There are a lot of things in this vein that are funny about freshmen. Not because this isn't cool to somebody somewhere, but because he believes it to be perfect coolness here. Truth be known nine times out of 10 he really was trying to be cool. Another likelihood is his friends may find such things cool, in which case he really wasn't trying to be different at all. I use a male example here.
Females seem to be immune to the coolness paradigm.
I'm sure there's a reason for this, but I'm afraid to find out what it is. My particular favorites are those who were probably brainiacs in high school. The ones who graduated at the top of their class and accordingly developed a certain level of cockiness. That cockiness comes forth in the form of ridiculously irrelevant comments and questions designed specifically to create a scholarly impression upon the professor. The student soon finds that every other person in their class is also considerably smart.