Teaching Flub of the Day

I was teaching my students about Aristotelian argument, pathos to be specific. In order to illustrate the emotional appeal, I began explaining the oft referenced example of pandas on melting ice caps. I got a little bit annoyed at the student interrupting me AGAIN with his hand raised and his face skeptical.

Student: "Did you say 'pandas on melting ice caps'?"

Me: "Yes, the panda bear ice cap argument is one often used to elicit a reaction from people about global warming..."

"But..." he interrupts again, "don't you mean polar bears?"

"Yeah...what did I say?"

"You definitely said panda bears were on ice caps..."

"Ah...right, yes, we pity panda bears for their scarcity and their mating issues. Two bears with very different emotional responses."

We all had a good laugh over that one, but they won't forget pathos. :)