# Can someone explain this math fail joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748 "2011-09-09T19:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/41 "2011-09-13T22:00:49Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > At least in the US, it’s not a Public Holiday that people commonly get off work and on which major institutions are closed, but it’s a holiday nonetheless. It has a big secular pop-culture impact, and it is a religious holiday for at least some Christians (All-Hallows-Eve) and many or most Neo-Pagans (Samhain). SILENCE, YOU IMPUDENT, NON-EXPERT PEON! **Dio the All-Knowing** has spoken! Halloween is not a holiday! There will be no dissent! Mods please close this thread. **Dio the All-Knowing** has answered. No further responses are necessary or wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/42 "2011-09-13T22:06:11Z")
Mercy, **Kimmy** dear. Try decaf. 😉 ISTM that the dispute over whether and in what sense Halloween should be called a “holiday” was handled appropriately and not at undue length. Anyway, IME students in general are not happy with moving an exam up at **any** time, even if, as **ZenBeam** points out, a major drinking-occasion weekend is involved. But maybe my students just aren’t taking their drinking seriously enough (although I would have thought they are). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/43 "2011-09-13T22:08:13Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > In general, sure, but I think in this case, moving the exam to before Halloween, many would want to do that. I’d be stunned if any of my students would want that. Plus, when I get emails from individuals who claim to be speaking for the whole class, their credibility tends to go down a notch. However, I might think “LMAO” but say something more professional. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/44 "2011-09-14T02:27:03Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > SILENCE, YOU IMPUDENT, NON-EXPERT PEON! > > **Dio the All-Knowing** has spoken! Halloween is not a holiday! There will be no dissent! > > Mods please close this thread. **Dio the All-Knowing** has answered. No further responses are necessary or wanted. [Moderator Warning] I could issue a warning for personal insults or junior modding, but I think I’ll just issue it for being a jerk. Though I recognize you are partly joking, it looks to me like you are deliberately trying to pick a fight with **Dio**. So consider this an official warning. Knock it off. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/45 "2011-09-14T05:44:42Z")
> [@Aqua\_regis](#): > > English is not my first language, but the email seems rather weirdly written to me, “_even_ prefer (…) _than_ (…)” and “just speaking realistically”, although the Prof’s reaction still doesn’t seem entirely warranted. Seems like a student trying to sound fancy while addressing a Professor (and while trying to convince him of something) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/46 "2011-09-14T20:48:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > From my experience in college as both a student and as a teacher, I see nothing remarkable in a student requesting that a test be moved to before a holiday weekend rather than after. The response might well be “no, we’re sticking to the schedule”, but the request itself is not unreasonable. It _would_ be unreasonable to ask that on the Thursday right before, but from the datestamps, the student asked three weeks ahead of time. Heck, I’d kill to have more students like that, who think about things that far in advance. This. Spending a lot of time around 18-25 year olds of today, I see this as nothing out of the ordinary. Although personally, in my day we would never dream of letting a person in a position of authority over us believe that we would possibly do anything outside of his/her sphere of influence, I see this email as absolutely typical of today’s young people. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/47 "2011-09-15T15:20:15Z")
The only other thing that might be part of it is that the student isn’t complaining about the test being the day after Halloween, but 2 days after, indicating it will take more than a day to recover from his predicted hangover. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748/48 "2011-09-15T17:05:08Z")
Honestly, I didn’t see it as being about hangovers at all, but rather that students wouldn’t want to ruin their weekend by spending it studying (or fretting, whichever). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-this-math-fail-joke/595748.md?page=2)