Fuddland

There is one particular student I teach, a young girl by the [chosen, English] name of Mary, whose voice is, for some reason, especially grating. There is something about the pitch, or the volume, or the pace at which she speaks, as well as the way she carries on talking long after she has supplied me with whatever answer I’m looking for — to the point where I have to interrupt and tell her to sit down — that is not, to put it delicately, very easy on the ears. Naturally I assumed I was the only one whose teeth gnashed together every time Mary opened her mouth, until I noticed that whenever she stands up to speak, a number of the other students quickly put down their pens and, without ceremony — as if they were reacting to the fifteenth air-raid siren that week and it was merely part of their day-to-day lives — put their fingers in their ears until she has once again fallen silent.

I would take these students to one side and chastise them for being so rude to their classmate, if I didn’t find the whole thing so very amusing [and wasn’t so jealous that I couldn’t use them same aural defence myself].

#1

Jann | 2006 / 03 / 07 – 23:12

I remember a friend of mine doing this when we sitting down to a much-needed hangover fry-up in a cafe once. An old dear sat down next to us and asked whether an adjascent seat was free. Ater we’d replied that it indeed was, she proceeded to waffle on inanely as only the old and slightly loopy are able.

My mate put his fingers in ears (bang opposite her) whilst I did a lousy job of trying to stifle my laughter and desperately tried not to squirt ketchup in her face to shut her up.

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