I took my PhD seriously.
I spent a long time trying to ensure that the bibilography contained at least one name for every letter of the alphabet. (I think I failed on "X", but who wouldn't?)

I spent almost as long hiding song lyrics, book titles and anything else I could think of in the body of the thing.

Well, how else was I going to fill 80k words?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:12, 10 replies)

Oh, I hear ya...
Also, spelling out rude words on the first letter of each line of text, hiding crytpic insults about my supervisor in the discussion section and, not me, but my friend Simon getting the word "gonads" into a chemistry thesis.

There are more but I'm already upsetting myself with how much of my life I've wasted on these small petty games..

waaah....
(Rakky (forgot her password) The muffin maverick, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:15, closed)

My mate and I
tried to get the names of as many animals as we could into our theses.

Another of my contemporaries pulled off a real coup when he quoted Homer Simpson in his thesis. A materials science thesis.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 9:11, closed)

This reminds be of an anecdote I read a while ago
about the physicist George Gamow. Having nearly finished a paper, and being in mischievous frame of mind, he invited two other scientists, Hans Bethe and Ralph Alpher to co-author the paper with him. The final paper read as authored by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow.

edit: Just checked WikiPedia, and Alpher was the original author. Still amused me though :)

I think any method to make writing an 80k word dissertation more amusing can only be a good thing, both for authors and readers!
( LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:18, closed)

all I did ...
... was to make sure I cited my PhD thesis in my PhD thesis.
(haberman is singing in the changes, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:35, closed)

I think you'll find
China is your friend when seeking X's. I shared an office with a Xu Fan when I was doing my PhD. Don't forget the first name is the family name, and so should be the one leading the reference...
( Olembe Refuses to write in this space, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:35, closed)

Good point
*moves to China to complete Habilitationschrift*

Yeah. Like I'm gonna do that...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 13:48, closed)

Clearly this indicates a need for a second PhD, the first having been revealed as incomplete.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 19:25, closed)

i once managed to get antidisestablishmentarianism into as essay
I used it correctly too, but the mean ol' barsteward didn't give me any extra marks for it.
(horrid, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 14:59, closed)

I'm not surprised.
Extra marks for using a long word?

Are you about 5?
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 16:46, closed)

slacker
Try 100,000 words in a novel. No bibliography there - you have to make the whole thing up yourself.
(frankspencer, Tue 13 Jan 2009, 16:04, closed)