My Writing Has Finally Gotten Out of Hand...
 

So says my professora de espanol. I swung by her office for the 3rd time in the last 24 hours to pick up my 75 word Spanish composition. Our assignment was to write a 75 word composition about ourselves. She told us that we would be more likely to get a good grade if we spiced it up with a little humor. As some of you may know, I have a knack for pushing the envelope too far sometimes when given the chance to do so, but I usually keep it from being blatantly out of place. At the end of the comp, I decided to throw in a short passage. It read "me gusta chi chis grande" (which translates into "I like big boobs"). Now, I didn't think of this to be vulgar or inappropriate in a non-formal piece (especially since my conservative, mother of 2 high school Spanish teacher that attends my church made us learn "chi chis" for our first test), especially to a woman who is only 3 years older than I. However, 24 hours after she said she would be done grading my first draft, I got it back only to see this at the end: "Even if this were a correct sentence, it is not appropriate content for a class. I asked for clever, not childish humor. If you have any questions about this, see me in my office. 60/100" I realize that I probably would have been better off without that passage, she shouldn't have been such a bitch about it. Childish? This was the woman who spent the first 15 minutes of class last Friday quoting Chappelle's Show. I guess raping me of my tuition isn't childish. For chrissake, I go to the largest public university in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, not a little Christian school. Did she overreact, or do I have some serious growing up to do???

eh... iwould say she over reacted... and you have some growing up to do...

*shrug* i wouldnt have given ya a hard time about it...

reminds me of the time in a programing project i named a string variable "string G" and the TA that graded it said it was an inapropriate variable name... and took 4 points off....
i went to the professor... he thought it was funny as hell and gave me 5 points it was awesome

Sorry, but I'm gonna have to side with your teacher here. I'm a fan of childish humor, but there's a time and a place for it. A class assignment is never the place for it.

I would say get the grammar correct before getting clever with the content. It's like being an asshole to a cop who pulled you over for speeding--you forfeit any arguments for your case.

dude you fucked up, big time. also consider that what some one teaches you in spanish may mean something completely different to another akin to how english words and usage changes for people of different nationalities(ie Fag UK for cigarrette, US for homophobic slander)

im a native spanish speakers and i didnt read it as i like big breast, more like "i love big cocks" and in a vulgar way.

be very careful, things like the word papaya refer to the fruit for most south americans, but to some it actually means CUNT(not pussy, beaver, straight out cunt)
//you can get you ass killed asking for papaya juice to a waitress in the wrong place

so my recommendation to you is until you actually know what the basic of conversational spanish dont try being a smart ass you might just come out sounding like an asshole.

Are her boobs small?

You said it yourself, you go to university. There is a certain standard to academic writing that you'll have to learn if you want to be treated as something else than a little kid. Consider this a lesson, learn from it, and be glad it didn't happen on something bigger than a 75 word assignment.

I'm taking English this semester, and sometimes it's like a comedy show starring professors Minugh and Shaw, but they'd rip me a new one (in a dignified, academic style) if my writing wasn't up to the proper standard.

Was the rest of the essay gramatically correct? I'm thinking the 60% grade came from grammar mistakes and maybe she didn't take your sentence into account when grading it, and left that comment as an aside and as a warning.

No, about 25% was accredited to this. I agree that this was inappropriate, but on the other hand she is a professor at a university where her sole job is to make sure that the students understand the concepts that they are supposed to teach. I find it unprofessional to take off 25 points because of this. I could understand a comment and maybe a point or two to drive it home, but not 1/4 of the paper grade.

Oh, and was that sentence gramatically correct en espanol???

I'd say it was out of place. Professors are allowed to goof around sometimes and entertain simply because they're in a higher place of power than you. Often times the professors goof around to make the class laugh and to get on their good side. If a student does it, however, it only looks like he or she is trying to be a smart ass or a showoff in most cases. 10 points off isn't that bad...there's no telling what would happen if someone did that in my classes. :)

-Lasereth

I would ordinarily agree with your professor, except...
Humor is very subjective. She set you (and perhaps others) for failure on that essay by not fully setting out the terms. Perhaps she would agree to let you resubmit the essay for regrading after you clean it up?

Also, did you strike a nerve with her? Your ages are close enough, as you said, so perhaps you are entering uncomfortable areas? As said above,

It's equally valid to ask if she has big boobs. If she does it could be seen as sexual harassment towards her.

^No way that would pass in court. I was asked to describe myself; what classes I take, where I live, what I like, and random facts about me. For example, one of the sentences in the comp that was okay was "Me gusto practica guitarra." I said very generally that I like big tits.

Anyways, update. She asked to talk to me after class, and she just told me I need to take the class more seriously. It's kind of water under the bridge, but that's cause I'm kind of used to this shit. I like pushing the envelope, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't, and most of the time it doesn't affect my grade that much. Here's a short history of my expedites:

High School Freshman:
-Snorted Altoids in math
Sophomore
-My only calm year
Junior
-Used winpopup to make "penis" pop up on all computers in the district.
Senior
-Wrote "Napoleon went around kicking ass for twenty years or so" in a summary of French history.
-Threw water balloons at people after school on the last day.
College Freshman
-Wrote a paper on how I thought racial profiling should be used more often (not that I actually think that).

So I'm used to this by now.

Gotta side with the teacher. That kind of humor is best shared with friends, not those who evaluate your performance.

Hah. I've done that on a history paper, but all of my history teachers have been very laid back and enjoyed humor in the essays as they have to read so many.

And oh my, with the racial profiling, for our TAKS exam (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills - It's basically the test you take in the 11th grade to make sure you meet Texas standards to graduate) we had to write an essay on the importance of acceptance.

I, on the other hand, wrote a very convincing essay as to why anglo-saxons were the master race and those of non-European decent (i.e. Native Americans, Africans, etc.) were below us, thus we shouldn't accept them into society or else we contaminate our gene pool and all. I don't believe that by any means, but I thought it was a hoot. My English teacher threatened to fail me for the semester but eventually took the "I judge on persuasiveness, not on content" point of view and passed me with an 85. The TAKS readers gave me a 4 out of a possible 4 with 4 being the highest. While I don't personally believe it, apparently it was pretty persuasive.

I found this informative. Thankyou

Did you by any chance tell her what your intended meaning was in that particular sentence. Perhaps she read it as something completely vulgar and is docking you for saying something you never intended to say at all. Maybe, just maybe she would cut you some slack if she understood the intended meaning. Go to her contrite and explain that you are sorry for the slight. You had misread her encouragement for humor wrong and then BEG, very sweetly, for a little bit of the credit back on the assignment. Promise not to make any such statements in any future essays. Did you also explain to her that it was one of your first lessons with another teacher?