12.0592 On become emeritus, or Off with their heads!

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Wed, 28 Apr 1999 21:15:06 +0100 (BST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 12, No. 592.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 21:00:12 +0100
From: "Dr Donald J. Weinshank" <weinshan@cse.msu.edu>
Subject: On becoming emeritus

I cannot resist sharing an amusing story. (If
Willard does not share my sense of humor, he will
not post it.)

Several years ago, one of the colleges at my university
built a new building. One corridor had offices for
retired faculty. The sign on the wall said

Professors Emeritus

Even my feeble Latin suggested that this should be

Professors Emeriti

I sent E-mail to the Dean, to wit:

"I know that it is tough to get tenure at
this place, but I was unaware that the competition
for emeritus status was so enormous. Do you execute
all but one of the retired faculty?"

The sign was changed rather promptly.

djw

_______________________________________________________________
Dr. Don Weinshank weinshan@cse.msu.edu
Phone (517) 353-0831 FAX (517) 432-1061
Comp. Sci., Michigan State http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan

[Humanists may be amused by the entry in one of my Latin dictionaries for
the word in question:

emeritus ppa. emereor. a. superannuated, worn out. m. veteran.

--WM]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humanist Discussion Group
Information at <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
=========================================================================