Twelfth grade, AP English Lit.

I don’t remember the exact poem we were reading, but the teacher came across the word “apathetic” and decided to define it for us.

“Apathetic is the opposite of happiness, as you can tell from the context in the poem! It means hatred or loathing.”

*record screech*

I raised my hand. “Uh, apathetic means a lack of caring, not—”

She laughed, cutting me off. “I’ve been teaching this class for five years, I think I know the poem better than you do.”

Without a word, I stood up, walked to the stack of dictionaries by the door, flipped one open, and handed it to her. I sat back down, waiting for her reaction.

She looked at the definition for a long moment before snapping the book shut. “So, as I was saying, apathetic means lack of caring, and you can tell that the author’s word choice here was designed to evoke the same feelings…”

Sigh.