Change of username

[thom]

Long-term contributors to OTF may remember that I used to be a reasonably regular contributor. My contribution rate has dropped in recent years, and is currently barely a trickle. Anyway, I thought some of you may be interested to hear that last Friday I had the viva for my PhD., and I passed with no corrections.

To celebrate I have made a temporary (and my first ever) change of username.

(For those interested, the thesis is entitled 'The social evolution of pragmatic behaviour'. It's about what social evolution theory (what used to be called sociobiology) can tell us about language, and specifically about pragmatics.)

[Gangster Octopus]

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Nice one doc...

[Andy C]

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Yay!

[hobbes]

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Nice work fella. But why did you send your PhD to Vauxhall?

[TMA]

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Top work, dr. thom - no corrections is very impressive.

[Tactical Genius]

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A Vauxhall Viva Doctorate...... sounds mickey mouse.

[Furtho]

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Congratulations, very impressive.

[David Agnew]

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Cool. Congratulations, thom.

"It's about what social evolution theory (what used to be called sociobiology) can tell us about language, and specifically about pragmatics.)"

Sounds very interesting - I've just been studying evolutionary psychology.

[Etienne]

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What TMA said.

[G-Man]

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We should organise a PhD wrestling tournament soon.

[Disco Child Ballads]

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Well done thom.

So how many peope on here actually have PhDs?

[thom]

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Thanks all.

I don't know what this talk of Vauxhalls is. For the uninitiated, a viva is the oral defence of your thesis that you have to do as part of the examination process.

I know Toro also has a PhD. I'm pretty sure there are a few others, but can't recall exactly who at the moment.

[hobbes]

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The Vauhall Viva:-

[Wyatt Earp]

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Nice one, doc.

[Etienne]

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I could legitimately call myself Dr Etienne. We could also have Dr S Princess, and I believe Dr Incandenza. A few others too, no doubt.

[Gangster Octopus]

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Far too modern, hobbes. You want one of these:

[Duncan Gardner]

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Congratulations Thom.

Wasn't there a Morrissey-Bragg collaboration? From a Vauxhall Viva hate.

[Brandenburger Toro]

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Well done!

[SpanglyPrincess]

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god, no corrections? well done. mine took me over 6 months to do - or rather to get around to. only about 2 days' actual work when I finally did them, but a massive pain nonetheless. what next? the joys of the academic job search?

[ursus arctos]

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Heartfelt congratulations indeed.

I actually managed to offend some of my law school classmates by noting that we had not come close to doing anything worthy of the three stripes on the sleeves of our gowns.

[Brandenburger Toro]

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Now I have a mental image of Adidas-sponsored conferrings.

Also, spangs, ugh. Thanks for reminding us of the job market sitch. Way to bring down thom's hour of triumph

("Jobs for Philosophers", the main employment listing in my field for North America, came out a couple of weeks ago. It had one quarter as many vacancies as last year.)

[SpanglyPrincess]

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sorry Toro it was inadvertent. I meant more, are you going to be an academic, than woo look at how great the job market is.

I console myself for my total lack of job security with the reflection that job insecurity in Rome is still better than job insecurity in, say, Hull. you need to get yourself teaching rich spoilt American liberal arts majors, its the way forward.

[thom]

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Spangly - I have a one-year career development fellowship lined up; it starts next month. It's a scheme designed to give you breathing space after the PhD. to publish your research and apply for longer term positions (and obviously it looks good to be getting funding in your own name too).

[SpanglyPrincess]

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sounds nice. enjoy it, once you're teaching you will pine nostalgically for the time. I had a JRF but managed to not work on my publication at all but carelessly do other research instead. now I am kickign myself.