I used to have a co-worker, A., whom two American officers disliked so much that he was eventually compelled to resign from his job. I recall one incident in which he was wearing a Harvard University T-shirt to work. One of the officers, a Harvard University alumna, looked him up and down and said, "I don't know whether to laugh or to feel insulted." Poor A. didn't even catch the sarcasm, but I did.

In defense of A., I said, "That is a souvenir T-shirt. It was sold in a shop. If your university wants to be so exclusive, tell it to stop selling commercialized T-shirts. You should see them being salvaged from the trash and worn by mendicants, and then, when they are too unwearable, being used as rags. Harvard University rags."