Identical, Spherical TAs
by Jonathan Quince
Thursday, November 3, 2005 13:36:01
A university-student associate of mine recently e-mailed around an urgent question of practical etiquette:
how do you refer to a TA? I refer to my mgmt TA as “Rose”, but that’s how she introduced herself to us. i’m emailing my math TA, and I don’t know what to call him. i figure formal is better, but i’m not actually sure if he’s “Dr.” yet. his website is [snip]. how should i address him?
I replied:
I’d start by assuming that all TAs are identical and spherical. This would mean that he is congruent to Rose, reducing this to a known problem. Therefore, I would address him as “Rose”.
Q.E.D. (Quick, Easy, Disposable)
I should dare her to actually try that; if he’s a real mathematician, he’ll laugh when it is explained to him. Oh, how I love mathematics.