Lately, a few phrases keep coming up again and again. They are starting to get a little meaningless and more than a little annoying. Some examples:
Related to work
- The paper/presentation/proposal needs to tell a story.
- It depends on the question.
and the perennial favorite,
- When will you be finished?
- You'll understand when you have kids.
- It's different when you're married.
and the seasonal favorite,
- There's a 90% chance of "wintry mix" tomorrow.
What are your (least) favorite science and life cliches?
15 comments:
Oooooo!! Great questions! I can't wait to see what people say.
Hmmm....for work DEFINITELY "Are you done with your thesis yet?" (N.A. says that his is "but what do you DO?" he replies, "I'm a chemist." To which the questioner asks, "No really, you can tell me, I'm smart!"
For personal: "Well, what are you and N.A. going to do next year then?"
Mmm, a variation of the first one: 'the data need to tell a story' or worse, 'make the data sing'. Just code for 'be selective in what you show and miss out the bad bits'.
My personal one at the moment is the pseudosympathetic 'how's Dr R getting on, it must be so difficult on your own'. I know it is said with the best of intentions but the 'how are you getting on' with a grim facial expression and sympathetic eyes is starting to bug me. I now reply with a bright and breezy 'we're doing great, getting lots done' to which I get the sympathetic 'she's being brave' look. Urgh.
From my PhD days:
"Done that chapter yet?"
In grad school I DEFINITELY hated the "when are you done" type questions. My advisor also had another favorite that he liked to say, even as I was doing my dissertation research:
"what's your plan b if this doesn't work?"
Argh! Also, advisor didn't know much stats, but he got one negative comment on a paper once about power analysis, so even when it wasn't appropriate he was always asking "what the power of this analysis? what's your beta?"
Finally, and this is again from advisor, he would frequently repeat things I had said and take credit for them himself -- including in my thesis comments that he distributed to my other readers. I don't like hearing my own words used as criticism against me when the person saying them doesn't even half understand what he's saying.
oh no, unbalanced, I asked you that! sorry.
make it sing? I'm so glad I haven't heard that before. :)
kate, that sounds positively awful.
"You're not infectious, are you?" every time I tell someone I work with viruses. But it doesn't annoy me at all. In fact, I actually sort of like setting people up for that brief moment of fear, especially at boring social events. I know...I'm a mean, nasty, evil person.
Getting that from the Chancellor of my institution when I was introduced to him as a new faculty member working on viruses was a bit odd, though.
What a great question and fun to read people's answers. Here goes mine.
Work related:
When I tell someone I'm a geologist (oh, an archeologist, that must be interesting)
In grad school: "What is it you're doing, again" (often said by people who knew me well, and to whom I had explained the concept of grad school dozens of times)
Now: "There is this meeting on (insert day/month/year/place/topic), I expect you to be there" (there goes another potential work day down the drain)
In life:
"You'll understand when you have kids"
(Actually this is the most annoying one of them all and more so than all the work comments combined. It's probably true, but what if I will never have kids? It is like anyone without kids are perceived as having this underdeveloped mindset, and if only they would reproduce they would come to their senses)
As an undergrad: "You're going to be a school teacher then?" (it being perceived as the only option in my discipline. As much as I respect school teacher, it was never my ambition and it's not where I got...)
Now: "So are you/your husaband travelling AGAIN? tsk you're never at home." Little of this travelling is leisure... and I find I'm not less available then the average socialite who does not travel...
And the kids one... save me from that one. I so agree with you Saxifraga, there.
Lately, I am sick of people asking "how are you?"
They don't really want to know, and I don't really want to give the socially-acceptable answer.
I'm also sick of "are you applying this year?"
"whatever happened with that paper?"
"I haven't seen you around much, where have you been?"
I don't do all my work in one place, and the people in the other places inevitably seem to notice when I'm not around for a long time and then reappear. They don't even know what I work on, but they seem to think it's okay to comment on my comings-and-goings.
ARGH.
My parents will be visiting soon-ish, and I am not looking forward to their favorite question for the two of us (we've been together almost 8 years):
"you're going to get married, right? won't you get married soon?"
I'm hoping that, since my sister is pregnant, they won't be asking "don't you think you want to have kids?"
The qualifier used to be 'someday' and now it is either 'soon' or left off entirely, as I am getting close to the cut-off age.
(answer: nope, still don't)
My favorite right now is:
E. coli? Doesn't that kill people?
(Answer: Well, it hasn't killed me yet. But, then again, maybe I have "immunity."-- no one has picked up on that one yet.)
For personal: How are you and Dr. Man going to fit in having children?/What are you going to DO after you have children?
(The latter one always leaves me a bit bewildered. What do you mean what am I going to do after? I always thought the immediate thing to do was sleep.)
An oldie but goldie, from multiple friends of my parents when I decided on my undergrad degree:
"Genetics? But both your parents are French teachers! Can you explain the genetics of that? Hahahaha"
This week:
"How are those grants coming along?"
The answer to both is "bugger off".
Why is this not finished yet? (from the boss)
When are you coming to visit us? (from some relatives -- we just don't have that many free days, and already spend about all of it visiting family)
And of course we'll understand it all when we have kids. But we'll also never be ready for it, not have a life of our own any more etc. It annoys me to have people complain about their children all the time (but maybe I just don't get it because I don't have kids).
"So what classes are you taking?"
None! I am a post-doc!
"So do you have students working in your lab yet?"
None! I am a post-doc. No let me go back to my cave and eat roquefort.
"It all happens for reason" & one that I used to get a lot "You should listen to me because I'm older and therefore wiser" and currently "what are you doing next?"
ooo - I forgot about another personal one "you intimidate men because you're too smart"
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