Teacher 'In Tears' After Learning What Students Were Calling Her

Ashley Hunte
A student raising his hand in a classroom full of other kids and a teacher.
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After a certain point in your adult years, you completely stop paying attention to whatever new slang the kids might be using now. Which means a lot of what the younger generations say will just go right over your head.

That's pretty much what happened to an 8th grade math teacher who finally figured out what their students were calling them.

The teacher posted a simple question to Reddit's r/NoStupidQuestions sub.

A woman scratching her head in confusion as question marks fill the background.
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Titling the post, "Why do my students call me a goat?" user PuzzleBrain20 shared their story, having no idea what the students meant when they said "goat."

"I am a math teacher for 8th graders at the school I teach at."

A pencil on a piece of paper covered in multiplication questions.
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"Throughout this whole past school year there was this running joke where the students would call me the goat. And I would respond back each time that they are the goats and they would all laugh."

"It was pretty funny to be honest, and I never gave it much thought."

A stick figure labeled "you" and the word "joke" flying over them.
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"But I realized that I have been partaking in a joke that I never actually got. I had a good connection with them, and they are all really good kids, so I don't really think that they were making fun of me."

"Can someone (maybe an 8th grader) explain this joke to me?"

Rosanna Pansino saying, "Please help me out here."
Giphy | Rosanna Pansino

"And how would you respond if someone calls you a goat?"

Luckily, the comment section was full of people who knew exactly what this teacher's students meant when they said "goat."

For starters, GOAT is an acronym.

A woman pointing to another person while saying, "You're the G.O.A.T."
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Standing for Greatest of All Time, GOAT dates back to at least the early '90s, in relation to Muhammad Ali. It's pretty common in the sports world, but has made its way into pop culture in recent years (in case you didn't already know).

Essentially, the students thought their teacher was the GOAT.

A person in a black and red bird costume pointing while standing next to text that reads, "You the best!"
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As one commenter put it, "it means they like you a whole, whole lot."

Learning that GOAT meant something good, and wasn't a way in which the students were pulling a practical joke, really made that teacher's day.

The teacher then updated the post to show their happiness.

Drew Barrymore saying, "So happy" while holding both arms in the air.
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In the edit, the teacher says, "omg I am IN TEARS!!! I can't believe they were complimenting me this whole time!!!! Thank you all for answering this question!!!!" I'm not going to lie, this is pretty wholesome.

The post has gone absolutely viral.

A woman walking down a hallway while saying "It's gone viral" into a cellphone.
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As of writing, this post is only a day old, and yet it already has more than 34k upvotes, as well as hundreds of awards from different users. It's also making its way onto other websites.

It got pretty popular on Twitter, for example.

One Tweet reposting the story got over 166k likes since it was posted yesterday, with nearly 20k Retweets. People from all over are absolutely loving the amazing reaction from this teacher.

It just goes to show that a good teacher can make a lasting impression on students.

A woman clapping as she says, "I think you should be really proud of yourself."
Giphy | Paramount+

I mean, I don't think a class would call just any teacher the Greatest of All Time. So if I were this teacher, I'd be wearing that like a badge of honor.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!