Beth Fish Reads: Review: College in a Nutskull compiled by Anders Henriksson

25 October 2010

Review: College in a Nutskull compiled by Anders Henriksson

A few months ago, I received College in a Nutskull edited by Anders Henriksson, and I've been saving it for a lazy weekend. That weekend has just ended.

This fun--and sometimes a bit scary--book is a collection of college-student wisdom taken from exams, essays, and other sources. Henriksson simply organized the tidbits by subject matter. You may think the types of misconceptions and misspellings included in this book are rare at the college level, but you'd be wrong. I used to save them from my own students, and I can assure you such test answers and sentences from essays occur across the curriculum and around the world.

Let me share some of my favorites from the book:

Americans created a cornumyopia of new religions. Some of these allowed "speaking in tongues," where people sound like a dog infected with rabbis. (p. 7)
Rome was build in a day. Homes came with garden moratoriums. Amazing aqua ducks supplied fresh water. (p. 34)
An epic is like a docudrama, but more boring. (p. 48)
Peter the Great was a man of enormous projections who moved the capital to St. Peter's Bird. Late in life he was bothered by ticks due to Sysiphus. (p. 67)
Dwayne D. Ikenhowitzer was President of the fifties. (p. 79)
The currency of Mexico is the pinyata. (p. 113)
Women are still getting brain dents from head-butting the glass ceiling. (p. 132)

Pick up College in a Nutskull for a chuckle or two. It might make you increase the donation you make to your alma mater.

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12 comments:

Lenore Appelhans, 10/25/10, 6:47 AM: I found this more horrifying than amusing. One or two of these kinds of mistakes make a good story (my friend called Mussolini Mussochini for example, which always makes us laugh), but a whole book full is like Chinese water torture.
Zee, 10/25/10, 8:34 AM: hehe...I had a high school teacher who collected these as well. I might have to invest in this book to make myself feel better when my students come out with their howlers (and yes they will :D).

My contribution to the world of howlers is managing to write that all French women became prostitutes after world war 1. :D
Nicole (Linus's Blanket), 10/25/10, 9:48 AM: Oh my gosh! When I first glanced at this post i was thinking that I had never heard of cornumyopia before. I am with Lenore. It is funny but really, really scary. Makes me feel I should read the dictionary on someone's behalf.
Sandy Nawrot, 10/25/10, 10:29 AM: And these young people are our future? Yikes! Of course, this is coming from the woman, who after several drinks at the chili cookoff, was telling her friends you could milk an emu.

Don't ask.
Marie Cloutier, 10/25/10, 11:37 AM: sounds like a cute bathroom book :-)
bermudaonion, 10/25/10, 12:52 PM: I thought this book was funny too. I hope these things are the exception and not the norm. I know Vance was horrified when he read some of them.
Barbara, 10/25/10, 2:01 PM: Some of these students may be headed to med school. I used to collect howlers from dictation I transcribed for doctors. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at these, but I do love "dogs infected with rabbis." Now I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. :D
Michelle, 10/25/10, 7:06 PM: Ahhhh, the future leaders of our country hard at work! LOL

This gave me a really great laugh. Because, you know, if I really thought about it I would cry.
Veens, 10/26/10, 2:40 AM: LOL... this must definitely be funny !!
Anonymous, 10/26/10, 4:56 AM: This is very funny. I'm sure these are exceptions. I was a college teacher for a few years, and came across some horrific spellings, but nothing like these statements. But there are some really, really stupid students around, I can guarantee you that! :-)
Margot, 10/26/10, 9:18 PM: I love reading these kind of bloopers. These students grow up and fill out job applications. Their thinking and spelling doesn't get any better. I used to keep a collection of those things during my career in human resources.
Anonymous, 10/28/10, 10:47 AM: Every time I hear these type of quotes I take the opportunity to give my smart college student daughter a big kiss. It does sound funny.