Dear Former Students,
You have no idea the joy I feel when one of you contacts me to tell me something I said or did had an impact on you. This is why I started teaching in the first place: to make a difference.
I flourished under professors like Dr. Brightman and Dr. Taylor. I wanted to be the same kind of advocate for learning and growth.
Or even just make you question the existence of certain words.
Susan, you made my day by sending me this:
I still hate those words (and others). If anyone catches me using them, that person should take me to the hospital as I’ve clearly had a stroke.
Ken recently told me that he never closes with “Best” in an email because of me. What’s my problem with “Best?” It can be used as an adjective or an adverb, but it has to modify something. So I always think to myself, “Best what? Best regards? Best wishes? Best in show?”
So thank you for taking my classes and letting me mold you into critical duplicates.
And keep sending me little anecdotes of my permeating influence (or put them in the comments below). It fills me with glee.
Best in show,
Dr. Beth
*”We don’t need no education,” interestingly enough, is a double negative. So what Pink Floyd actually said was that we need education. So Pink Floyd was right.
Observe and report 
I hate those words too. Utilize makes my teeth itch and I hate “gift” as a verb — that said, I end a lot of things with “Best” I don’t know what it means other than “best wishes” “best regards” neither of which fit me at all. Best? Yeah I can “be best” (ha ha ha haha I’m so damned funny)
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Oh that phrase was AWFUL. I agree with you on “gift.” For me, most nouns turned to verbs are problematic. Except “Google.”
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Like Calvin said to Hobbes, “Don’t verb nouns!”
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