Student surprises

So I added a couple of my students on RenRen (Chinese Facebook)(Yes, surprisingly I am capable of creating an account on such a website) and found that they had been gossiping about my module behind my back!!

This made my day

Translation (italics are my own)

学术状态帝 (on its webpage): How do you fit a 11m wooden pole into a 10m long room? Answer: Run with the pole into the room at 0.46c? ………………………………….. You must be crazy. Why don’t you just hold the pole diagonally and enter the room?

Whereupon my students started sharing it. One of them wrote “I have caught the Phys O contagion…”

[By the way, this works because the pole will length-contract from the frame of the room, and will therefore be able to fit into the room momentarily. Of course, at some point the pole will crash into the walls of the room... but at least you have the satisfaction of saying that you managed to fit the pole in for one nanosecond.]

(I don’t need to translate this, do I?)

Such gems!

I felt an upwelling of what I can only term – job satisfaction. Despite knowing that their teacher is but their senior with no formal pedagogical training, my students are taking my module seriously. It’s become so much a part of their life that they’ve slipped naturally into all the idiosyncrasies of the Phys O student – discussing Phys O online, poking fun at themselves for their perceived ineptitude, donning the geek suits that make them stand out from miles away.

In short, my students have caught the contagion. WAHOO!

(I sound like a sop, but-) It’s immensely rewarding to know that I am significantly to blame for this. I can finally comprehend why people give up lucrative careers to become teachers. There is nothing quite like the feeling that your students’ glories are yours too.

—-
Let us end off with a random photo from my phone:

There is always hope

Guess who was responsible for this?

La

I am highly disturbed by the rampant misuse of the word ‘la’ in informal writing. Wikipedia, which as we all know is a very reliable source, states that’la’ should be used to indicate annoyance, negativity, emphasis or reassurance. Hence, sentences like ‘I would have ponned the prom, but person X persuaded me not to la’ are semantic nonsense and should be outlawed. OUTLAWED!

Also, reading the Wikipedia article on Singlish is at once embarrassing, enlightening and amusing. It contains such gems as:

Lah is sometimes use to curse people
* Go and Die lah!.

Interesting German proverb

Nonsense of the highest grade, this is:

*roaring applause*

Die schärfsten Kritiker der Elche waren früher selber welche

The sharpest critics of the elks used to be ones themselves

A politically incorrect definition

Quote of the day:

“Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”- Author unknown