Favorite student emails

[ergative]

My wife had these email exchange with a student (real name changed):

Layala: "...okay, thank you professor.  Layla." 

Wife: "Sorry, I've been been calling you 'Layala.'  Is that not right?"  (Notes that the email name is "Layala&education.edu")

Layala:  "No, my name is 'Layla.'  My dad just spelled it wrong on my birth certificate and it costs, like, $700 to change your name."

Oh, poor Layla. What a tiresome hassle to have hanging off every interaction. I'm reminded of Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum, in which the Queen of Lancre is named Magrat--not Margaret, Magrat--because the person presiding over her naming ceremony misread the slip of paper with her name on it. So at her own daughter's naming ceremony, Magrat takes steps to make sure that the same does not happen again by writing very clear instructions on the slip of paper with her daughter's name on it. So on the day he faithfully reads the paper exactly as written, obediently proclaiming that the daughter's name will be, forevermore, officially, 'Esmerelda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre'.

[marshwiggle]

My wife had these email exchange with a student (real name changed):

Layala: "...okay, thank you professor.  Layla." 

Wife: "Sorry, I've been been calling you 'Layala.'  Is that not right?"  (Notes that the email name is "Layala&education.edu")

Layala:  "No, my name is 'Layla.'  My dad just spelled it wrong on my birth certificate and it costs, like, $700 to change your name."

Oh, poor Layla. What a tiresome hassle to have hanging off every interaction. I'm reminded of Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum, in which the Queen of Lancre is named Magrat--not Margaret, Magrat--because the person presiding over her naming ceremony misread the slip of paper with her name on it. So at her own daughter's naming ceremony, Magrat takes steps to make sure that the same does not happen again by writing very clear instructions on the slip of paper with her daughter's name on it. So on the day he faithfully reads the paper exactly as written, obediently proclaiming that the daughter's name will be, forevermore, officially, 'Esmerelda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre'.

Similar thing for Oprah. Her name was supposed to from the Bible, i.e. the sister-in-law of Ruth, who was ORPah.

[mamselle]

I always wondered about that!

M.

[marshwiggle]

I always wondered about that!

M.

The weird thing about Bible names for kids is the associations they have.
Orpah - the daughter-in-law who turned back?
Judas - independent thinker???
Jezebel - strong female???
Delilah
Absolom

I wonder if many people just vaguely remember names without remembering the stories.....

[EdnaMode]

"Hey professor im enrolled in your [class I don't teach] and I haven't been present thus far due to outside problems I've had to unfortunately deal with right as the seamster started but im ready to be present and get caught up if possible. Id appreciate if we could set a zoom up maybe so I can see what I need to do. If you could get back to me please and thank you.

stu"

We're in the middle of week two of the semester. I emailed Stu and told him that I was not teaching that course and he should check either his schedule or the LMS to find out who his professor was and contact them. Poor thing. From what I know about the class he's taking, he's already dug himself rather deep in a hole as that class starts out quickly and gains momentum from there.

[the_geneticist]

"Hey professor im enrolled in your [class I don't teach] and I haven't been present thus far due to outside problems I've had to unfortunately deal with right as the seamster started but im ready to be present and get caught up if possible. Id appreciate if we could set a zoom up maybe so I can see what I need to do. If you could get back to me please and thank you.

stu"

We're in the middle of week two of the semester. I emailed Stu and told him that I was not teaching that course and he should check either his schedule or the LMS to find out who his professor was and contact them. Poor thing. From what I know about the class he's taking, he's already dug himself rather deep in a hole as that class starts out quickly and gains momentum from there.

I emailed all students who were earning less than 10% of the possible points & got one back:

I had some trouble with wifi and I was out of town in the beginning of the quarter and recently it has just been covid affecting my family and I. I should be good to go now, sorry for the inconveniences. Is there anything I could do to help my grade?

Yes. Log on to the LMS and TURN SOMETHING IN.
And we're in week 3 of 10.  Not a good way to start out your quarter.

[apl68]

I always wondered about that!

M.

The weird thing about Bible names for kids is the associations they have.
Orpah - the daughter-in-law who turned back?
Judas - independent thinker???
Jezebel - strong female???
Delilah
Absolom

I wonder if many people just vaguely remember names without remembering the stories.....

