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Amusing note on another board I read.
Woman was relating a college experience to a supervisor and referred to her "Spanish professor" only to be corrected by her supervisor, "... let's say professor who taught Spanish ..."
Is "Spanish professor" too ambiguous?
k
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When I read "Spanish professor," I immediately thought that this was someone who taught Spanish. I don't think it would be a bottom line requirement to say, "My professor who teaches Spanish..."
JMO, WW
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Not to me. I think the supervisor was pulling a Faldage on her.
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California must have many Hispanic professors, but I doubt that any of them are Spanish.
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Well, my math teacher wasn't a logarithm... (my teacher who teaches math? )
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My math teacher was a polymath.
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old hand
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If this was an oral thing (as opposed to written down) there is a difference in how they are said:
SPAnish professor - professor who teaches Spanish spanish proFESSor - professor who is Spanish
At least when I would say them out loud there is a subtle difference. (The emphasis is somewhat more subtle than the caps I used, but there is no intermediate size!)
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I'm assuming this was a spoken exchange (or would that be an exchange that was spoken?) and I would say:
A) if it was spoken with the main emphasis on Span- it should be taken as meaning the professor who taught the Spanish language.
2) If it were spoken with the emphasis on the -fess- and the rest of the phrase were spoken with a relatively low emphasis then it could be taken as meaning my professor who is Spanish.
But Note:
If the phrase is to be taken as meaning a professor who was of Spanish nationality, the implications of the phrase "my Spanish professor" smack of some rather unsettling ideas about ownership.
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All of the above.
The usual meaning of Spanish Professor is "Professor of Spanish." The rest is commentary.
Wordsworth said "We murder to dissect." I thought at first it was T S Eliot. Or maybe Dylan Thomas. Good thing I checked! Truly we do, sometimes.
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the supervisor was pulling a Faldage on herShouldn't that be dumping a Faldage on her?
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