fandomhigh | Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, July 10, 2nd period]

Josh was still not exactly comfortable with the whole "being outside" thing as he perched on a picnic bench and smiled at the students as they assembled. In deference to the ridiculously hot weather, he was wearing short sleeves and khakis. No tie. Scary, no?

"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."

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"Not just you," Charlie assured him, wincing. "This hurts my eyes, just looking at it. Bad spelling. Bad grammar. Bad punctuation. And it *is* like cut-and-paste or, or, I don't know... it almost looks like it should make sense? And then it jumps the track again."

"All right, then," Sokka said with a smirk. "So the only proper thing to do is to respond in kind."

Dear, Sir or onions said Madam Gregory!

Once upon a time pickle. dont stop notn the brown has my friend Jim.

"Your turn."

Charlie giggled. "You've got a point. I mean, if this is how they communicate, it would be rude to correct them."

Languages foreign: we apologize. Full alphabet credit with chickens! Thrilled talking to be in "Timbuktu"

"Absolutely."

If you've gotta problem yo ill solve it check out the beat Reply Is Forbidden.

"Hmm. And we can't forget Jack and Mrs. -- begun Lake?"

Joy glee Madam begun Lake, Jack telling always mint waxy snow and Dame sure thing, sure why not, sure okay.

Helpful? Yes/no?

"Mrs. who?" Sokka asked, and then he looked at the original letter again. "Oh, yeah. Good call."

He read over their reply again, and nodded, satisfied. "I like it. Do you think we should leave it here, or add more? Does it get the point across?"

Charlie grinned. "I think it does? I think we managed to sound concerned, and conciliatory, and hoping we helped out. That's the main thing, isn't it?"

Sokka nodded. "Yeah, because 'Dear Sir or Madam, you are a gigantic MORON' would have missed the point of the lesson."

"And if English isn't their first language, or their second, or third? Asking them about it won't help, since they won't know how to tell us," Charlie said, snickering. "And we could have just written back a note that said, 'Dear Sir or Madam: we have no idea what you're trying to convey', but that would just get more pickles and questions about Dame Datchett. Yup."

Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, July 10, 2nd period]

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