Comments | academics_anon: From a research paper draft:

mokitty in academics_anon

From a research paper draft:

Mar 12, 2009 12:37

"As American citizens we are given several freedoms, freedom of speech and the right to bare arms to name a few."

OMG.

And this is a woman who's been rather indignant so far about her grades not being as high as she'd like them.

grading-student-writing, problem-students

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riverafire March 12 2009, 17:48:23 UTC

This is why I advise my students at the start of each semester that spell check is not their friend.

enders_shadow March 12 2009, 18:02:37 UTC

Well, either that or they need to learn their homophones.

sushidog March 12 2009, 18:11:03 UTC

A colleague of mine once had to mark an essay which discussed Piglet's views on child development, for exactly that reason.

enders_shadow March 12 2009, 18:16:07 UTC

Were the assigned texts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Pooh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Te_of_Piglet

?

nightingale0 March 12 2009, 18:18:24 UTC

I somehow hit "change" instead of "add to dictionary" and ended writing about that little known English composer, Henry Purple.

dreadnought March 12 2009, 19:05:26 UTC

Would that be Henry Purcell, by any chance? :D

(The comment has been removed)

dreadnought March 12 2009, 20:25:45 UTC

Oh no!

I've sung that piece, and I don't know if I could hold my composure. :) "When I am laid, am laid..."

nightingale0 March 12 2009, 20:36:06 UTC

I've sung it too, and I can't anymore without thinking of that story. I picked a different Purcell song for my university audition.

nightingale0 March 12 2009, 20:23:02 UTC

right!

Funny story - a poor soprano had to get up and sing after her piece was announced as "When I am laid by Henry Purcell".

lizzymommy March 13 2009, 00:48:16 UTC

*shudder* This is how I made the "big bucks" in conservatory. I was the Concert Office's Program Editor. It was my job to stop stupid mistakes like this one!

lightup_tea March 12 2009, 19:12:38 UTC

I had one student use "genital" instead of "gentle." Spell check is certainly not her friend. But proofreading is.

drenilop March 12 2009, 20:03:08 UTC

Mine regularly mix up "martial" and "marital".... I teach international relations, which often makes the context even funnier ('martial conflict' versus 'marital conflict').

jennekirby March 13 2009, 00:30:51 UTC

Similar to a friend's reference to the pubic school system in his thesis (brought up by a committee member during his defense).

What are you talking about? mokitty March 13 2009, 02:43:57 UTC

I LOVE pubic schools!!! I went to pubic schools all my life. Those are schools about your privates, right?

suitablyemoname March 12 2009, 20:22:13 UTC

My father likes to tell the story of the (non-ESL) student who once wrote an entire paper about the geography of aunt populations. Aunts are usually clustered around areas with certain types of soil and ready access to food sources, but aunts tend to avoid getting too clustered together, lest the natural aunt reflexes kick in and they begin attacking each other.

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