Monday, September 29, 2008

Um What's the Word? Nerd?

You know you are a minority in an area of study at a university when you get an email such as the following:

Dear Math Majors,

We are holding a dinner in your honor this Wednesday, October 1. It is our Fall Semester Math Department Social; you'll pardon, I'm sure, the oxymoron that your associates in the lesser majors would easily identify in this title....

For all the tuition money you, your parents and your bankrupt (fiscally and morally) government are spending on SUU; for the countless hours you devote to homework instead of going to parties to which your major ensured you weren't invited anyway; for the fact that you burn more midnight oil than your roommates drink beer; for all your dedication to this beautiful subject of math and for your patience with us, your sometimes more, sometimes less-beloved teachers; I say, for all of this, we would like to feed you some meat.

But further, the Math Department faculty would like to have you come so we can get to know you on the social plane, that proverbially higher level in communal three-space that we are unable to reach in the ordinary classroom setting.

The dinner will be served in the ELC Conference Room, 4th floor, at 6 p.m. Please come just a few minutes early if you are bringing foodstuffs. We will provide ribs, chicken, potato wedges and drinks with the best in paper wares and plastic utensils. If you would like to bring along a salad or dessert to share, so much the better for all of us.

Weather permitting, those that would like to can take their food out to a lawn and there burn it off with maybe some Frisbee (oops - "novelty flying disc"), tossing of a football or two, or maybe even playing leapfrog and tag if the party should get as wild as we hope. Bring along some your favorite outdoor game if you'd like and wear some appropriate clothing if any of this is of interest to you; frog costumes are fine and even smiled on.

Please feel free to bring along your special other and - as I've hinted - something to share should you have any money left after Fall tuition. (Yes, yes, Top Ramen is fine - but please prepare it so that it can stay bounded on one portion of a plate.) At the risk of pushing redundancy to previously unknown levels, "please RSVP" to Robin (archibald@suu.edu) to let us know if you're coming and what, if you can, you will bring to share. Also, if any of your fellow majors are not reached by this email, we would greatly appreciate you letting them know about the social as well.

Thanks in advance for your company and for letting my team win in Ultimate Frisbee,

Hahahahaha! Most definitely a nerdy department I am in! Only math majors get such emails. Also I received another one similar a couple of weeks ago which included the following sentence: There have been a few changes in the Math Department over the summer (adding & subtracting professors and using the commutative property to change offices). The best part is how he incorporated the commutative propert! Bahaha, pure genius! lol

Now only someone who likes math as I do would find entertainment in such emails, but I came to the sad realization. The realization that perhaps I really am a nerd deep down inside somewhere. Though I don't show it like 5/6 of the department, but still it is there. But please feel free to disagree with me! I am completely okay with being told I really am not nerdy!

4 comments:

Nilla said...

I do love how in the invitation email the professor who wrote it used the term three-space for the internet! bahahaha

Liz said...

Math Department Social...lol! So, the email was funny and started out great, but too long. Know when to quit people.

Cardine said...

Well, maybe you're a nerd, but it's in a good way.

Amy said...

NERD!!!!