So there’s a TA in my huge history lecture class who I’m pretty sure I recognize from a tv program I’ve seen a few times a few years ago. She’s not MY TA, but would it be appropriate, to be honest? I’ve seen her before in my history class, but I didn’t ask before because I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate in an academic setting and felt a little awkward thinking about it…
I also know a classmate who was my partner in Chem 101 lab two Fall semesters ago, who I later found out was a professional athlete and who was an inspiration for a famous song and had her first name mentioned in it. Would it have been appropriate for me to ask about these if I knew before the semester ended (did NOT find out until after while trying to see if she had Facebook to try to ‘‘friend’’ her).
So what would you say about these situations, honestly? Yes or no?
If you found out on the Internet for the first one, why not see if you can find out for this girl? Then you know without seeming weird for asking her yourself.
The way I see it, it can go three ways: she is the person you think she is, and she’s flattered you recognize her, she isn’t and she’s flattered you think she could be, or she isn’t and is creeped out that you would ask. Or, a fourth I suppose would be that she is and is embarrassed you recognized her, and hopes you don’t tell others because she doesn’t want to be recognized. With that in mind, if you don’t mind any of those options, sure, ask her. But I feel like Google is your friend here.
If you have an opportunity to speak to the person one on one, it seems harmless to ask. So to ask your chemistry lab partner, sure go ahead. It is a little harder to run up at the end of a massive lecture and ask a TA that you’ve never met in person before, but if you happen to be walking out of the building along side her, or if she leads an extra study session where you can talk to her after a small group, it seems fine too.
The caveat would be that if the “celebrity” is clearly “notoriety” - like you recognize her from her mugshot on TMZ or something, probably not cool to bring that up. But if she was a minor character on a silly TV show from 10 years ago, who is now a grad student, that should be fine to bring up.
If you want to talk to these people without being threatening, start the conversation with “I only have a minute because i have to go to my next class, but I wanted to ask you…”
By doing that the person knows that the conversation won’t take long and will be more likeley to engage.