Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[Parasaurolophus]

Para, do you mind sharing with us the model English sentence you came up with, and why you think it was a malformed English one?  I am not sure a sentence missing a 'disjunct', if we are using the term correctly, is necessarily a malformed sentence, but I would be interested in your sentence, and why you think it was badly formed?   Also, for extra emphasis, the French translation you offered?

Just to be clear, we're translating into a formal language (in this case, propositional logic), not a natural language. So, from English into letters and symbols.

When you introduce a disjunction, it should have at least two disjuncts, otherwise it isn't a disjunction. This one contained a properly-formed nested disjunction, but no second disjunct for the main disjunction. Total bozo move on my part.

I don't have the sentence any more, and I don't remember it at all, but imagine something along the lines of "Either Argle goes to the grocery store if Bargle doesn't and either Cargle needs sugar or Dargle needs plums". It was much longer and had many more sub-clauses, but the effect was the same. It needs another disjunct after the large conditional.

[traductio]

Para, do you mind sharing with us the model English sentence you came up with, and why you think it was a malformed English one?  I am not sure a sentence missing a 'disjunct', if we are using the term correctly, is necessarily a malformed sentence, but I would be interested in your sentence, and why you think it was badly formed?   Also, for extra emphasis, the French translation you offered?

Just to be clear, we're translating into a formal language (in this case, propositional logic), not a natural language. So, from English into letters and symbols.

When you introduce a disjunction, it should have at least two disjuncts, otherwise it isn't a disjunction. This one contained a properly-formed nested disjunction, but no second disjunct for the main disjunction. Total bozo move on my part.

I don't have the sentence any more, and I don't remember it at all, but imagine something along the lines of "Either Argle goes to the grocery store if Bargle doesn't and either Cargle needs sugar or Dargle needs plums". It was much longer and had many more sub-clauses, but the effect was the same. It needs another disjunct after the large conditional.

I'd like to sign up for your class, please! As an undergrad, I would have found the translation in to a formal language absolutely intriguing.

[reverist]

Para, do you mind sharing with us the model English sentence you came up with, and why you think it was a malformed English one?  I am not sure a sentence missing a 'disjunct', if we are using the term correctly, is necessarily a malformed sentence, but I would be interested in your sentence, and why you think it was badly formed?   Also, for extra emphasis, the French translation you offered?

Just to be clear, we're translating into a formal language (in this case, propositional logic), not a natural language. So, from English into letters and symbols.

When you introduce a disjunction, it should have at least two disjuncts, otherwise it isn't a disjunction. This one contained a properly-formed nested disjunction, but no second disjunct for the main disjunction. Total bozo move on my part.

I don't have the sentence any more, and I don't remember it at all, but imagine something along the lines of "Either Argle goes to the grocery store if Bargle doesn't and either Cargle needs sugar or Dargle needs plums". It was much longer and had many more sub-clauses, but the effect was the same. It needs another disjunct after the large conditional.

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

[the_geneticist]

Para, do you mind sharing with us the model English sentence you came up with, and why you think it was a malformed English one?  I am not sure a sentence missing a 'disjunct', if we are using the term correctly, is necessarily a malformed sentence, but I would be interested in your sentence, and why you think it was badly formed?   Also, for extra emphasis, the French translation you offered?

Just to be clear, we're translating into a formal language (in this case, propositional logic), not a natural language. So, from English into letters and symbols.

When you introduce a disjunction, it should have at least two disjuncts, otherwise it isn't a disjunction. This one contained a properly-formed nested disjunction, but no second disjunct for the main disjunction. Total bozo move on my part.

I don't have the sentence any more, and I don't remember it at all, but imagine something along the lines of "Either Argle goes to the grocery store if Bargle doesn't and either Cargle needs sugar or Dargle needs plums". It was much longer and had many more sub-clauses, but the effect was the same. It needs another disjunct after the large conditional.

Reminds me of the computer programmer joke:
Wife: When you are at the grocery store, please buy a loaf of bread.  And if they have those eggs I like, get a dozen.
Husband comes home with 12 loaves of bread and 0 eggs.
Wife: Uh, why did you buy 12 loaves of bread?
Husband: They have those eggs you like.

[Parasaurolophus]

I'd like to sign up for your class, please! As an undergrad, I would have found the translation in to a formal language absolutely intriguing.

I can always send you the links to my terribad YouTube lectures. =p

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

:)

My partner's a continental (I'm an analytic). Talk of brackets and bracketing makes her apoplectic.

Reminds me of the computer programmer joke:
Wife: When you are at the grocery store, please buy a loaf of bread.  And if they have those eggs I like, get a dozen.
Husband comes home with 12 loaves of bread and 0 eggs.
Wife: Uh, why did you buy 12 loaves of bread?
Husband: They have those eggs you like.

That was brilliant, thank you!

It's also going on their final exam. I'm adding it as we speak!

[traductio]

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

:)

My partner's a continental (I'm an analytic). Talk of brackets and bracketing makes her apoplectic.

She's not a fan of Husserl, then, I suppose?

(Sorry if no one else finds that funny. My kids have informed me that my jokes aren't funny, but when I'm tired at the end of the day, I make them anyway.)

