Anyone ever confused by your profession?

[modernity]

This was inspired by a conversation that was had in another post. I thought it might be an interesting way to pass the time. Does anyone have misunderstandings about what you do for a living when you first introduce the subject? I've had the following conversations...

Unsuspecting Individual: So what do you do for a living?

Me: I'm an anthropologist.

Response A: Oh...dinosaurs are so cool!

Response B: So you like, work in Egypt digging up dead people, right?

Response C: Like Indiana Jones/Bones???

Response D: You're a young woman. I meant a real one...aren't their any older gentlemen around in the profession?

Most recent response from an old lady: What is an anthropologist? (at least she was honest!!)

Me: Well...it's the study of culture really. I study different cultures, and analyze the processes behind their behavior.

Old lady: Oh...Like in a hospital with sick people?

Me: (realizing the conversation is going nowhere) Something like that.

Yes, these were real responses! It's sometimes unbelievable. So what about you?

[tarski]

I'm not sure if this is misunderstanding or outright rejection :

"My friend's son studied philosophy. I think he's in the circus now."

Edited January 20, 2010 by tarski

[Serric]

The lab I currently work in has C. elegans as our model organism (we do genetics that relate to neuronal growth and tiling). I generally get responses such as, "Why study a worm?", but every so often someone asks, "So, wait, why do you guys just play with worms??"

[jordy]

Person: "So what are you going to grad school for?"

Me: "(Social) Psychology"

1: "Oh, so you'll have your own private practice!"

2: "Oh, so you'll get to work with crazy people!"

2a. > optional continuation: "Oh, I'm sure you already have tons of material from your wacky dad!"

3. "Oh neat! So I have this problem and maybe you can help me out": [proceeds to explain a very detailed, personal, and waaaay over my head psychological illness that a "friend" is struggling with]

Me: "It's actually more of a research field and doesn't involve studying mental disorders. I'd eventually like to be a professor."

Person: "Oh, teaching sounds fun!"

*bangs head*

Edited January 20, 2010 by jordy

[fuzzylogician]

There are a few.

There's the famous "you're a linguist? How many languages do you speak?" (it's not about that!)

There's the "oh, so you tell people how they should speak." -me: "no, I study how people actually speak, not how they should speak. I don't care about that." - they: "but saying X that way is wrong" - me: "but that's how people say it." - them: "then they're wrong!" .. -me: "but! you say it like that too, everybody does.. don't you want to know why?" .. it can go on like that for a while after that.

Or: "so how do you spell so-and-so?" - me: "like this.. but I didn't learn this in university. You learn that in grade school!"

My favorite: "So what will you do with that after you graduate? Be an English teacher?"

[ColorlessGreen]

There are a few.

There's the famous "you're a linguist? How many languages do you speak?" (it's not about that!)

There's the "oh, so you tell people how they should speak." -me: "no, I study how people actually speak, not how they should speak. I don't care about that." - they: "but saying X that way is wrong" - me: "but that's how people say it." - them: "then they're wrong!" .. -me: "but! you say it like that too, everybody does.. don't you want to know why?" .. it can go on like that for a while after that.

Or: "so how do you spell so-and-so?" - me: "like this.. but I didn't learn this in university. You learn that in grade school!"

My favorite: "So what will you do with that after you graduate? Be an English teacher?"

"Oh, you're a linguist? My son/daughter/cousin/nephew/niece is studying Japanese/French/German/Swahili/Dutch! You know, you can make better money in the army than as a TESL teacher."

"I always wished I had studied Spanish in school..."

And the moderately more well-informed - "Like the guy who created Klingon?"

[socialpsych]

"Organizational behavior."

"..."

"It's basically psychology."

"Oh! I get it. Cool."

In undergrad, when I was a psychology major, I used to get the "Oh, I'll bet you can READ MY MIND!" responses a lot, but now when I explain my field as "basically psychology" I think people are just happy to hear a word they know what to do with.

[fuzzylogician]

"Oh, you're a linguist? My son/daughter/cousin/nephew/niece is studying Japanese/French/German/Swahili/Dutch! You know, you can make better money in the army than as a TESL teacher."

"I always wished I had studied Spanish in school..."

And the moderately more well-informed - "Like the guy who created Klingon?"

[peppermint.beatnik]

I'm in religious studies.

"So, you want to be a nun, or a minister?"

