My nerdiness is clear in the marvelous Christmas I had this year. Among my gifts were the entire Beckett in Film series (the nineteen plays of Samuel Beckett all on film), An Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, An Interlinear Greek/Hebrew/English Bible, and a seemingly endless supply of Barnes and Noble gift cards. One present, however, didn't arrive in time for Christmas so I got only a picture of it wrapped in a box. Today, finally, I received via US Postal Service, the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology.
It's nerdy enough that I know what the word "Etymology" means. It's even more nerdy that I can spell it without looking it up. But what's nerdiest of all was the excitement I expressed when I finally got it in the mail. Knowing what it was, I tore it open with no regard for the box in which it came. I threw the packing peanuts all over the house, took the book out, and ran through the living room shouting, "Woo Hoo!"
I then hung my head in shame. How have I come to this? I watch baseball and lift weights. I am a tough, mean cop. How can I be such an awful nerd. Oh well, the shame has passed, I will now sit down and enjoy my 916 pages of the origins of American English.
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