Things not to say while teaching Aristophanes...

[a_t_rain]

"Greek comedians wore exaggerated costumes, especially the male anatomy -- which they milked for all it was worth."

I wouldn't even have caught that, except one of my students helpfully wrote it down at the bottom of his in-class writing, along with the note, "Interesting choice of words, Ms. Rain."

:: slaps forehead ::

Comments

[maple-clef.livejournal.com]

HA! Well, I guess it's flattering that they're paying close attention to your lessons...

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe I should throw in a few more double-entendres to keep them interested :)

[ilirien.livejournal.com]

*snickers appreciatively*

Why couldn't I have had such entertaining professors?

[tabby-abby.livejournal.com]

I've said similar double entrendres in front of 15 year olds who are only ever thinking of sex.

It was a quite embarassing.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I was once giving a presentation on 1984 as part of a privacy symposium and explained that privacy was a significant issue in the story because the central characters spent much of the book trying to get some.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Well, it's true, isn't it? On both levels...

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed.

...Actually, the first time I said this was in rehearsal, and I stopped and apparently turned very red. I ended up keeping the line for the actual presentation, but I evidently don't deliver intentional double entendres well.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

When I was in the ninth grade, my English teacher got into an argument with one of my classmates about what the #2 on a #2 pencil signified. The rest of us were absorbed in some sort of group work at the time, so the first we knew of it was when our teacher said, in a rather piercing voice, "No, it's not the size, it's how hard it is!"

[mafdet.livejournal.com]

*giggles* That's ONE good way to keep your students interested!

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Okay, what's puzzling me about this entry is that I'm convinced I saw you use the phrase in your LJ earlier, and thought at the time that it was intentional, but I can't figure out where. Maybe I'm having deja vu.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

:: blinks :: Well, I can't think of any occasions when I'd be talking about Aristophanes before today, so I have a feeling you're either having deja vu or thinking of somebody else.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Well, you were talking about the stage directions earlier, but that doesn't seem to be where it is....

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Oh right, so I was.

:: am not even thirty and already going senile ::

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

At least you aren't remembering things that didn't happen, which seems to be my problem. I went back and looked, and didn't see that line.

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Now see, I always love having professors who say things like that, which is fortunate because I have a lot of them.

Last year when I taught Intro to Lit my students managed to ruin "Dover Beach" for me by suggesting that maybe it was all about impotence -- which, you know, makes a great deal of sense actually, but I am no longer able now to take the poem seriously. ;)

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Wow, I think I want to have your job :)