Comments I've received this semester:

• So how does a computer scientist get such an intuition for fluid dynamics?
• So you do numerical linear algebra, right?
• As a mathematician, you probably have a different intuition, but I'm a networking person.
• So you're in mechanical engineering, right?
• So you're an EE, right?
• Well, this makes life easier for the mathematicians, but harder for the engineer -- yes, but you are the engineer in this case.
• So you're a PDE guy?
• I didn't know mathematicians could think such un-lofty thoughts.
• Yes, I dealt with that by joining both departments, but it's a bad idea for junior faculty.
• So when are you graduating? (times umpteen)

Ah, the joys of multidisciplinary research -- it sows such confusion. Lots of people attack the same problem from different backgrounds, and they all get confused about different things.