Old men

Maybe I haven't told you about Professor Griffith yet. He is the chair of the department of Philosophy here at George Washington University. He is in his late 60s/early 70s by my best reckoning, and is quite a character (read: from Texas). He is also technically my boss. I should say first of all, that I like this man very much. I find him very amusing. Now I can tell you that he treats me like a 1950s secretary most days, which I also find very amusing. I do a lot of photocopying for him, and I often feel like I should be filing my nails and chewing gum when he comes in to my office. I also want to say things to him like, "Yes SIR, Dr. Griffith, right away SIR!" in my best Queens accent. He just this year learned how to attach things to email.

So he came in yesterday, and rather than filing my nails, I was doing my Italian homework. Apparently, I had a look on my face that belied the confusion in my brain. He said something along the lines of "but you're fluent in Italian now, how hard can it be?" and I explained that thinking of things to say in the subjunctive tense is not that easy (and I'm far from fluent). Today he came in to tell me a "slightly off color joke" (his words). And now I repeat it for you, dear readers. I will use his words as best as I can remember them, so imagine I have a scratchy Texas accent while I tell this.

A young man went to Boston for the first time and checked into a hotel. He said to the bellhop, "I would very much like to find out where I could get scrod (that's a famous fish)." The bellhop replied, "I have been asked that many times before, but never in the pluperfect subjunctive case."

His wife is an English professor, so maybe he heard that one from her.