I often wonder what these people talk about in the faculty lounge.
Is it a sarcastic: “You think you’re so cool with your $80k grant to study racial bias among newborn babies, well, I’m applying for a grant on racial bias against and among squirrels. It’s amazing what the NSF will fall for. See if you can top mine for nonsense.”
Or is it a serious: “I am impressed with your $80k study on racial bias among newborn babies, so I’m applying for a grant on racial bias against and among squirrels. This will broaden your work. See if you can top mine for relevance.”
Or are they completely oblivious to everything and just stringing words with lots of syllables together and hoping no one else understands what they write either?