6:00 p.m. - 2001-09-22
I know everything
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is so well informed about a particular subject, that they intimidate you out of dissagreeing with them? Maybe you don't know shit about wines, but you know what you have experienced and what you always like. Your friend's oppinion ,though, considers all of the years and brands, and they use all of the jargon to explain it to you without you understanding a word of it, so you believe them and quit liking "the pink one with the flower looking thingy on the label".

The same thing can happen on almost any subject. It is a deliberate phenomenon. Jargon exsists in every field of expertise, from 'puters to plumbing to a grande blended latte. It is partly what makes fields of expertise. I can talk to my co-worker about list of hardware for a job and Jane will not understand a damn thing. Why do we have a different language for every trade and profession?

I, like most, love learning a new term and adding it to my vocabulary. I'll use it whenever it applies just hoping someone will ask me what it means so I can share my expertise. Knowlege is power and all that. I also love watching other people pick up a piece of slang and repeat it as often as possible to feel like the part of the group.

There is a fine line though, someone who knows the proper name of a doohickey may not have a clue how one opperates or how to install it. Another may wrongly think the doohickey is called a kybosh unit, yet they can take it apart and put it back together.

You probably have played both roles in this scenario at different times and in different situations. I know I have.

I can convince a lot of people that I know a lot of things that I may not know at all. I also will never be able to convince some people that shit stinks until I let 'em take a big whiff themselves.

To some people I'm a muscle bound, tatooed construction worker. To others I'm a sensitive thinker. And to my siblings I'm a big-ass dork who never shuts up. ( Or maybe they're the only ones who are punks enough to tell me that. Little fucking brats!)

I'm starting to care a lot less what people think of me as I get older. I still try to convince people that I know shit I don't know, and that I know shit I do know, just like everyone, but I really just want to stop trying to convince myself so I'm free to find out the truth.

Shit does stink by the way, but the rest of this entry has no real point. Looks I may have already drained out my thinkpiece. Well, at least the new fall season is finna start soon.

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