I think I showed my cards

Yesterday in law school I offered the Learned Hand cost/benfit formula as a parallel to the Mathews balancing test for due process. The professor brought up Posner's interpretation of the Hand formula and I injudiciously sidestepped it by mentioning another professor's assessment that Posner was the "worst justice of all time." Early this morning I replayed that scene and realized that professor had been talking about Traynor, not Posner. So this morning on the class message board I posted a retraction with the best excuse I could come up with for getting these two mixed up:

- both names begin with voiceless stop consonants followed by long vowels
- they are the same length (two syllables)
- the second syllables are homophonic

I expected an "Is that the best you could come up with?" But instead I got this:

Mr. Sharp's mastery of the English language is impressive, and I feel the need for a lesson in "voiceless stop consonants." Some basic web surfing revealed to me that the English language has three such consonants: P (which is bilabial), T (which is aveolar), and K (which is velar).

A "voiceless" stop is created by obstructing the oral cavity with the lips or tongue. When the mouth is opened, pressure is released, causing a sound. This can be contrasted with the "voiced" consonants B, D, & G. My problem is that I cannot distinguish the former from the latter, much less from other consontants that seem to have the same effect on the tongue and lips.

Would our linguist care to enlighten me?

Of course I took him seriously and replied with an explanation of voiced and unvoiced consonants and compared stops with fricatives and nasals. No reply. I think now he was being sarcastic and I've made myself out to be a dweeb.