It occurs to me that that may have come across as if I were insulting you. I did not intend it that way at all. I intended to insult Mr. Saffo.

I did not feel insulted at all, Bitt. The only ones you have justifiably criticised were (a) Mr. Saffo for bad writing style and (b) my instructor for choosing a bad example.
As a side note: I am not easily offened. It's actually pretty hard to insult me, my tolerance-levels on multiple fronts are high. Maybe because I am a pretty unemotional person, driven more by logic than gut-feelings, with a sense for sarcasm. At least I want to believe that.

However... The opposite is true. I have to thank you and everyone else who responded for saving my sanity.