Hasselhoffisation?


Amongst a batch of Funny Student Emails to Professors

Prof. myname,
I’d appreciate it if you could tell me the meaning of the word Haussmannization mentioned in your Impressionist lecture. My first inkling is that it has something to do with the raw manness that is “The Hoff”, also known as David Hasselhoff. However, I feel that is an incorrect assumption as I cannot recall any significant contribution he made to Impressionism, or Art History in general. I’d appreciate any response to my question. Attached is a picture of the Hoff for your troubles.
Regards,
student name

As an accompanying note says this has got to be a joke, right?

Or, it was written BG, Before Google, and the first sentence is somewhat serious.