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bullshit quite nicely. This technique is called “Scaffolding
Your Bullshit.”
Professor: Yeah, what about Lord Hamilton? I agree with you
somewhat. I do think he has a few redeemable qualities. He
takes care of Rosie, and pays for Jonathan’s education, so he’s at
least a decent father. I don’t know about his, uh, husband skills
though.
Two more names: Rosie and Jonathan. Probably safe to as-
sume these characters are related to Lord Hamilton. Most
likely his children. Now you’ve got a pretty solid foun-
dation to pull off this bullshit. Perfect time to bring this
bullshit full circle.
You: Yeah, (chuckle), I don’t know. Sure he’s a bad husband, but
I was just thinking, since we’ve read about so few good fathers
so far, that he wasn’t too terrible by comparison.
Bam. You’re done. Successful bullshit. Starting with a play-
ful chuckle says: “yeah, I’m with you professor. Your semi-
joke was humorous to me because I’m so damn in-tune with
this material.” Craft your response to half-agree, half-
disagree with the professor. Completely agreeing gives you
no credibility, and completely disagreeing might prompt
your professor to ask you follow-up questions, which you
don’t want. Now that you’ve said your piece, you’ve built
enough credibility that you can probably coast through the
rest of the class period. It’s not the best thing to do as a
student, but not the worst way to get through class if you’re
completely unprepared.
Again, it is imperative that you pull off your bullshit
early. You need to drop that bullshit early, when the profes-
sor’s questions are still general and don’t require too many
specific details. This opportunity will not always present
itself, but when it does, make sure you bullshit all over it as
quickly as you can.

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