You May Be An Academic If . . .

. . . the three people who know you by your first name in the folksy way Garrison Keillor laments no one does anymore are your pharmacist, the UPS delivery man and the proprietor of your local liquor store.

[That's all from me tonight.  Bashed my brains out thinking last night away and am thunkover today . . . but look for my long-in-tooth remarks on the Fish contribution to Revenge of the Aesthetic shortly on your friendly neighborhood Valve.  Feel free to elaborate on the general theme outlined above.  There's no shame where I'm from in knowing the routine.  Adumbrate at will.]

Comments

[Belle Lettre]

Also sad indicators:

The only people you talk to outside of the people you live with are virtual strangers on the discussion boards on blogsites, because by the time you've finished your work it's too late to call any of your real life friends--if they still remember you.

[Ancrene Wiseass]

This is so Jeff-Foxworthy-with-a-difference.

My contribution: You might be an academic if you're wondering whether your oven couldn't be put to better use if you stored books in it.

And, by the way, I love the term "thunkover." I think I'm gonna be using that one.

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

AW, don't you mean, Foxworthy-with-différance? (I know, I know, but I'm admittedly thunkover . . . which, by the way, is a neologistic result of being "thunkover." How's that for irony? Wait, is that ironic? I can't tell. I'm so thun . . .)

BL, they still remember you. The question is: can they understand a single word you say anymore? I've stayed in touch with my "roots," i.e. the hyper-intelligent if under-graduate-school-educated crew I "ran with" as an undergraduate . . . which consisted of a bunch of guys who chipped in to buy a used bookstore and employ a schlemiel like me, so that's probably not the best example.

My best friend from high school, however, lived out here for three years while bounced from one chef-slash-managerial position to another . . . but he has an insane case of autodidacticism, so he doesn't count either. (Neither, I suppose, does the blog-rolled Noah, who despite only attending a couple semesters of college is one of the most intuitively brilliant people I know.)

[Ancrene Wiseass]

Point well taken, Scott. If I'm being an academic, it's definitely gotta be Frenchified. ;)

[Belle Lettre]

Even my lawyer friends don't get what I do, and call me a "theory head" or alternately "policy wonk." Let's not get into what the poet, screenwriter, schoolteacher, and journalist friends must think of how boring I've become. A lot of times they say "I don't understand what you're doing, but I'm supportive!" which I think is even sweeter.

I've found that the best way to keep your friends and stay interesting and relevant is to not talk about your work. You talk about celebrity gossip instead. Everyone is happy.

This is why we have a blog, damn it, so that we can talk to ourselves about things no one else cares about, but have it feel like we're talking to the world!