[cappyjon431]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Gracie, Gracie, Gracie,

I think you have mixed up a couple of different rumors. I bet I know where you got that idea about English majors. It was probably from something you heard about -- sort of -- in English class. But I just bet you were not paying attention in class because you were busy flirting with the boy who was sitting next to you. Uh huh.

The rumor you are passing along here was about The Wife of Bath, not about English majors.

Here is probably what you were supposed to hear....

In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales one of the characters is the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath is described as having a space between her two front teeth. An English professor told me those teeth were supposed to mean that the Wife of Bath was over-sexed.

Well, you can imagine my surprise because my high school English teacher had told me that those teeth were supposed to mean that the Wife of Bath would travel far.

I do not really know the truth about the Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales. I am just passing along the information that I think might have led to your rumoring. I am just trying to clarify what probably happened in your English class, too, when you were not paying attention and thought the teacher was talking about herself.

So Gracie, all I am doing here is speculating on how this rumor got started. I am just passing along some information that I got in English classes past. Information -- just so maybe you can see if that could be where the rumor got started about English majors. I am just passing along information you realize. Now, please do not go out into the world and tell everybody that Boomer is an infomaniac.

Boomer

Boomer, you are certainly correct about the Wife of Bath. Many literary critics write of her sexual nature and many PhD dissertations revolve around Chuacer's reasons for portraying her as such a tart.

That does not mean that English majors are not over-sexed. I have been around English majors and English grad students for a good part of my life and while it is only anecdotal, I would have to agree with the generalization that they are indeed over-sexed.