So, in the grand tradition of my own adviser, I’m offering 101 short courses during my teaching time. Today I’m planning on Semiotics 101, since Geertz uses the word a few times in the course of the readings assigned for this week, and Tuesday’s class suggested that most of the students hadn’t encountered the term in any sort of “need to know” sense before.
I am nothing if not thorough when about to get in front of a group of students and teach them something they’ll remember for the rest of their academic careers (well, if I do it right), so I opted to spend a few minutes refreshing my own familiarity with semiotics, referrents, signs and signifiers. For a lark, I punched “Semiotics 101” into Google, and it spit back Robert Weir’s “Semiotics 101 for Freshmen” post at Inside Higher Ed. His message sent/heard interpretations are remarkably accurate, and well worth the read. I particularly liked:
Messege Sent:
“I work full-time, care for small children, and am involved in community charity groups. It’s hard to find time to juggle all of this.”Message Heard:
“I work full-time, care for small children, and am involved in community charity groups. It’s hard to find time to juggle all of this.”“Unlike slothful bums like you who just show up to class, put in an occasional office hour, and then bugger off to drink coffee, and nap in the faculty lounge.”
He ends the article saying
I could go on, but these humble examples should suffice to make first-year students realize that all utterances are texts and that they cannot privilege their interpretations over those of their professors.
I know I’m eyeballs deep in this right now, and it’s probably making it funnier than it is, but given that I’ve already had two students not hand in papers because “they didn’t realize they were due today”, I find Weir’s essay just damned funny.