Math for Non-Mathematicians.

It is not a secret that I despise Physical Science. It is also not a secret that I am not a fan of math. I'm an English Language major, remember? That statement alone should clue the world in that numbers and I are not exactly chummy. Now take into account all of these statements so that you can be appropriately shocked at the statement I am about to make:

I voluntarily did math in Physical Science today. 

Granted, it was simple math and I used a calculator, but I still calculated things. Julayne's words were "Oh, you poor English Language major. This must be so hard for you." 

Why did this take place, you may ask? Ironically enough, it was because of a word. One simple, harmless word: right.

We had a substitute teacher in class today (I feel like I'm back in high school saying that) who had a nasty little habit of tacking the word right onto the end of nearly every sentence. This made what should have been simple declarations of fact sound as though he was constantly seeking validation that the concepts he was teaching were, in fact, true. It reminded me of the stereotypical dumb blonde teenager portrayed in movies and TV shows whose voice raises at the end of every sentence, making it sound like a question. Sub Man kept saying things like "Most of the earth's fresh water is found in glaciers, right?" or "River deltas are very fertile pieces of land, right?" 

Long story short, it was driving me crazy. It got to the point that the word right was the only word I heard. The information that I will be tested on went all Charlie Brown's teacher on me and the only intelligible word was the right? he threw on the end. Julayne kept telling me that it wasn't that bad, so I decided to take matters into my own hands to prove to her that his right?ing was excessive. Unfortunately I didn't think of this until there were six minutes of class left, but I think my data is sufficient enough to prove that too much right is not alright.

In the last six minutes of class, Sub Man said right? THIRTY-FOUR times. According to my calculations, if those six minutes are indicative of his righting for the whole fifty minute class period, he would have said right approximately 283 times.  That is almost 6 times per minute, which means that he says right about once every ten seconds. 

If you ask me, that much right? is just plain wrong.