The Little Dears have seen the human genus and species on the board many times, usually with a reminder that these names are likely to be on a test. I say "jokingly" (but not really) that as college students, they should be able to spell their names.
Do try this at home, kids! I'll check back with you after a short break.
Welcome back. Did you write Homo sapiens? Good. I knew you could.
Most of my students get this wrong. So far in my current batch of exams, I have seen eight different misspellings (not counting a lack of underlining, which I gave up on long ago). More than a few students misspell it multiple ways in the same essay. But at least they know it phonetically. Many don't; their responses include:
human primates
gorilla gorilla
homosapien apes
homo-erectus
hominoid primate
homosapian Chordata
bipedals
apes-bonoboes-gorillas
and my all-time favorite:
human human
But we're bipedal, so that answer's not wrong, is it?
ReplyDeleteAre you saying I'm not human? So I should get full credit for human human then.
I should get points for gorilla gorilla cause I wasn't there the day you talked about it in class.
I put Hummus Tahini. Tahini is a specific part of hummus, and a specie is a specific part of a genus, so for the purpose of the test, I should get 1/2 credit.
ReplyDeleteI put human human because my family didn't come from monkey's, and those other names you used for humans in class are bad words. You can't mark me wrong just because I am using a different way of knowing than the dogma that science has brainwashed you with.
I have often been tempted to dock a full letter grade from any student who writes "a specie".
DeleteNo jury would convict you. I want to dock them for making plurals with apostrophes, as in "monkey's".
DeleteYes and yes. And don't get me started on "a different way of knowing." Brilliantly bad reply, OHP.
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ReplyDeleteMy preferred learning style is musical, so I put the answer as "Neil Sedaka" because he wrote "I go ape".
DeleteBut the better answer is "Ray Davies" because he wrote "Apeman".
DeleteI was thinking the same thing about "Apeman".
DeleteHow many of us remember "Troglodite" by the Jimmy Castor Bunch.
Proffie, when I first saw this question this morning, I couldn't remember the correct answer. All I could come up with was Homo eructus, but I had a feeling that was wrong. I think this is more a overloaded-middle-aged-brain problem than a not-really-knowing problem (maybe I was feeling upright but not particularly wise?). Besides, nobody told me there was going to be a test today!
ReplyDeleteI said Hormel eruptus because that chili is not sitting well.
DeleteGet over here and clean my screen!
Deletei guessed homo erectus as well...but it's been a long time since I was in school!!!
ReplyDeletebitching graphic, too...
And the best part is that he's wearing his mortarboard sideways.
DeleteHomo trogolodytes might be justifiable if the question was to give their own names.
Agreed about the graphic! Thanks, Cal!
DeleteWhen I teach "Pan troglodytes" I always ask if they've heard someone called a "troglodyte", and hardly anyone has. I tell them that within the next couple of weeks, they will hear that name in the news applied to someone backwards. It always happens. Last semester it was about Donald Sterling!
I don't think that you should say that homo erectus is wrong. It's just a different lifestyle and whatever arouses a student is none of your business.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. And there's no shame in being bipedal, either.
DeleteI always advise my students who take the bus to make flash cards and use them while riding to campus. "And if you say them out loud, and include Homo erectus, you'll get your own seat!"
DeleteOne who farts in church will soon sit in own pew.
DeleteJust show the clip from the Futurama episode "A Clockwork Origin" where the Professor and the orangutan professor argue about the missing link in evolution. That ought to get Homo Erectus through their heads.
ReplyDeleteLove love love love that episode!
DeleteIf they wrote "Pan sapiens" then you know they've read Jared Diamond.
ReplyDeleteAh, The Third Chimpanzee! But according to the rules of nomenclature, shouldn't the three species all be in the genus Homo since we were named first?
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