[polly_mer]

I loved the formal logic course I took in college.  I spend a lot of time programming now, so I frequently encounter 12 loaves of bread problems.

[kaysixteen]

Ah, formal logic.  'Disjunct' means something very different in linguistics, and would not have caused the problem you alluded to.  Thanks.

[apl68]

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

:)

My partner's a continental (I'm an analytic). Talk of brackets and bracketing makes her apoplectic.

She's not a fan of Husserl, then, I suppose?

(Sorry if no one else finds that funny. My kids have informed me that my jokes aren't funny, but when I'm tired at the end of the day, I make them anyway.)

It went over my head but grazed my hair--I recognized Husserl's name without remembering anything about him.  Either I didn't pay enough attention in Intro to Philosophy, or it's been too long. 

[traductio]

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

:)

My partner's a continental (I'm an analytic). Talk of brackets and bracketing makes her apoplectic.

She's not a fan of Husserl, then, I suppose?

(Sorry if no one else finds that funny. My kids have informed me that my jokes aren't funny, but when I'm tired at the end of the day, I make them anyway.)

It went over my head but grazed my hair--I recognized Husserl's name without remembering anything about him.  Either I didn't pay enough attention in Intro to Philosophy, or it's been too long.

Husserl's key idea is that of the epoche, which is often translated as a form of bracketing off of reality. He's a continental philosopher, rather than analytic, which is what makes my joke so obscure! Also, I should listen to my kids, who tell me I'm not as funny as I think I am.

Edited to add: I'm not a philosopher, just a dabbler. I read widely, which is how I worked through a lot of Husserl in grad school.

[Aster]

A student emailed me this week asking if I could send him all of my lectures for the lab class.

It took me a while to wrap my head around this bizarre question, but my response email was satisfyingly short.

"Dear Stu Dent, there are no lectures for this course. This is a laboratory course."

[Parasaurolophus]

As a fellow philosopher, I smiled when I saw "brackets." :)

:)

My partner's a continental (I'm an analytic). Talk of brackets and bracketing makes her apoplectic.

She's not a fan of Husserl, then, I suppose?

(Sorry if no one else finds that funny. My kids have informed me that my jokes aren't funny, but when I'm tired at the end of the day, I make them anyway.)

Actually, that's the only bracketing she'll allow!

[AmLitHist]

I am SO sick of the snotty emails I'm getting from students over the past few weeks. IHE, I think, did an article on this a few days ago; I'm trying to get ready to teach (between answering snotty emails), so I'll try to find and link later.

I get the whole "screen bravado" thing, and "they're stressed," but dammit, so am I.  Our customer-first place generally expects us to be happy punching bags, which I've never gone along with, but even for this place, I've never had so many over-the-top messages this early, or even in an entire semester, as I've had since mid-September.

My responses are getting increasingly snarky, BCC'd to my chair and dean, who have been supportive. I'm not mean, but I'm giving these students chapter-and-verse of why I'm not putting up with the attitudes (e.g., they turn in crap work that ignores instructions--or, my favorite, NO work--then bitch about grades; one turned in a paper late on Sunday, then raised hell because it wasn't graded and returned by Tuesday morning). 

Grrr.  Sorry.  Off to teach two LVL classes where I'm the only one talking again.  Surprise, kiddies:  if you won't talk, I have lots of writing ready for you to do instead.

[fishbrains]

I am SO sick of the snotty emails I'm getting from students over the past few weeks. IHE, I think, did an article on this a few days ago; I'm trying to get ready to teach (between answering snotty emails), so I'll try to find and link later.

I get the whole "screen bravado" thing, and "they're stressed," but dammit, so am I.  Our customer-first place generally expects us to be happy punching bags, which I've never gone along with, but even for this place, I've never had so many over-the-top messages this early, or even in an entire semester, as I've had since mid-September.

My responses are getting increasingly snarky, BCC'd to my chair and dean, who have been supportive. I'm not mean, but I'm giving these students chapter-and-verse of why I'm not putting up with the attitudes (e.g., they turn in crap work that ignores instructions--or, my favorite, NO work--then bitch about grades; one turned in a paper late on Sunday, then raised hell because it wasn't graded and returned by Tuesday morning). 

Grrr.  Sorry.  Off to teach two LVL classes where I'm the only one talking again.  Surprise, kiddies:  if you won't talk, I have lots of writing ready for you to do instead.

Yeah, I'm about to send a few "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I need you to submit the work if you want to even attempt to pass the class" emails myself. 

I also like to channel my inner Data (from Star Trek) for my fantasy responses: "I am incapable of fully understanding the inappropriate and immature emotions within your email; nonetheless, your late work will  go to the bottom of my grading pile, where it belongs." I absolutely love the way Data includes final moral judgments at the end of his sentences. He's pretty cool, for an android.

[mamselle]

Sorry, I didn't see a reference to Micro.

Noguchi sounds like a good start, though.

M.

Fanny Hesse? Alice Catherine Evans? Lady Montagu?

And now--more females!!

   https://www.reuters.com/article/nobel-prize-chemistry-idUSKBN26S1HF

M.