[Mumbet]

Explaining computer programming:

In reality, I shouldn't ever even have to hold the above conversation, but everyone thinks Computer Science = programming. As someone else put it, that's like saying astronomy is the study of telescopes.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Mumbet

[shorty06]

Haha... I always get: "so do you still research flies?" I must say, it's more on target than saying "oh so and so studied X language," but sort of makes me want to bang my head against a wall nonetheless. the tool is not the subject of interest.

[rising_star]

I get "So you study maps?" and "You study rocks, right?" a lot.

[hadunc]

I'm hopefully getting my PhD in English but I'm mainly interested in digital/new media studies, which causes a lot of confusion even amongst other English majors. My family really doesn't get it at all...I try to explain but I usually give up once I see the glazed looks come over their faces. It's so much easier to just say I want to be an English professor!

[Anita]

Yes! This is my thread!

Person: "So what are you going to grad school for?"

Me: "(Social) Psychology"

1: "Oh, so you'll have your own private practice!"

2: "Oh, so you'll get to work with crazy people!"

2a. > optional continuation: "Oh, I'm sure you already have tons of material from your wacky dad!"

3. "Oh neat! So I have this problem and maybe you can help me out": [proceeds to explain a very detailed, personal, and waaaay over my head psychological illness that a "friend" is struggling with]

Me: "It's actually more of a research field and doesn't involve studying mental disorders. I'd eventually like to be a professor."

Person: "Oh, teaching sounds fun!"

*bangs head*

Hi-fives to all of the above. If you think it's bad to live in the States as a psyc major, imagine going home in a third-world Asian country where psyc is actually an unpopular major (because science rules). And of course, the psyc that does make it into the few universities that study it is a mix of counseling/clinical/school psyc. And I suspect I can count the nationwide number of people who know what a Cronbach's alpha is on the fingers of two hands. I've actually considered changing majors to something like compsci so if I end up going home, I won't have to repeat the "I majored in psychology" spiel to clueless relatives for the rest of my life. The only consolation to be had is in knowing Freudian theories have yet to catch up in the country, or I'll be given dirty looks/asked to psychoanalyze people's abusive parents next.

Here are a few of the more eye-rolling-inducing responses I've gotten as a result of telling people what I study:

Me: I'm a psychology major.

Clueless new acquaintance (turns to friend who is equally clueless): Oooh, stay away from her! She can read your mind!

(yeah, people get matey very quickly in my country)

Ex-bf (perfectly serious): So, I think I've been mean to some people lately. You're the psyc major - do you know any cure for meanness?

Me: Uhh, there's electroconvulsive therapy...

Me: I'm a psychology major.

High school classmates: Oooh, you're gonna make lots of money! Lots of people in [Asian home country] are depressed these days!

Me: Yeah, and you can bet I won't give you any discounts.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Anita

[Tall Chai Latte]

lol, i like this post. i get weird reaction from people when they ask what's my major/what do i study too...

Person: what's your major?

Me: Biochemistry

Person: < (and then walked away)

Person: so which graduate program are you applying for?

Me: i'm applying to pharmacology programs from A, B, and C.

Person: oh that's cool! so you can get your pharmacist license and work at CVS!

Me: heh.

Person: do not look down on the profession just because you think it's boring!... blah blah blah *goes on lengthy lecture on why cheap labor job is moving to China or India* pharmacology is totally different from pharmacy...

Edited January 20, 2010 by UnlikelyGrad
HTML tags were showing, sorry

[intextrovert]

I get "So you study maps?" and "You study rocks, right?" a lot.

Haha. One of my good friends/roommates in college was a geography major, and though we knew the gist of what geography is about (and some of us had even taken a few classes in it), we still reveled in teasing him about being a map-maker/cartographer ("You know, I hate to tell you this, but I think they've already mapped out the whole world...") and for his bad sense of direction. But only because it irritated him and drove him to insist that geography was not about maps. (Duh.)

However, his argument was always undermined when he'd run home all excited after a number of hours in the GIS lab: "Look at the map I made!"

It's an easy target. But honestly, if I switched fields, geography would be it. It's fascinating. I study space and place in literature, so it makes sense that I'd feel an affinity for the field.

[grad_wannabe]

Classic!

I work in a cubicle, so I'm not really surrounded by people accustomed to thinking outside the box.

40-something secretary who sits across from me: "So, what did you study in school?"

Me: "Art."

Her: "Oh, so you want to work for Disney?"

