Ten Questions Follow-Up

[sleigh]

I thought I'd follow up on the "Ten Questions" I posted yesterday. What I do afterward is compile a list of the responses and show it in class. For nearly all of the questions, there are 'standard' answers (standard in the sense that several people gave the same response) -- and then there's always one or more responses that are unique and startling. I've enjoyed reading your responses, and though you might be interested in what my students said.

What color is fear?
"Black" is the 'standard' response (65.8%) while "red" is the second (31.4%). That's invariably the case, semester to semester -- we obviously have some visceral cultural response to those colors. My favorite from this semester's group, though, is "Lime electric green with chunks of black and brown saliva."

What sound does affection make?
Some variation of the sound of kissing is the standard , and it's no different this time, with 13.1% of the students giving me that. My favorite: "The sound of an old car starting up in winter, loud at first then settling into a comfortable growl."

What texture does Autumn have?
Standard: "Rough" (23.7%) or some variation on "leaf-like" (15.8%). My favorite: "Smooth, silky white skin (I once dated a girl named Autumn)."

What shape does a conversation make?
Standard: "Circle" (52.6%). Someone drew a 'conversation bubble' on the paper, and that was my favorite this time.

What fabric is a kitten made of?
Standard: "Fur" (31.6%). I always tell them (afterward) that "Fur really isn't a 'fabric'' in my mind." I didn't really have a favorite from this semester's crew, but I did have to wonder about the person who wrote "poison." Obviously a dog person (or someone allergic).

What noise is made by curiosity?
Standard: "Hmm..." (23.7%) My favorite: "Curiosity is so quiet that it's only heard by those with appreciation."

What is the smell of knowledge?
Standard: Old books (15.8%) -- which is one of my favorite smells in the world. My favorite: "It smells like a rose, but one with thorns."

How do you punctuate life?
Standard: Either an exclamation point (31.6% this time) or a question mark (28.9% this time) -- and I usually wonder whether this shows the division of optimists and pessimists in the group. My favorite: "WIth lots of commas, semi-colons, and dashes -- with no periods until the end!"

What does death taste like?
Standard: "Bitter" (10.5%), though in past semesters "Sour" has won a few times. It came in second this time. My favorite: "Probably like my Mom's cooking."

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, what kind of tree is it?
Standard: "A dead one" (21.0%). My favorite: someone gave me a pun this time: "It's a Mys tree!"

Comments

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I liked this quiz and regretted not getting answers to you yesterday. Now I've been tainted by these responses so I'll just add some comments.

I'm surprised that more people don't say kittens are made of velvet or silk. I would think curiosity answers would include more Jeopardy themes or dings. I think that death answers would include the standard coppery-blood descriptions so often seen in fiction. And I'm afraid my experience with forests would have me answering the final question realistically depending on the region; in the Pacific Northwest it would be a big pine tree that will turn into a nurse log and in Minnesota's north woods it would be a birch or poplar.

I also think that this exercise would turn up some conversations about synesthesia as you might get some students insisting that, for example, fear has a sound, not a color or that curiosity has a smell.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Velvet and silk usually place second and third for the kitten question. I usually get a couple 'Jeapordy" answers for curiosity (this semester, two people mentioned Tim Allen's "grunt" sound). And there are always some literal 'species' answers for the tree question, though usually "oak" wins -- my students are all midwesterners, after all. :-)

And yes, as someone who tends to 'see' sound as color, and for whom a smell can bring back strong memories, I do mention the concept of synesthesia as a concept when I review the answers.

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting these, I enjoyed reading the answers.

"My mother's cooking" made me laugh.

Andrea

[anghara.livejournal.com]

I just stole this and reposted it (with my OWN replies) on my LJ. I've also invited comments so we'll see where that goes. Thanks, I enjoyed this!

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there are differences between answers from synesthetes and those from non-syns.

Thanks for the opportunity...

[ontology101.livejournal.com]

I answered before reading the responses you had already received and before reading this post. I enjoyed the task. My favorite of your favorites is:

"The sound of an old car starting up in winter, loud at first then settling into a comfortable growl."

In most cases it is just like this. However, it can also start soft and then grow to the growl...I'll have to figure that one out for myself.

A.