# What is the weirdest thing one of your teachers did? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650 "2021-08-28T00:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/222 "2022-06-13T00:29:26Z")
I’m new to this thread, but still sad 40 years later… Our beloved AP english teacher slept with 3 of my friends and committed suicide when he was found out. That’s definitely weird in my book. 3 women mostly ruined at a young age. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/223 "2022-06-13T00:35:27Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I think he was afraid of my Daddy. > Hey, I graded papers for him. I worked. > > Everyone in my highschool knew I enjoyed special treatment. > I hated it. I wanted to be like every other kid. > Eating lunch in the nurses office, everyday was just sad. > Getting called up to check my glucose was humiliating. Crap. I’m sorry. Of COURSE you wanted desperately to be like every other kid. Of COURSE you didn’t want any attention drawn to your diabetes. I hope you had some friends who liked you for you. I hope your talent in dance helped you understand that you were so much more than the flukes you were born with. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/224 "2022-06-13T01:42:50Z")
Thank you Nelly. You’re that kind teacher I always sought out. I had a great bunch of teachers for the most part. A few who were dogs and afraid of me and my issues. My Daddy didn’t want me in a self-contained unit for handicapped children, where I had no friends and never left the classroom. Most schools I was in tried to accommodate me as much as they could. I have no lingering mental issues about it. I’ve put that to bed many moons ago. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/225 "2022-06-13T02:41:35Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My Daddy didn’t want me in a self-contained unit for handicapped children, where I had no friends and never left the classroom. Thank heavens for your wonderful father. He was right: a self-contained classroom back then would have been a grave disservice. Your fine intellect needed the stimulation and give-and-take of a regular ed. classroom. So what if you couldn’t contribute orally? I’m sorry you had teachers who were afraid of your issues. They should have been barbers or insurance underwriters where they’d have done less harm. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/226 "2022-06-13T03:22:38Z")
a lot of my weird teacher interactions were outside of school except for one Im disabled but wasn’t physically disabled to be put in the wheelchair/ and not mentally enough to be out in the autistic classes so they put me in what was the juvenile delinquent class and a lot of these kids were from group homes and some were bussed from local juvenile facility to the class Now we had a pretty and young ish teacher one year which given the student type they were very careful Well we had a restroom in the class but certain people were spending a lot of time in there so she searched it several times but has a suspicion that something was in there So one day before we went outside for recess she has me wait inside saying I’m the only trustable one for this job but ill like the “reward” so she goes somewhere and comes back and we go get a ladder from a storage room and well its suspect but it’s all we have and we set it up in the bathroom and she has me holding it now she in a dress and climbing up it and let’s just say I had a very nice view cause she wasn’t wearing anything under it … and when I wasn’t trying to look I moved the ladder and she says … yes I know its ok just hold the ladder … and she starts tapping roof panels and finds one that moves… then she climbed up in it and took out a pack of cigs a nudie mag and an empty pot pipe and put them freezer bag now when she comes back down shes turned around so I’m getting the other side reaches the floor and says " thanks … ill give you a couple of minutes just bring the ladder with you" then it dawned on me what the “reward” was ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/227 "2022-06-13T05:45:37Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > 3 women mostly ruined at a young age. Traumatized, I’m sure, but ruined? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/228 "2022-06-13T10:42:39Z")
He certainly ruined their reputations. They became sluts in the eyes of their peers and embarrassments for their parents. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/229 "2022-06-13T13:03:02Z")
At least one of them was profoundly changed. All of them were deeply traumatized. This was high school in the mid-eighties. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/230 "2022-06-13T13:18:01Z")
I get that, but saying that they’re “ruined” implies to me that they have lost their “value”, and have become “damaged goods”. I know you didn’t intend it that way, but it comes across as somewhat retrograde. Say that they’re hurt; say that their self-esteem has been destroyed; you can even say that their social status has been irrevocably damaged. But their own value as human beings is exactly the same as it had been before. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/231 "2022-06-13T13:34:56Z")
I get your point. But their “value as a human being” to _themselves_ was seriously shaken. It’s hard to overstate how predatory this was. There was actually very little public stigma (thankfully), perhaps because it came to light so close to graduation. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/232 "2022-06-13T14:39:22Z")
In 1st grade I witnessed my friend get his mouth washed out with soap. For real. By our teacher, who was a bit of a problem person in general–I don’t think she liked or could control kids very well. She was also very young looking, small and had a shrill voice. I think she didn’t like her job, and you could tell. I didn’t think of it too much until as an adult I realized that this was unusual. The phrase “wash one’s mouth out with soap” is heard fairly often, at least in the US. But who actually does it? And how? She had him take a tiny bite of bar soap, the sliver of an almost used-up Ivory bar, into his mouth, swish, and spit it into the sink in the corner of the room. She had heard him using a cuss word, for sure. I guess she probably got fed up after multiple warnings. Anyone else witness this?! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/233 "2022-06-13T15:08:24Z")
I had a university professor who was unusually cool (as in trendy) by the standards of the Engineering Department. He taught a very small class of us where he recommended we read _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_. I did so and told him I enjoyed it. When my next assignment was returned, on which was drawn the symbol from the cover of that book - which greatly remembers a giant penis. My buddies founds that hilarious. Innocent doodle, or more? I found it weird. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/234 "2022-06-13T15:20:15Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > For instance, take the letter “L”. It would be once thing to mention once or twice that it can sometimes be pronounced as “y” when part of a word that came to us through Spanish such as “llama”. Wait, what? The animal is pronounced “yama”? I know “ll” inside of a word in Spanish has a “y” sound, including borrowed words like “tortilla”. But “llama”? ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/235 "2022-06-13T15:28:40Z")
Well… > **[Monty Python Llama Sketch - video Dailymotion](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2xac0c)** > > Monty Python Llama Sketch ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/236 "2022-06-13T15:43:26Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Wait, what? The animal is pronounced “yama”? I know “ll” inside of a word in Spanish has a “y” sound, including borrowed words like “tortilla”. But “llama”? My name is Bill. It’s pronounced _buy_ ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/237 "2022-06-13T22:28:22Z")
Washing a child’s mouth out with soap was not all that unusual in the 1960’s when I was a kid. It never happened to me but I was around when it happened to others. Corporal punishment was still common in public schools, as well. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/238 "2022-06-13T22:36:35Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Eating lunch in the nurses office, everyday was just sad. > Getting called up to check my glucose was humiliating. The son of a friend of mine didn’t get his diabetes diagnosed until he was 14 or 15. My friend said it was sooooo hard keeping him on his recommended diet when all his friends were eating junk food. He hated it, because it made him stand out. So, I have a sideways understanding of what you went through. {{}} ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/239 "2022-06-14T19:26:35Z")
Sure, I can believe it. My story was from about 1975. Corporal punishment was already on the way out, apparently, as I rarely saw or heard of it during my subsequent schooling. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/240 "2022-06-15T21:33:37Z")
Not really weird, but one of my professors once asked me and a few other students to stay after class. He then walked us to a nearby dairy bar and stood for a round of ice cream cones. He told us that, in his country, they did this as a regular thing - celebrating with students who did well (my blushes). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650/241 "2022-06-15T23:23:12Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > That’s how we learned it. Right at the end of the alphabet song, we’d do a singsong “and sometimes y and w.” Of course, the majority of the teachers were Irish nuns. Ditto. Not Irish, not nuns, just regular old school teachers. But it took a while before anyone explained the W was a vowel in words like ‘HOW’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-thing-one-of-your-teachers-did/949650.md?page=11)