I got 99 problems, but the britch ain't one.

Let me preface this post by saying that I love my school in Forchheim. And, except when they're really horrible, my students are really great! 

Oh hey, that's my school! ^

I had an 8th grade class today, and there is one kid in there who is super enthusiastic and always excited to participate, but (bless is heart) he just can't spell! Now, I can't fault him at all here (let's not even talk about how many spelling errors I have in my blog), compared to German - in which everything is spelled EXACTLY how it sounds, English probably seems like the most ridiculous language ever when it comes to spelling (take a moment, reflect... you'll realize it's true). There are absolutely no spelling rules, or any rules there are probably have more cases that are the exception than the rule. 

Anyway, he was writing out some questions for an activity they were doing, so I came to his group to read them over for mistakes. In the middle of the stack I catch a glance of a question that appears to say "how many bitches are..." whoa. Whoa.  Now I've had students curse in class before (pretty much all the time), and I've had students write inappropriate things before, but this struck me as really strange for this kid! So I calmly go through the stack of questions waiting to get to this one and see if it really says what I think it says. Finally I see,

"How many britches are in New York City"

I'll be honest, I still had to double take (I'm sorry, how many whats are in NYC?!), then I had to think... britches? Pants? britches, britches, britches, britches?? OOOOH! You mean "bridges"! 

Go ahead, say it out loud, you'll see where he's coming from.