Thursday, February 28, 2008

PFO* from other grad students!

I'm too lazy to link to it, but you may recall that I applied for a travel grant from my graduate student government which demanded a 4-page form, an abstract of the talk, a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and the naming of my firstborn child. I've applied for and been awarded this money twice before, so the hassle has always seemed like an obnoxious assertion of authority that would nonetheless get me $300. But this evening came an email PFO culminating in the phrase "We hope you are not discouraged." Too bad, because I was planning to weep, and never again aspire to present at an academic conference! Or perhaps I will gnash my teeth, and abandon my once-fervent faith in student government! Bless your hearts**, members of the travel committee of my student government, but it will take more than your rejection letter to discourage me.


*term borrowed with gratitude from here
**Southerners assure me this phrase can bear as much condescension as you can stand to bestow on it

8 comments:

Maude said...

ah yes, "bless your heart"--it's like "i'm only saying this out of love"--you can say whatever you want as long as you have a "bless your heart" in front of it.--"bless your heart you're so stupid/ugly/annoying" is my particular favorite.

my committee, er, rather chair, bless his heart he's such a jackass who gives me bad advice. but i only say it out of love.

Anonymous said...

That really is a very useful phrase. :)

Anonymous said...

I understand that "thank you" can carry about the same amount of condescension/is synonymous with PFO.

Bummer on the funding.

kermitthefrog said...

Ah, it's the first time I've felt completely confident of the usage. But this situation was just screaming out for it. :)

In all seriousness, I'm not *too* disheartened, as I'm getting partial funding from the university proper, and I think it'll be a fun trip anyway.

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