Confused Math Teacher Left 'In Tears' Of Joy After Learning Why Students Called Them A 'Goat'

It's no secret hardworking teachers often go underpaid and underappreciated for their efforts.

But every once in a while, a teacher will realize how loved they are by the people they wish to serve the most: their students.

A teacher posted on the "No Stupid Questions" subReddit as Redditor PuzzledBrain20, asking:

"Why do my students call me a goat?"

The teacher shared:

"I am a math teacher for 8th graders at the school I teach at."

"Throughout this whole past school year, there was this running joke where the students would call me 'the goat'."

"And I would respond back each time that they are the goats, and they would all laugh."

"It was pretty funny, to be honest, and I never gave it much thought. But I realized that I have been partaking in a joke that I never actually got."

"I had a good connection with them, and they are all really good kids, so I don't really think that they were making fun of me."

"Can someone (maybe an 8th grader) explain this joke to me?"

"And how would you respond if someone calls you a goat?"

A few kind Redditors explained what the students meant by "goat."

"It (Goat) means 'Greatest Of All Time.'" - ethan21162

"Yeah, it means they like you a whole, whole lot." - phuketawl

"GOAT stands for Greatest Of All Time."

"It’s a compliment. Sounds like you’re a great teacher and they enjoy your classes. Which is saying something since math is most people’s least favorite subject." - Balrog229

"Jerry Rice was the first person I ever heard called GOAT. You are up there with Jerry Rice. You are a GOD AMONGST your students." - gerd50501

"So apparently for the movie 'Don’t Look Up,' the cast kept calling Meryl Streep 'the goat,' and she just laughed it off, as well."

"Kept going on, and she just put up with it. One day, Jonah Hill said, 'Oh no no, The Goat goes over there.'"

"And she responded, 'Right right, The Old Goat over here, okay okay.'"

"And they went silent and had to tell her that it actually means 'Greatest of All Time,' and she was stunned silent, as well."

"Welcome to being the Meryl Streep of math teachers." - theothercword

After seeing the comments, the teacher was heartwarmingly overwhelmed at the revelation.

"OMG (Oh my god), I am IN TEARS!!! I can't believe they were complimenting me this whole time!!!! Thank you all for answering this question!!!!"

The conversation was later shared on Twitter, where people celebrated the teacher's happiness.

Twitter was overwhelmed with happiness on this teacher's behalf.

They also shared some of the GOAT moments from their own lives.

The internet was clearly grinning over getting to break the good news to this much-deserving math teacher.

But the fact that the teacher was accidentally complimenting their students in return, on a daily basis, was icing on the greatest of all time metaphorical cake.