  We show that the wave map equation in $\R^{1+1}$ is in general ill-posed in
the critical space $\dot H^{1/2}$, and the Besov space $\dot B^{1/2,1}_2$. The
problem is attributed to the bad behaviour of the one-dimensional bilinear
expression $D^{-1}(f Dg)$ in these spaces.
