Revolutionary War." Being a smartaleck, I told my partner, "There were lots of different Revolutionary Wars. The French one involved guillotines." (I should've specified which French one, I know). My partner giggled and said, "I don't know anything about the Revolutionary War--who was President then?"
I looked at her disbelievingly and, once I realized she was serious, said, "Uh, there wasn't a President. That was kind of the whole point."
"Oh, okay," she said, "then who was President after the war?"
"YOu mean the first president?"
"Yeah! Was that George Washington?"
Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to the woman who will be teaching your children.
Daniel