SHAKSPER 1999: Re: Goofy Test Answers

From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@ws.bowiestate.edu)
Date: 12/21/99


The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.2254  Tuesday, 21 December 1999.

[1]     From:   Martin Mueller <martinmueller@nwu.edu>
        Date:   Monday, 20 Dec 1999 09:56:52 -0600
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers

[2]     From:   Gabriel Egan <gabriel@dmu-english.freeserve.co.uk>
        Date:   Monday, 20 Dec 1999 19:54:39 -0000
        Subj:   Re: Goofy Test Answers

[3]     From:   Tanya Gough <yorick@bardcentral.com>
        Date:   Monday, 20 Dec 1999 17:12:18 -0500
        Subj:   Re: Goofy Test Answers

[4]     From:   John Ramsay <jramsay@mergetel.com>
        Date:   Tuesday, 21 Dec 1999 01:53:43 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Martin Mueller <martinmueller@nwu.edu>
Date:           Monday, 20 Dec 1999 09:56:52 -0600
Subject: 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers

With regard to my previous comments on the similarities between the
names of Ophelia and Othello, I note with satisfaction that a clever
student was ahead of me in the following instance of "goofy test
answers":

>Q: Who is the woman that Hamlet was in love with.
>A: Othello
>
>I was not aware that these two characters knew one another, but
>evidently they are quite close.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Gabriel Egan <gabriel@dmu-english.freeserve.co.uk>
Date:           Monday, 20 Dec 1999 19:54:39 -0000
Subject:        Re: Goofy Test Answers

These surprising statements appeared in papers I graded last summer.

"Bassanio travels to Baltimore to woo Portia"

"The Christians hate Shylock because he practices money-laundering"

Gabriel Egan

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Tanya Gough <yorick@bardcentral.com>
Date:           Monday, 20 Dec 1999 17:12:18 -0500
Subject:        Re: Goofy Test Answers

>During the Renaissance America began. Christopher Columbus was a great
>navigator who discovered America while cursing about the Atlantic.   His
>ships were called the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Fe.  Later, the
>Pilgrims crossed the ocean, and this was called Pilgrim's Progress. The
>winter of 1620 was a hard one for the settlers.  Many people died and
>many babies were born. Captain John Smith was responsible for all this.

I just e-mailed Richard Lederer, a former teacher of mine, the list of
goofy test answers, knowing he would get a kick out of them.  Just for
the record, the passage quoted above comes directly from his _Anguished
English_ book.

Tanya

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Ramsay <jramsay@mergetel.com>
Date:           Tuesday, 21 Dec 1999 01:53:43 -0500
Subject: 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.2244 Goofy Test Answers

>From the 1967 Ontario Provincial English Exam:

"Hamlet could not sit on the throne of Denmark because he was stabbed in
the end."

John Ramsay
Welland Ontario



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