The "bullshit, more shit, piled higher and deeper" thing's a very common expression over here (in spite of the fact that most PhDs here miss out on the MSc) - new post-docs in a department will quite happily ask each other just what they piled higher and deeper, for example.
I think I would take it differently, actually, if it came from a new post-doc - or anyone else committed to the same path. In that case it would feel like shared irony, much like the way some of my disabled friends and I use "gimp" or "cripple" among ourselves. It feels very different coming from someone who is not, as far as I know, an academic.
the people who make these comments have probably forgotten the period of battle-fatigue, if not outright shell-shock, that slams down on the newly-minted PhD
This is a good point. I'm sure that I would feel less hurt and angry if a little more time had passed since my defense. "Battle fatigue" is a good term for it.
I've lost count of the number of colleagues and co-workers I've had who had planned (often in incredible detail) post-viva/post-result parties, but who simply didn't have it in them to carry out the plan when it came to the point of actually going to the pub.
I definitely wasn't up for a raucous pub crawl - not that I have many friends left in Iowa City. My advisor took us out for a sedate but excellent dinner, and I drank half a bottle of wine. Then I slept for eleven hours straight.
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Re: Done there, been that, worn out the t-shirt....
Date: 2003-09-03 01:36 pm (UTC)I think I would take it differently, actually, if it came from a new post-doc - or anyone else committed to the same path. In that case it would feel like shared irony, much like the way some of my disabled friends and I use "gimp" or "cripple" among ourselves. It feels very different coming from someone who is not, as far as I know, an academic.
the people who make these comments have probably forgotten the period of battle-fatigue, if not outright shell-shock, that slams down on the newly-minted PhD
This is a good point. I'm sure that I would feel less hurt and angry if a little more time had passed since my defense. "Battle fatigue" is a good term for it.
I've lost count of the number of colleagues and co-workers I've had who had planned (often in incredible detail) post-viva/post-result parties, but who simply didn't have it in them to carry out the plan when it came to the point of actually going to the pub.
I definitely wasn't up for a raucous pub crawl - not that I have many friends left in Iowa City. My advisor took us out for a sedate but excellent dinner, and I drank half a bottle of wine. Then I slept for eleven hours straight.
Congratulations to