Reason 193

Words, glorious words. In watching and reading the hundreds (ok, maybe forty) of interviews you've given over the last three years or so, Jason, I have noticed that your vocabulary is quite extensive and you aren't afraid to show it off, much like me. You slip words like amalgam and juxtaposition into conversations the way non-logophiles drop the F-bomb, causing a radio host to actually break down and admit he had no idea what you were talking about when you described one actor's knack for lulling people into acquiescence. Apparently, satellite radio hosts don't have to take a vocabulary test as part of the hiring process (and the world is worse off because of it). I am fortunate enough to have my life center around vocabulary for nine months of the year, spearheading a program in my department where students gather new words each week from their novels to share with the class and then choose eight to explore further through various activities. At the end of the semester the little moppets have been exposed to hundreds of new words and are then required to demonstrate how many they remember in a Vocab Showdown where teams of three to four students battle to the death in order to become members of an elite group of word-loving, definition-spewing champions. As an added bonus they get homebaked treats delivered to them at lunch so they can boast about their massive craniums to their loser friends. In honor of this occassion, which happened to occur yesterday, I sport a very fashionable homemade t-shirt that reads "Word Nerd" on the front, which the geekier students always covet. Once we become friends, Jason, I will bestow upon you the title of Word Nerd and whip up a special t-shirt so you can declare your love of nouns and verbs to the world in a sartorial manner. Perhaps you can wear it the next time you do a radio interview so the hosts know what to expect and can keep a dictionary handy.