Me: "Uh, no, I make video installations."

Her: "Oh, so you make movies?"

Me: "Uh, no, I, uh ... I study what art is about."

Her: "What? What do you mean, what art is about? Why do you need to go to school for that? I don't understand - if you want to be an artist, just BE an artist! What is there to learn?"

Me: "..."

Her: "Well, don't worry, if you know how to draw, you can always be one of those people who draws portraits at Disneyland! You... you do know how to draw, right?"

Somehow these conversations always leave me feeling like a depressed asshole elitist. Loathing the other person, yet somehow also wanting connection on a human level, which leads to self-loathing...

[BlueSwedeShoes]

Scenario A:

: I study cognitive science!

: Cogn...whatyousay?

: Well, it's an interdisciplinary field, so I study a mix of psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience and anthropology!

: So...you'll be a programmer/psychologist/any one other very specific profession?

Scenario B:

: I study cognitive science!

: So you study how people exercise?

(Ok, might need to explain this one. Cognitive science in Swedish is "kognitionsvetenskap". Clueless people often mistakes this for "konditionsvetenskap", i.e. some bastardized form of "exercise science")

Then again, I don't think anyone really understands cognitive science...it usually takes students about two-three years before they start to realize what they are actually studying (and I'm dead serious about that time frame).

[jordy]

Me: I'm a psychology major.

Clueless new acquaintance (turns to friend who is equally clueless): Oooh, stay away from her! She can read your mind!

OMG that one is so annoying! Or the alternate version (frequently deployed by clueless men at bars): "OK, so, like, analyze me right now. What am I thinking?" (Well, *I'm* thinking you just proved yourself unworthy of my superior mind-reading skills. MUAHAHA!)

And I love when people try to launch into a debate about Freud when the overwhelming majority of the field had discredited 95% of what he said/thought/wrote/believed/ate for lunch by the mid-1970s.

grad_wannabe, that sounds so frustrating! What is it with people being so freaking clueless about studying art??

[sometimesiexist]

Me: I study philosophy.

Waitress at my work: So can you tell me why people exist?

Me: Not really...

Waitress: What do you know then?

Me: Not much, I guess.

Me: I study philosophy.

Person A: So you want to be the president?

Me: No...not at all.

Person A: Ohhh, so you want to be a lawyer?

Me: No, I'm going to school for philosophy..

Person A: So you can argue really good and win cases as a lawyer, right?

Me: You got it! (Big thumbs up)

Me: I study philosophy.

My parents (who only completed high school, and just barely at that): Right, but what does that mean?

Me: Well, I read and theorize about different aspects of the human situation, and how they could logically work.

My parents: So...like religion, why don't you go to church anymore?

Me: *hangs up the phone*

There are more...there are an infinite amount honestly. Unless someone has studied or does study philosophy, chances are they will have no clue what I do or why I do it. I'm to the point where it's laughable now, and I just do my best not to giggle when people ask me questions like "So, am I like a robot...or not?" and "So, when are you running for congress?"

[tarski]

sometimesiexist, I feel your pain . I find hadunc's solution works pretty well: rather than "I study philosophy", it's "I want to be a philosophy professor".

[sometimesiexist]

@tarski: I tried that one, but then people just ask me why...over and over again. They also continue to have no idea what I do, and make "jokes" about the universe not existing (I never understand their jokes...I'm not even sure that they're actually jokes).

[tarski]

Heh. Well, maybe it wasn't a joke (shudder)- I listened to talk last December where the professor accepted Hume's doubts about causation, Descartes' hyperbolic doubts about perceptions, and said that doing anything that ignored those considerations was useless .

As for the why, why, why, I just pretend it's all about teaching. I do actually want to teach a lot, but I also want to research, but I don't talk about that as it becomes the more confusing element ("Philosophers do research?? I thought it was pretty much over after Plato.")

[Sparky]

Me: I study theology.

Non-Christian: (raises eyebrows)

Me: ...in the Middle Ages.

Non-Christian: (sighs in relief)

--

(Note: I am female.)

Me: I study theology.

Liberal Christian: So you want to be a preacher?

Me: I study theology.

Conservative Christian: So you want to teach?

[ColorlessGreen]

(Note: I am female.)

Me: I study theology.

Liberal Christian: So you want to be a preacher?

Me: I study theology.

Conservative Christian: So you want to teach?

I don't know whether to be amused or saddened by the second response.