A few good examples:

1--- Not strictly academic, but close enough. I'm Asian American and was taking a plane back to my university to finish a PhD in English Literature and teach a composition class. The man sitting next to me asked me why I was flying from the West Coast to the Midwest. I told him I was going to the University of ____.

He asked me why I was going to the university, so I told him I teach English.

He says, "You mean you're learning English."

"No," I say. "I'm teaching English."

"You see," he replies, "You are confusing the words 'teach' and 'learn.' You are learning English."

2--- At a national conference I attended recently as a third-year PhD student in sciences, I was intrigued by one presentation for two reasons: it was very similar to work I'd performed during my MSc, and I wasn't entirely convinced of the study's validity.

After the talk, I attempted to ask the presenter a question, but he dismissed me and ran to lunch.

Later that afternoon, when I again attempted to engage in a discussion regarding his research, I was treated to a one-way "conversation" in which he explained to me his experiments with such a quick-fire barrage of words that I was left with nothing substantive to say.

Until he produced this gem: "Pretty much all of the work in this area has been done by ____.

“I am ____." I said.

"Oh," he said.

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