And it's over. Apart from the deferred assessment student who is too ill to sit her exam until February. But mostly it's over.
See you next year.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Crazy answers from student exams
Question: Although Old English had contact both with Celtic languages and Romance languages, it was far more heavily influenced by Romance than Celtic. Explain briefly why this was.
Actual student answers:
"The Celts were inferior."
"The Romans were more evolved."
"Dutch is very similar to English." (Yes, I know: WTF?)
"Celtic was always a minority language." (What, including when it was the ONLY language family in the country?)
"Language influence generally spreads from the people conquering to the people who get conquered. Romance conquered the French, and the French conquered the Celts, and the Anglo-Saxons conquered the English. Celts didn't conquer anybody. They just fought a lot. So only the Anglo-Saxons and Romance languages influenced English."
Almost, but... no.
And this is why 90% of the exam was problem sets rather than short answers. Otherwise if the giggling fits didn't kill me, the urge to throw myself or my students off a bridge would.
Actual student answers:
"The Celts were inferior."
"The Romans were more evolved."
"Dutch is very similar to English." (Yes, I know: WTF?)
"Celtic was always a minority language." (What, including when it was the ONLY language family in the country?)
"Language influence generally spreads from the people conquering to the people who get conquered. Romance conquered the French, and the French conquered the Celts, and the Anglo-Saxons conquered the English. Celts didn't conquer anybody. They just fought a lot. So only the Anglo-Saxons and Romance languages influenced English."
Almost, but... no.
And this is why 90% of the exam was problem sets rather than short answers. Otherwise if the giggling fits didn't kill me, the urge to throw myself or my students off a bridge would.
Totally off-topic, but Bardiac asked nicely
I went to the gynecologist for a pap smear recently. It is a practice with a few different doctors, and I didn't specify who I wanted to see. The last name wasn't anyone I had seen before, but a pretty common name (think: "Smith") and the receptionist said it was a woman.
On the day of the appointment, I entered the doctor's office, only to discover it was someone I know socially. I had no idea she was a gynecologist—I guess she has discovered her work is not a popular topic of conversation.
I'm sure it was no big deal to her: she even seemed happy to see me. But although I am usually quite comfortable with my body and nakedness, it felt very strange having someone who I last saw at a meeting for a committee we are both on inserting fingers in my girly bits, while all the time chatting about mutual acquaintances and various recent events we were both at.
My relationships with female friends usually don't progress to quite that level!
On the day of the appointment, I entered the doctor's office, only to discover it was someone I know socially. I had no idea she was a gynecologist—I guess she has discovered her work is not a popular topic of conversation.
I'm sure it was no big deal to her: she even seemed happy to see me. But although I am usually quite comfortable with my body and nakedness, it felt very strange having someone who I last saw at a meeting for a committee we are both on inserting fingers in my girly bits, while all the time chatting about mutual acquaintances and various recent events we were both at.
My relationships with female friends usually don't progress to quite that level!
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