A few years back, I asked a question of my friends who were most familiar with Yiddish terms to find out if the word “chutzpah” could take a modifier or if it was singular in its description. For example, the words “unique” and “destroyed” can’t get any more or less special.
“Unique” means one of a kind, so something either is or isn’t unique. It can’t be “somewhat unique” or “supremely unique.” Same thing with “destroyed,” as it means the end of something’s existence. It can’t be “partially destroyed” or “completely destroyed.”
I never got an answer to this, so I coined the term “peak chutzpah” for those moments where someone has an immense amount of gall to ask for something, but also has a stunning lack of social awareness.
The purest example I had of “peak chutzpah” came from a young woman in my media writing class who skipped out on a writing and editing session and subsequently failed an assignment in a way she wouldn’t have if she had shown up. She then went to “Rate My Professor” and wrote a screed about me, including details that clearly identified her in it.
About an hour later, I got a LinkedIn request from her, with hopes I could help with some reference letters.
The reason I bring it up today is that I finally managed to get back into the office after Winter Storm Elsa dropped nearly two and a half feet of snow in my yard. The snow was drifting so high, I actually broke the plow on our ATV trying to clear it and had to hire a guy with a massive plow truck to make a path in our driveway.
He got stuck, although he managed to eventually get it done.
Our weather forecaster was way too excited about all of this… But he wasn’t wrong.
In between battles with the weather, I was working to help students get ready for their final writing assignment that was going to be critiqued and edited in today’s class. The roads were finally passable, so I got in extra early to build this stuff for them, only to get this email from a student:
Goodmorning Professor, I will kt make it to class. I worked till 2am and I am exhausted. Can you record today’s lecture?
I don’t know if this qualifies as “peak chutzpah,” but the person who wrote it could use a little help in editing and AP style.
With Spring Break near, despite the 15-foot piles of snow outside that seem to argue otherwise, I’d love to hear your best student chutzpah stories. I could use the boost and I’m sure we could all use a laugh.
Feel free to post below or hit me up on the contact page.
Awhile back, Turnitin flagged a student’s paper as 100% plagiarized. Like, stuff lifted straight from internet sources with no modification attempt whatsoever. I called the student in to talk to him about it, told him I will give him a zero on the assignment and that if it happens again, he would fail the class and be reported to the school. He became frantic and told me I cannot do that because it was not his fault. His reason was ‘peak chutzpah’ – apparently, he didn’t have the time to write the paper himself so he asked a friend to write it for him. And it was the friend who had plagiarized – so, in his mind, that was not his fault at all and he should not been punished himself. After I collected myself from the floor, I told him to stop talking and leave my office.
Another student didn’t come to class and emailed me halfway through to tell me she could not get a parking spot close to the building so she just went home.
I wish I was kidding.