

MIT's charm school for geeks turns 20 - RougeFemme
http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/mits-charm-school-teaches-bookworms-about-social-graces

======
davidroberts
From the article: "But how do you take someone who's grown up in the world of
pocket protectors..."

Does anyone actually use a pocket protector anymore? That is such a lame
cliche to describe geeks. It's like saying "...someone who's grown up in the
world of slide rules..."

More accurate would be something like "...the world of algorithms and
Maxwell's equations..." or "...the world of integrals and epsilon-delta..."

~~~
sp332
I know some professional engineers who wear pocket protectors. Not students,
though.

~~~
andyjohnson0
I'm wondering where you would actually _buy_ a pocket protector? A quick
Google search brings up plenty of ironic tshirts and novelties, but no actual
pocket protectors.

(And no, I don't actually want one. I'm just curious.)

~~~
davidroberts
Most people didn't buy them in the old days. Typically they were given away as
promotional items. They are actually pretty useful beyond their obvious
function of keeping your pockets from being destroyed by ink leaks and sharp
points. For example, you could switch a set of writing instruments you use
everyday from shirt to shirt without having to disassemble and reassemble it.
But even the nerdiest these days realize that the only surer way to look like
a total social misfit without involving body odors is to break your plastic-
rimmed glasses at the bridge and repair them with tape.

------
monkeyspaw
I was an engineering student at a top 20 university who did something similar
to this. Southern school, manners were important. The university put on an
etiquette dinner to help engineering students grasp the finer points of
dining.

To this day, I reference that one dinner at least once a month.

------
ajiang
I would watch that show.

------
thinkbohemian
Wish we had something like this at Georgia Tech

