Saturday, September 09, 2006
High/Low Point of the Week
I had to wait until Friday, but the apex and the, um, opposite of the apex, of Week 1 went as follows:
The 10th-graders started on their grammar unit, which began with coordinating conjunctions, which you might remember from 10th-grade English as the conjunctions spelled out in the acronym F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. (for, and, nor, etc.). Well, I constructed this extended (some might say stretched to the point of breaking) metaphor where the FANBOYS were a hot new boy band, complete with a comma as their bodyguard (he always goes in first, just like the comma before the coordinating conjunction). "So," I said, "instead of Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass and J.C. Chasez of N'Sync, remember the FANBOYS."
Then I overhear one of my future Rhodes Scholars say loudly to her neighbor, "Uuuuunh. He doesn't even know how to say his name right."
I pause, but then decide I can't leave this one alone. I'm insulted because it's obvious she didn't heard a thing I said because I beat the FANBOYS horse for a good 10 minutes or so. What she heard was, "Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla J.C. Chasez Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla ." To top it off, she's impugning my limited but concrete knowledge of the boy-band ouvre. I know jack-crap about N'Sync, but for some reason I know the names of these three. So, I pursue it.
What?
----You said his name wrong.
J.C. Chasez?
----Yeah.
How?
----It's pronounced Jay-Z.
Then, on cue, the friend leans over and whispers something in her ear. Suddenly, my critic is quiet. I savor the moment, then move on. Tiny victories.
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Way to up your street cred! And, PS, "nadir."