I really wonder that with some place names I've seen.  In my home county there was a community named Sodom in the early 1900s.  It was an officially recognized rural community with its own post office for several years.  In the early 1920s it merged with a neighboring postal district with the thoroughly unobjectionable name of Lenox.  Maybe the Sodomites had had time to think better of their choice of name by then.

A neighboring county has a Sardis community, and when I was younger still had a Sardis church.  An actual modern-day church named Sardis!  It's now only a cemetery, which I guess makes a certain amount of sense.

[EdnaMode]

"Hey professor im enrolled in your [class I don't teach] and I haven't been present thus far due to outside problems I've had to unfortunately deal with right as the seamster started but im ready to be present and get caught up if possible. Id appreciate if we could set a zoom up maybe so I can see what I need to do. If you could get back to me please and thank you.

stu"

We're in the middle of week two of the semester. I emailed Stu and told him that I was not teaching that course and he should check either his schedule or the LMS to find out who his professor was and contact them. Poor thing. From what I know about the class he's taking, he's already dug himself rather deep in a hole as that class starts out quickly and gains momentum from there.

I emailed all students who were earning less than 10% of the possible points & got one back:

I had some trouble with wifi and I was out of town in the beginning of the quarter and recently it has just been covid affecting my family and I. I should be good to go now, sorry for the inconveniences. Is there anything I could do to help my grade?

Yes. Log on to the LMS and TURN SOMETHING IN.
And we're in week 3 of 10.  Not a good way to start out your quarter.

Oh, boy! I wonder what students like that are truly expecting us to say? Something like, "Hey, Stu! It's fine, don't worry about the missing work, you don't need to know that stuff anyway! Come to class when you feel like it, do the work when you can, and don't worry about points! It's all good!" My usual answer is along the lines of "See the syllabus for info on late work policies, you have until [date] to get late work turned in. All the reading and assignment info is on the LMS. My office hours are [date/time] and here's info for a tutor if you need one to help you get caught up."

[mamselle]

I always wondered about that!

M.

The weird thing about Bible names for kids is the associations they have.
Orpah - the daughter-in-law who turned back?
Judas - independent thinker???
Jezebel - strong female???
Delilah
Absolom

I wonder if many people just vaguely remember names without remembering the stories.....

Sad to say from a religious educator's point of view, very little reading or teaching of Biblical literature goes on at present.

Most who use the names probably never even heard of or learned about the stories, or the figures named in them.

Some also have other connotations--Absalom was the name of the first Black bishop in the Anglican church; it may have even been a name given him or inherited from an enslaver or an enslaved parent (I'd have to look that part up, forget his exact life history) so its use now might reflect that connection.

The popular song 'Delilah' may have led to folks in the mid-20th c. naming their kids that with no other connection but liking the song.

'Judas' is often confuted with 'Jude,' a nickname (as we all know from the Beatles' song, now) for John.

And so on, and so on...

M.

[jerseyjay]

I am not sure how many people's names were chosen for their "original" meaning vs. a combination of sounds and more recent connotations.

In Latin America, names from Greek and Roman mythology and history are much more common. I've known Octavios, Marc Antonios, Zeuses, Julio Cesars, etc. I once taught twins named Euclides and Ulysses. They had no idea of what their names meant, just that their parents liked their sounds. Interesting enough, in Latin America both Benito and Adolfo are relatively common names that are free from the stigma that they have in English.

[apl68]

I am not sure how many people's names were chosen for their "original" meaning vs. a combination of sounds and more recent connotations.

In Latin America, names from Greek and Roman mythology and history are much more common. I've known Octavios, Marc Antonios, Zeuses, Julio Cesars, etc. I once taught twins named Euclides and Ulysses. They had no idea of what their names meant, just that their parents liked their sounds. Interesting enough, in Latin America both Benito and Adolfo are relatively common names that are free from the stigma that they have in English.

I've noticed that about Latin American names. 

Don't forget the Orazios!

[apl68]

I always wondered about that!

M.

