If I ever teach a seminar on how to recognize satire, jokes, and fakes, this would be a slide.
What's the biggest tell here?
What's the biggest tell here?
Right. And after pointing out it doesn't fulfill the assignment at all, correcting multiple mistakes and commenting on each line several times, the teacher awards them with a D.
All in the same day it was turned in.
All in the same day it was turned in.
I would say the grade, the level of detail, and the quick turnaround all serve as substantial tells. None of them are actually impossible, but altogether they add up to "for humorous effect".
For my money, the grade's the biggest. It's effectively the punchline of the piece.
For my money, the grade's the biggest. It's effectively the punchline of the piece.
Another tell is how well-written the paper is. Despite being stategically riddled with errors, it's solid comedic writing itself. You don't make something this perfect by accident.
Also? Here's a handy-dandy note on proofing your own work: the author has caught the errors he made on purpose, but didn't notice a missing word ("is") between "but" and "instead" in his thesis statement.
It's hard to catch that kind of error when you know what you mean.
It's hard to catch that kind of error when you know what you mean.
I understand the academics who saw it and were too horrified by the idea of shaming a student's writing publicly on Twitter to read deeper for context, though.
