Jez's rejected research topics

[Jez]

One of the perks of switching to an anthropology education is that anything involving humans--and other primates--is a valid research topic.  That does not mean I should write about every topic that occurs to me.  Some that I probably not pursue:

The occurrence of votive pleas around midterms and finals.
eg, "Dear God, if you let me pass this exam, I swear I'll quit drinking.
Estimated to occur in 63% of students.  Less than 1% follow through.

Has "fuck" lost all impact in the modern veracular?
Overheard at the bus stop, "And he was, like, so whatever you fuckin' want.  I don't fuckin' care.  And I was like,  I will do what I fuckin' want and you can't fuckin' stop me."
Has cursing become so common as to be meaningless?  Can we revive real cursing, eg "May the fleas of a thousand squirrels nest in your tenders"?

Reaction of potential mates to men who skip leg day, by age.
Am I the only one who rolls my eyes when I see a man with a muscular torso and teeny legs?  These guys are, "built like an apostrophe" according to a football player near me on an airplane.  Or does that look work for younger women?

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

2 and 3 sound like awesome projects!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

  #2 had me chuckling. Also, "build like apostrophes".

When I was thinking I might major in psychology and minor in biology I had ALL kinds of ideas about what I'd like to do for research projects. Unfortunately, now that I've flip-flopped my major and minor I have far fewer ideas. I need to work on that.

[Jez]

There are so many things I'd love to study that I don't think I'll ever be able to get to them all.  I just finished a (very brief) linguistic study of police slang.

Some day I'd like to get speakers of various languages into MRI machines to take a look at minute differences in the development of the muscles in the throat and tongue.  I want to study the effects of different genres of music on social vectors such as empathy.  I want to hook people up to EEG machines and see if concern trolling* triggers the parts of the brain that light up when helping, or the areas involved in insults; and if the person is aware of which action they are actually performing.  I want to look at long-term cervical-spinal damage in habitual smart phone users.  Etc, etc...

I may never find the comfortable corner of study for me.

Learn all the things!



*For instance, telling an overweight person that you're concerned about how their kids see them as a role model.