Comments on: Sh*t my students write

By: Ben Freund

Ben Freund — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:43:00 +0000

I feel pretty dim for not getting this. What context makes this a malapropism as opposed to a statement of fact?

By: Ethical Cannibal

Ethical Cannibal — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:32:00 +0000

I worked in a bookstore in a college town. I led some young ladies to the Shakespeare section where one remarked, “I like Shakespear and all, except for all the cliches.”

By: Steve Collins

Steve Collins — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:29:00 +0000

I feel like Ellen the Generous would be proud of the moniker.

By: Steve Collins

Steve Collins — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:16:00 +0000

I love the excessive/strange superlatives that frequently creep into my students’ writing! I guess it must be more correct if “Marx truly believed that the underclass were oppressed by the ruling ideology.”

By: RJ

RJ — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:14:00 +0000

Most of those snippets wouldn’t be out of place in certain online forums. They have that same wobbly, fledgling discourse and shaky grip on the ideas behind it.

(I’m not saying those students are dim. Their statements are just examples of the learning process. But it’s still entertaining to see.)

By: RJ

RJ — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:56:00 +0000

Dodging a bullet does have a life-affirming quality to it.

By: Charles Richter

Charles Richter — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:50:00 +0000

I once had a student who turned in a paper all about the philosopher Dick Hart. He blathered on vaguely for a few pages about Hart, and I was baffled by what he was talking about, because no such person existed in the curriculum, or to my knowledge. Finally–and I am not making this up–he included Hart’s most famous quotation:

“I think, therefore I am.”

By: Dean Putney

Dean Putney — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:49:00 +0000

You’re damn right!

By: Ipo

Ipo — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:39:00 +0000

“Contact with H2O
first aid for contact with H2O: flush eyes with water, rinse skin with water, if ingested, get medical help.”

Rinse, repeat.

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:34:00 +0000

It was the 60s. Drugs were involved. How about we just leave it at that and not talk about the Edgewater anymore, mmkay?

By: Toby Graves

Toby Graves — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:55:00 +0000

Didn’t I meet you at the Edgewater?

By: Itsumishi

Itsumishi — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:47:00 +0000

The credibility of Boing Boing is insanely reputable do to its high standards, and critical objectives.

By: sigdrifa

sigdrifa — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Here’s a good one… “I believe that life begins at contraception.”

By: sigdrifa

sigdrifa — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:19:00 +0000

Looked at some of the other stuff quoted on the blog. This would be really funny if it wasn’t so sad.

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:14:00 +0000

By: Daniel Earwicker

Daniel Earwicker — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:07:00 +0000

Excellent. I think Neil said something like that in The Young Ones – “You can never hammer in the last nail.”

By: Toby Graves

Toby Graves — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:47:00 +0000

Hmm…I detect a challenge…