The weird thing about Bible names for kids is the associations they have.
Orpah - the daughter-in-law who turned back?
Judas - independent thinker???
Jezebel - strong female???
Delilah
Absolom

I wonder if many people just vaguely remember names without remembering the stories.....

Sad to say from a religious educator's point of view, very little reading or teaching of Biblical literature goes on at present.

Most who use the names probably never even heard of or learned about the stories, or the figures named in them.

Some also have other connotations--Absalom was the name of the first Black bishop in the Anglican church; it may have even been a name given him or inherited from an enslaver or an enslaved parent (I'd have to look that part up, forget his exact life history) so its use now might reflect that connection.

The popular song 'Delilah' may have led to folks in the mid-20th c. naming their kids that with no other connection but liking the song.

'Judas' is often confuted with 'Jude,' a nickname (as we all know from the Beatles' song, now) for John.

And so on, and so on...

M.

Wonder if that explains a Delilah I used to know?  She tended to go by the nickname Cricket, which I have no idea about.  I've seen other Absaloms from earlier centuries.

Interestingly enough, if you look at Civil War muster records you'll see the occasional Cephas or Adoniram, but for every one of those you'll find a dozen plain old Bills or Johns or Richards.  Westerns and other historical fiction with nineteenth-century American settings sometimes give the impression that every other guy back then had a name plucked straight from Scripture, but that doesn't seem to have been the case.  I guess they focus on the more obscure-sounding names to try to convey the "otherness" of the nineteenth century.

[the_geneticist]

"Hey professor im enrolled in your [class I don't teach] and I haven't been present thus far due to outside problems I've had to unfortunately deal with right as the seamster started but im ready to be present and get caught up if possible. Id appreciate if we could set a zoom up maybe so I can see what I need to do. If you could get back to me please and thank you.

stu"

We're in the middle of week two of the semester. I emailed Stu and told him that I was not teaching that course and he should check either his schedule or the LMS to find out who his professor was and contact them. Poor thing. From what I know about the class he's taking, he's already dug himself rather deep in a hole as that class starts out quickly and gains momentum from there.

I emailed all students who were earning less than 10% of the possible points & got one back:

I had some trouble with wifi and I was out of town in the beginning of the quarter and recently it has just been covid affecting my family and I. I should be good to go now, sorry for the inconveniences. Is there anything I could do to help my grade?

Yes. Log on to the LMS and TURN SOMETHING IN.
And we're in week 3 of 10.  Not a good way to start out your quarter.

Oh, boy! I wonder what students like that are truly expecting us to say? Something like, "Hey, Stu! It's fine, don't worry about the missing work, you don't need to know that stuff anyway! Come to class when you feel like it, do the work when you can, and don't worry about points! It's all good!" My usual answer is along the lines of "See the syllabus for info on late work policies, you have until [date] to get late work turned in. All the reading and assignment info is on the LMS. My office hours are [date/time] and here's info for a tutor if you need one to help you get caught up."

Probably something like "Don't worry about the first few weeks!  Online classes aren't real!  Deadlines and due dates are silly - just complete things any time you want!"
I directed them to the syllabus, contacted their advisor, and told them that their first exam is Friday.  They should probably just drop.

[kaysixteen]

David Hackett Fischer's 'Albion's Seed' makes much of the fact that American onomastic practices varied widely amongst his 4 regions, due to ethnic and religious reasons that went back to the British Isles.   The Puritans were generally the only folk who loved the OT names... with the apparent exception of 'David', which Fischer theorizes was due partially to David's, ahem, unfortunate lapse of behavior wrt Uriah and Bathsheba, and partially due to the Scottish inheritance of the name, with Kings David up there, but never in England.

[apl68]

David Hackett Fischer's 'Albion's Seed' makes much of the fact that American onomastic practices varied widely amongst his 4 regions, due to ethnic and religious reasons that went back to the British Isles.   The Puritans were generally the only folk who loved the OT names... with the apparent exception of 'David', which Fischer theorizes was due partially to David's, ahem, unfortunate lapse of behavior wrt Uriah and Bathsheba, and partially due to the Scottish inheritance of the name, with Kings David up there, but never in England.

It's been many a year since I read Albion's Seed in grad school.  I ought to check it out again sometime, if I can get hold of a copy.