Question

Excerpt from Music to My Ears

John Devine

4My meanderings into the shaded grove of poetry seemed like the perfect escape from my father’s medical mumbo jumbo until I realized in college that my literature professors often sounded as poetic as a ten-car pileup. I recall in particular one professor who asked us to read a poem by Alexander Pope called The R-ape of the Lock, a humorous poem about a young man who cuts off a wisp of a young woman’s hair. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, before I knew what was what, my young professor demanded that I “deconstruct” the poem and analyze it for evidence of what she called “commodity fe-tishism.” “I want to read the thing,” I told her, “Not pull it apart.” And when I asked her what commodity fet-ishism was, she looked at me as if I were some inferior life form. “Look it up!” Said she, frowning. I had to pull an all-nighter to finish that assignment in time. It wasn't long before she had me writing a paper on the evils of eurocentric curricula. I finally put my foot down when she demanded that I attend her lecture on the perils of Islamaphobia.

"Well, before I knew what was what, my young professor demanded that I 'deconstruct' the poem and analyze it for evidence of what she called 'commodity fetishism.'"

What does the slang phrase what was what mean, as used in paragraph four of this selection?
A) It means "where I was going."
B) It is not slang but Standard American English.
C) It means "what was happening" or "what was going on."
D) It is meant to be humorous but does not actually mean anything.

Answer 1

C) It means "what was happening" or "what was going on."

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

C) It means "what was happening" or "what was going on."

Step-by-step explanation:

This is the phrase that is closest in meaning to "what was what." This phrase is generally used in cases where the speaker does not understand what is going on, or how he reached the conclusion he reached. In this case, the phrase is used to indicate how the author is confused about the meaning and purpose of the teacher's request.