Abstract
I was once told that one should always begin with a joke. I chose this joke, not because of its significant social burden of the stereotypical creation of the hysterical wife, nor because of the hierarchical doctor-nurse relationship and whatever gender associations go with it, nor even because of its implied criticism of health care in America. I begin with the joke because when I tell it to my Introductory Writing class at Massasoit Community College, not everybody gets it. (I am not talking about those who get it and don’t think it’s funny, or those who don’t allow themselves to be amused in a classroom.) Not everybody gets it—I know, I’ve asked. Native speakers and English language learners alike don’t get it. And I love this joke.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
“Nurse, I have to see the doctor right now! My husband is shrinking!”
“Well, he’ll just have to be a little patient.”
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2011 Arlene Dallalfar, Esther Kingston-Mann, and Tim Sieber
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pepp, R. (2011). Words Matter: Vocabulary in a Diverse Precollege-Level Writing Class. In: Dallalfar, A., Kingston-Mann, E., Sieber, T. (eds) Transforming Classroom Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230370319_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230370319_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-57568-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-37031-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Education CollectionEducation (R0)