A history professor commented on a student's “un-American” punctuation. The student was upset:
“I mean, this is not an English class, and I’ve gone through English classes, so I know that I’m supposed to punctuate the correct way throughout essays and I know he’s supposed to correct me and take points off for it, which I put in my email to him, but those comments were just so unnecessary.”The professor was joking.
[In an online class the options for humor may be sharply limited.]
comments: 3
Both sides.
1. A person in a position of authority has to be careful when joking at work, because subordinates are supposed to jump when the higher-up utters the word. Online or no.
2. All the stand-up comics I've seem lately do bits on people taking offense too easily. I think they're right.
I remember once upon a time, when media focused on news stories and investigative reporting, not minor slights. Must have been a very slow day.
Art: Yes, exactly. Professors often learn need to telegraph their humor. But some humor is not worth the cost of the telegram. I think this guy was trying to be clever for his own sake (and trying too hard).
Diane: I guess this story checked the ’Merica, snooty prof, and snowflake boxes. What caught my eye is punctuation in the news — always a big deal. :)
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