3 ms·

> "Professor C leaned back in his chair and repeated in a dramatic mock British accent, 'Intervene!' " The professor was drawing attention to Rodríguez's way of

> "Professor C leaned back in his chair and repeated in a dramatic mock British accent, 'Intervene!' " The professor was drawing attention to Rodríguez's way of pronouncing the word. > "Nowadays," Rodríguez notes, "I would have filed a grievance against [this professor] so heavy that he would have had to sell his soul to remain employed." It must be fun to be a member of a humanities department today. I imagine everyone is surveilling everyone else for a slip up (microagression) in order to destroy them.

dmurray 5y ago
Tangential, but I can't imagine how Rodriguez was pronouncing intervene that would sound odd to an American. The British pronunciation, with or without the r, seems extremely close to standard "good" US English. I can imagine US dialects where it's slurred into something more like "innavene" but the professor was hardly mocking him for not speaking like that.
- scantron4 5y ago
  I think he meant interview? And it was the word choice that was laughed at not the pronounciation.
Digit-Al 5y ago
I have to disagree with you. That was not a slip up or a micro-aggression. If you have a good friend who is foreign (or even just has a different regional accent) and you know they can take it as intended then it's okay to partake of a little light hearted mocking; but in an environment like that and with someone you don't know it's both highly unprofessional and tantamount to bullying. At the very least someone should have pulled that professor aside and told him that his behaviour was not acceptable. There's a time and a place and that was not it.
mierz00 5y ago
That's an interesting take on the issue. As someone who struggled in university in another language, I am glad that this is not acceptable behavior anymore. For me, this is something deeply personal. It took me a long time to be comfortable speaking another language and I can only imagine how they felt in that moment. This is a step in the right direction and you should be fighting to keep your job if you find this kind of behavior acceptable.

dmurray 5y ago

Tangential, but I can't imagine how Rodriguez was pronouncing intervene that would sound odd to an American. The British pronunciation, with or without the r, seems extremely close to standard "good" US English. I can imagine US dialects where it's slurred into something more like "innavene" but the professor was hardly mocking him for not speaking like that.

scantron4 5y ago
I think he meant interview? And it was the word choice that was laughed at not the pronounciation.

Digit-Al 5y ago

I have to disagree with you. That was not a slip up or a micro-aggression. If you have a good friend who is foreign (or even just has a different regional accent) and you know they can take it as intended then it's okay to partake of a little light hearted mocking; but in an environment like that and with someone you don't know it's both highly unprofessional and tantamount to bullying. At the very least someone should have pulled that professor aside and told him that his behaviour was not acceptable. There's a time and a place and that was not it.

mierz00 5y ago

That's an interesting take on the issue. As someone who struggled in university in another language, I am glad that this is not acceptable behavior anymore. For me, this is something deeply personal. It took me a long time to be comfortable speaking another language and I can only imagine how they felt in that moment. This is a step in the right direction and you should be fighting to keep your job if you find this kind of behavior acceptable.