Smack the Pony - Insensitive English teacher

Teacher after 35 years of service

Catherine Tate - Lauren Cooper at school

Lauren Cooper is a fictional character in The Catherine Tate Show. She is a comprehensive school student with a surly attitude and was most widely known for her phrase "Am I bovvered?" (i.e. bothered - the "v" in the word takes the place of the "th" that should be there). When feeling angry or embarrassed, she frequently replies with defensive responses such as "Am I bovvered?", "Do I look bovvered?" or "Are you disrespecting me?", among others.

Both the physical appearance and the behaviour of Lauren and her friends are mock stereotypes of the Chav subculture. If you don't know what chav means, look it up here: http://self-learning-eoicoruna.blogspot.com/2008/10/word-of-week-27-october-2-november-2008.html

Despite Lauren's blatant disregard for authority, and chav-like demeanour, she sometimes shows surprising intelligence. She is well-versed in the Periodic Table, she apparently knows Shakespeare and she is fluent in French (once surprising her French teacher by asking her "Regardez mon visage. Suis-je bovvered? Est-ce que vous appelez ma mère une Pikey?"), although she refuses to speak it for an oral exam.

In 2006 Tate's catchphrase "bovvered" was named Word of the Year and was poised to enter the Oxford English Dictionary. A spokesperson for the OED commented: 'Am I bovvered?' and its follow-up, 'Does my face look bovvered?' had already come to be seen as the perfect expression of a generation of teenagers and their speaking style."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2006/oct/12/bovveredwinsw1

Some notes to help you understand the two sketches:

French teacher



English teacher

Teacher terror

TEACHER ARRESTED - A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator (see picture below).



At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying Weapons of Math Instruction.

'Al-gebra is a problem for us,' the Attorney General said. 'They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns,' but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle.'

When asked to comment on the arrest, President George Bush said, 'If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Math Instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.'

White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President.