Humor Column

By Barbara McLay, University of South Florida

Sometimes You Have to Laugh

The new rolls came out, and as I was looking over the list, the name Fritz Garcia, or something similar, caught my eye. I started thinking about how this student might have a Hispanic father and a mother of German descent, not such an unusual situation in the USA. However, when the student came to class, I was surprised to discover that he was Chinese.
Barbara McLay—University of South Florida

I was teaching outlining, and a student turned in an outline in perfect form except for his not using any Roman numerals. When I asked him about it, he said he couldn’t find a typewriter or word processor with a font for Roman numerals! He was sincere—and very embarrassed when I had him write out his Roman numerals and look at them!
Nancy Mills—Hillsborough Community College


Not Yet Perfectly Fluent

Excerpts from Students’ Papers

The death penalty should be used more severely.

They took their vowels very seriously.

You can get anything you want at the touch of a bottom.

Marriage is a great astonishment in someone’s life.

The kind of marriage I would have is a mutual one.

You will be able to achieve that feet no matter how hard.

He is now too scared to hunt this viscous animal.

It opened my mine a little bit.

He could be a cereal killer.

I never can picture a person living in poverty or death and disease.

Questions or comments? Contact the author at bmclay@cchd.usf.edu.