Apropos of nothing, as far as I can tell:

Prof: "Vanessa — no, you have an Australian accent so let me ask Joel."


In the same session. My presumptive thesis advisor is defending an idea we'd discussed at some length perhaps half an hour earlier:

Prof: "Dan looks like he wants to agree with me. Dan, do you agree?"
Our Bold Hero: "Yes."
Prof: "That wasn't very helpful, Dan."


And in my teaching class, discussing the Great Books Foundation canon:

Student: "So what are the 'great books'? Are they pretty diverse?"
Prof: "Yeah, there's a pretty good variety of writers. T.S. Eliot—"
Student: "White."
Prof: "James Baldwin—"
Student: "White."
Prof: "...James Baldwin isn't white."
Student: "What?"
Prof: "You're thinking of the other James Baldwin."


The comment of mine which I've quoted is probably the stupidest thing I've said in class since... deciding not to be so stupid in class. That was Tuesday though.

"Shows Improvement," as they say.

I used to write down any clever or amusing thing I heard during class, believing that such comments had an important place in my notes. Generally, those comments have not aged well, but it was good exercise. It certainly kept/keeps my mind on what's being discussed better than any of the advanced doodling and fidgeting techniques I've developed.

Incidentally, I think my stick figures have gotten much better since kindergarten.