Dealing With Stupid People [Monday, May 14, 2nd period]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh was obviously uncomfortable with the whole "being outside" thing as he perched on a picnic bench and smiled at the students as they assembled.

"Okay, one of the most annoying things you will encounter in your life will be other people," he began, rolling his eyes. "Most of us -- in my universe, anyway, some of you might have other experiences -- can't kill them by using our brains, so we have to come up with different coping methods. We'll get to the more advanced techniques -- sarcasm, the strategic use of an eye roll -- later, but today we'll start out with something that gives you a lot of chance to practice before you send out the final product."

He pulled out a sheaf of papers and dropped it onto the table. "Writing back to stupid people!" he said triumphantly. "In this exercise you need to reply to these obviously deranged letters in a polite way without asking if they've thought to seek professional help for their delusions. There are five different letters so pair up with a partner -- it's better to double check your language against someone else, at least at the beginning -- and write back to these completely insane people."

Josh grinned. "Questions? Problems? I don't really care, but ask anyway."

Comments

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal rubbed his forehead as he tried to work through the letter. Was it a code? Maybe the magic that compensated for the language difference had failed? "I have no idea what this is trying to say," he said, hoping that whomever might wish to partner with might be able to make sense of it.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac nodded, peering at the paper over his shoulder curiously. "Looks like someone was on some seriously good stuff when they decided to write this," she commented.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Good stuff?" He peered at her, puzzled, holding the paper so she could see it more easily. "Would you care to join me in making sense of it?"

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Mmm," she nodded. "Probably mind altering drugs of some kind," Mac clarified for him. "Don't know how much help I'll actually be at decyphering the crazy, but I can try."

She smiled at him as she sat down, and deciding she needed an introduction added, "I'm Mac."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"And I'm Karal." He smiled at her as she sat down. "It's good to meet you Mac, and yes, that would explain the randomness of the words. Maybe we don't need to decipher it to draft a response?"

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Probably not," she agreed. "Telling him, her or it, that classes in sanity are required might be a start."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Would that be polite, though? Perhaps we could phrase it slightly more tactfully than that," he suggested. "Though that wouldn't be undeserved. Maybe, thank you for your extraordinary letter, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your truly unique perspective."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac looked at him a moment. "You're one of those very very nice tolerant people, huh?" she commented.

It would probably be good for her to lose the sarcasm, be more understanding of the stupid, so she shrugged. "Sure, we'll go with tact." She supposed that was probably what they were supposed to be learning anyway.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Not always, not as often as he should be, but he tried. "Is that a bad thing to be?" he asked.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"God, no," Mac said. "Nice is good. Great, even. Just... unusual, that's all. Not many people are nice to people who write spam."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I'm a priest," he said with a small smile. "Tolerance is a large part of that. And I'm sorry, but spam?"

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I just get this sort of crazy coming into my email inbox all the time." The idea someone wouldn't know about computers and email, just doesn't really enter into Mac's brain.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"It travels into your email inbox," he repeated, baffled but willing. "The letter is spam?"

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Well, it might not be, I guess," she said. "It just reminds me of some of the stuff I get, that's all."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea what an email inbox is," he admitted, wondering exactly long before he gave up admitting he didn't know what things were. "Nor how this," he touched the letter, "would arrive in one."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac blinked at him. "Are you from the past or something?" she asked carefully. Because really, that was the only way he couldn't know about these things, to her mind.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"From a different world, so I've recently learned," he explained.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah." Mac nodded. "That'll do it," she said. "... it's kind of like getting mail, just without the paper and with a computer instead," Mac explained, leaning down to tap the ibook in her bag.

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal looked at her bag, and at the item she was tapping, and decided he knew enough to get through this class. "All right. So our task is to write a reply to this spam, and to do so with some measure of tact."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Yep." Mac nodded. "I think we can handle that."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I think so, too," he said with a smile. "We have a greeting, perhaps we should note the fascinating arrangement of words? Or comment on the lack of punctuation?"

[ooc: must sleep now. Pick up in my AM?]

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac nodded again. "Yeah, and we could add something about the way they create their own vocabulary by smooshing two or more words together," she suggested. "It's very... inventive of them."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Smooshing," he repeated, trying out the word and deciding he liked it. "Very inventive. And bold! To be so daring and new, fearless of how it might be received by others."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Are we actually trying to encourage them to write more of this stuff?" she asked carefully. "Because, if we're too nice to them, that's gonna happen."

Re: Write to Stupid People: Letter #2

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"That is a very good point. So we wish to discourage them, but in a gentle way?" he asked. "So, maybe make it clear that we couldn't understand what they were trying to tell us? That the meaning was lost in their unique approach?"