Rocking the Passive Voice XX

In case anyone's missed it, people have been talking about the PFO we all got from Princeton. Here, read the whole thing: Dear Applica...

Rocking the Passive Voice XIX

Okay, I didn't think I was going to write any more of these this season, since what the fuck else do I have to say about all the PFO s ...

Rocking the Passive Voice XVIII

It's been too long, hasn't it? Take a look at this PFO : We regret to inform you, however, that you did not make our list of finali...

Rocking the Passive Voice XVII

Guess what turned up in my inbox on Friday? A PFO ! I guess the department that sent it wanted to get their rejection e-mails out of the way...

Rocking the Passive Voice XVI

A while back I flagged the way the word "unable" gets used in PFOs . As in, "we regret that we are unable to blah blah blah....

Rocking the Passive Voice XV

Okay kids, it's time to rock the passive voice: Dear Applicant, We have now filled the position that you applied for in our department. ...

Rocking the Passive Voice XIV

I haven't really been looking all that closely at the envelopes my PFO s come in. Maybe I should though, since it turns out the addres...

Rocking the Passive Voice XIII

Alright, here's another PFO : Our Hiring Committee determined that some other candidates made a better fit with the current needs of the...

Rocking the Passive Voive XII

I've got an impressive feast of shitty Chinese food in front of me right now, but it's still too hot to eat. So while it cools, let ...

Rocking the Passive Voice XI*

The asterisk in the title means I'm doing rigorous analytic philosophy . Because when you make simple ideas needlessly obsure by stickin...

Rocking the Passive Voice XI

It's a Saturday night grading marathon here at PJMB World Headquarters. Why? Because that's just how we roll around here. But let...

Rocking the Passive Voice X

I can still get a little overwhelmed at just how many of these things I have: I regret to inform you that the position in philosophy was off...

Rocking the Passive Voice IX

Guess what turned up in my mail today? A PFO! I thought I'd got the last of them, what with the decision to toss my application having b...

Rocking the Passive Voice VIII

How long’s it been since we did one of these, huh? Too long. So let’s see what we can do for fans of the passive voice. I am sorry t...

Rocking the Passive Voice VII

Okay, as promised, check this out: Dear [PGS] Thank you for your interest in the Assistant Professor position in the Philos...

Rocking the Passive Voice VI

How about this for reassuring? I can assure you that your application was read with attention and evaluated carefully. Really? ...

Rocking the Passive Voice V

I’m never going to get through these if I don’t pick up the pace. Thanks you for your interest in the rank open position in our departmen...

Rocking the Passive Voice IV

Here's a really nice illustration of how the passive voice functions as the perfect grammatical context for offensively condescending...

Rocking the Passive Voice III

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled: Our Search Committee for our advertised positions has met and, with difficulty, made thei...