Today, my teacher's comments on my essay read, "I know it's college, but you use a lot of unnecessary words with a lot of syllables." He basically scolded me for having a complex vocabulary. I go to an accredited state university. Nothing says "America" like under-achieving professors. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I was warned that I was failing too many students and it had to stop, so I showed my boss all of the easy assignments a lot of students didn't even turn in. She told me to stop using so many "big words" in them. I teach at a four year University. FML
Today, my English professor bragged to my entire class about how good my essay was. He kept on saying great things about it for the duration of class. To my surprise, he'd given me a C-. When I asked why, his only response was: "I'm a hard grader." FML
Today, I turned in an overdue English assignment at college. My instructor accused me of plagiarism, writing that my sentence structure was "TO" good. Seriously? FML
Today, I got back the essay I wrote about how my country's education system is fucked. At one point, I made a spelling mistake. My teacher wrote a note about it, basically calling me illiterate, and telling me to pay attention in school instead of whining about it. She misspelled "school". FML
Today, the feedback my teacher wrote on my English assignment was so horrible that it took me half an hour and help from both my parents to decipher it. It turned out to be a scathing criticism of my "poor communication skills". I hate my teachers. FML
Today, while home from college for the weekend, my sister started whining about how I keep using "big fancy college words" and making her feel bad. My sister is 27 and teaches elementary school. The word I used was "ludicrous." FML
Today, I lost a grade on an essay, because according to my teacher, I put much more detail into my analytical essay than I should have. FML
Today, I got a writing assignment back. After meeting with my professor specially after class and meticulously combing through every word of that paper, I got a low D. Turns out, he graded me down on every suggestion of his that I took. FML
Today, I asked my classmate to look over my essay. His comments were longer than the essay itself. FML
Today, I had my teacher look over my essay before turning it in. He said it was extremely well-written, so I handed it in. When I got it back, the feedback he left said it was one of the worst essays he'd ever read. FML
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Top comments
Paria12 2
He could have meant you just use them unnecessarily to sound smarter when they don't really make sense to use in the moment...
Pikachu17 13
'MURICA!!!
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Comments (161)
AgentSmith79 9
I think you're missing the point... The professor said the complex words were "unnecessary". Unless you want your future prospective employers to think you are a pompous asshole who uses big words for the sake of making yourself appear better than everyone else around you... Then by all means, ignore his advice. It's one thing to have an expansive vocabulary. It's quite another to know when to use it.
MyS3lf 24
If you haven't seen the movie 'Idiocracy' yet, you should. It's a few years old, but I'm thinking it was actually a prophecy. Seriously, the only thing missing in it is iphones...
Enslaved 38
"They are warm, nice, people with big hearts". "They are humid prepossessing **** Sapiens with full sized aortic pumps"
goingtothestore 1
I feel your pain. There was a girl in my freshman english class that interrupted the professor to ask what rhetorical meant.
benhemon 4
Nothing says America like entitled teenagers who are incapable of listening to other people. It's good to have a broad vocabulary, but the vast, vast majority of the time, you should not use complicated or esoteric words when simple ones will do. The purpose of writing is to communicate information clearly, not to show off how many vocab words you know. It sounds like your prof is not criticizing your vocabulary, but is criticizing your writing style, and there's a good chance he or she is right.
RAWRstover 4
Stop being so grandiloquent
Tidus0 17
Perhaps the OP is doing a literature degree and the professor doesn't want the OP to have a badly grammatical over use of large words book like the 50 shades series? I'm sure those books would have more merit if they didn't have bad grammar, an overuse of larger words (like seriously what 21 year old has a vocabulary that has massive words who comes from a family who aren't wealthy?) not to mention the fact they have some form of sexual contact every 2 minutes after it hits chapter 14? Of course lol.
glittercookies 12
Well, it IS an erotic romance based on the sexual lifestyle: BDSM. So yeah, its suppose to have sex in it every few pages.
maosquare 18
I would say any 21 year old will have good vocabulary as long as he/she works for it. Your family background doesn't matter.
Iknoweverything 29
If you were really as smart as you claim to be, you would have tested OUT of your English and Writing classes, because your essays were too complex for productive learning in required classes. Clearly you're just trying to sound smart. Complex vocabulary does not equal superior intelligence.
furbyface711 9
Your professor means that college level papers are supposed to be straight forward. It is in unnecessary to use big words because they are looking at the content and your ideas, not your ability to use a thesaurus. On top of that, papers don't get published unless they are direct and to the point.
SammyS2012 21
I say you deserve it for the last sentence. Stop throwing a tantrum and understand that the professor is not wrong and that he is giving you constructive criticism.