"Emeritus" means...

[David Bowie]

From:    George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>

: I heard this joke from Prof. Robert Fowkes, once chair of the NYU
: German dept., probably 15 or 20 years ago.  His version was more
: philological, as should be expected from a man who was compiling a
: comparative etymolgical dictionary of the Celtic languages.

: "Professor emeritus -- from the Latin: e, ex, you're out; meritus,
: and you deserve it."  Quoting by memory, of course.

: He was a joker, and capable of contriving this joke himself.

>From Leigh Lisker to a handful of grad students sometime during the 94-95
academic year, and also at least sort of philological:

   "I'm a professor emeritus. You know what 'emeritus' means? It's
    Latin for 'without an office'."

David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
    Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
    house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
    chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.