Illiteracy Rules!!

Today, I learned I am an ass. I kind of already knew it, but today it was proven to me. I mentioned that I was giving a presentation at Meikei today about high school in Georgia. It went well. Actually, a better turnout than I expected. There were a lot of good questions and hopefully good answers. How does this prove I'm an ass? It doesn't, yet. So, after it's over, I am cleaning up and a few of the students are asking me questions they were probably too shy to ask during the presentation, or maybe it's about something not related to the presentation. I don't remember any specific questions, except for one. The one that proved that I should change my name to Hugh Jass. "What does it mean when you do this?" "This," is the thing that proves I am an elitist, pig-headed, intellectual snob. I don't know where I picked it up. Maybe from my friends (Cox comes to mind), maybe from students, maybe from another teacher, maybe from televison or cinema. I am not sure about the origins of this behavior, but I am sure that it proves that I am a self-important, egomaniacal jerk. If you've read this far, you are probably saying, "You know, you are an ass. You haven't even said what it is that you do. Stop stringing me along, you ass!" Well, with that kind of peer pressure, I suppose I should oblige. It seems, that when I talk, well, maybe just in the classroom because I've never picked up on this behavior before, but when I talk, I sometimes do the "quotation marks thing" with my fingers. See, I just did it again. Why did it take a group of teenaged Japanese girls to tell me this? Why hasn't someone beat the hell out of me by now? I don't get it. I'd like to stop this behavior. I'd like to stop being condescending. I'm asking for your help in this matter, to stop myself from trivializing the intelligence of other human beings. The next time you see me give the "quotation mark fingers" to yourself and/or others, please do me a favor and punch me in the face.