Second Generation NERD!!!

[lydamorehouse]

As many of you are well aware, yesterday was Mabon/Autumnal Equinox. As part of our celebration at home, Mason and I baked cream cheese cookies shaped like fallen leaves. We decorated them with frosting in fall colors. I made enough little ones for Mason to bring to share with his class today. (We have a big maple leaf about the size of my hand, and one the size of a half dollar -- if any of you are old enough to picture that.) Anyway, as I was handing them to Ms. D this morning with a bit of explination, she pulled me aside to tell me this awesome story about Mason yesterday.

As follows:

Apparently, the class was talking about "big words" yesterday and Ms. D. asked the class for some examples. My son, second generation nerd, doesn't miss a beat as he offers: "Antidisestablishmentarianism." Ms. D. is stunned into silence for a second, and then asks, "Could you repeat that?" And, Mason, says, louder, "Antidisestablishmentarianism!" She responds, "Uh, well, we'll certainly have to look that one up in the dictionary." Then she looks at me with a long suffering, yet trying to be cheerful tone and says, "I just love having Mason in class."

I'll bet.

It's tough when your kindergarteners know words you don't.

Mason, it should be pointed out, probably doesn't know the meaning of antidisestablishmentarianism either. He knows the word because of the "Bookworm Adventures" video game we play, in which you get a higher score by thinking up the word that uses the most letters. Mason has been really impressed with one of the longest words he and his mama ever made, which was "winterization." We started talking about dream words we would make if we had the letters and all the treasure they might get us, and I remembered that I once read in the Guiness Book of World Records that in the English language one of longest words still in common usage is antidisestablishmentarianism. Mason remembered it.

And they say video games are bad for kids.

And for those of you who wished me luck on getting to my work out during my brain dead time, it worked out perfectly. The best part is that at 2:00 in the afternoon the place is almost completely deserted as well. Although there's some kind of Murphy's Law thing going on because I had to laugh... there were five people in the whole gym, and all of them hogged the equipment I wanted. Still, I managed to get in a good work out and I think I'm going to try to make this a regular thing, even though my WOMEN'S HEALTH magazine says that morning work outs are best for your metabolism. Ah well, I guess I figure any time working out is better than none.

The alien short story is coming along as well, although at a slower pace than I'd like given its deadline.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

That's Molly's favorite word, too.

[davidlevine]

Here's the thing about "antidisestablishmentarianism." Everyone knows it because it's the longest word in many dictionaries, and it's fun to say. But not many people know what it means and how important it is today.

"Establishment" in this context refers to the establishment of an official state religion. The Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which states that the United States shall not establish an official religion, is one of the things that makes the United States unique (especially by comparison with the standards of the late 1700s when the document was written).

So "disestablishment" is the concept of not having a state religion.

Therefore, "antidisestablishmentarianism" is a movement to undo disestablishment and have an official state religion.

There are many people in this country today, I am sad to say, who are de-facto antidisestablishmentarianists -- they wish to have their own religious views written into the laws of the land. (I oppose these people. I suppose that makes me an anti-antidisestablishmentarianist.)

Bottom line: antidisestablishmentarianism is not just a fun word, but one of the most important problems facing this country today.

[algy.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it's original context specific to the Church of England?

[davidlevine]

Originally, yes. But the fundamental concept behind the term is still an issue in the United States today.

[fullygoldy.livejournal.com]

Children with excellent vocabularies are their own special reward (especially to teachers) ::weg:: My kids are 2nd gen wordies too. I love collecting/sharing the word anecdotes of kids.

This isn't exactly word-related, but it cracks me up as being in a similar vein. We're not vegetarians, but we eat a lot of vegetarian type food. When the girl was in 4th grade at a sleepover, she was served something for dinner that reminded her of something we regularly ate, only with tofu. So she launched into an explanation of how to make the dish with tofu, and the mom was so impressed, she not only made it the next week, she made sure to let us know how successful the recipe had been with her family too. LOL!

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

I was one of those big-word kids from the time my aunt taught me to say "aerobatic aeroplane" when I was about three. ;-) (And she's British so that's why it's "aero" plane instead of "airplane.")

I'm hyperlexic, and a friend of mine who is also a word nerd came up with this definition of hyperlexic: "If you know what hyperlexic means without having to look it up, you might be hyperlexic yourself."