A Wednesday

[ksmith]

This afternoon, a coworker stopped by my cube to ask me whether peanuts grew on trees, or bushes, or what. I gave him an answer--bushy/shrubby things, peanuts underground--and he said something like, "I figured you would know that."

Years ago, another coworker and I were having lunch, and he was telling me about his brother who worked in a restaurant. And I asked what brother did, and coworker said, well, he worked in the kitchen for the chef, and I said, "Oh, he's a sous chef. What's his specialty?" And coworker stared at me for a moment, then said, "I should have known you would know that."

Writer of books=font of arcana. Must be it.

Comments

[galeni.livejournal.com]

Hard to imagine -not- knowing such stuff. Maybe it's just that we pay attention and remember stuff? I've never been so wanted as when a group was playing Trivial Pursuit.... or Jeopardy.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I think we just pick things up in the course of hunting for other things. Human flypaper.

[galeni.livejournal.com]

"Sticky brain" syndrome I call it. Can't help it.

[thebluerose.livejournal.com]

I think some people are just like that, tho I will vastly generalise and say that these days, those people tend towards being people who read for entertainment.

I am also a font of strange facts - often get text and emails for friends asking me random stuff too. Of course if I was a writer and had an excuse to go and research all those subjects that interest me I would never write anything LOL

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

"Research" is the bestest timesink ever. There's always one more thing that needs looking up.

[mithriltabby]

I had something like that happen once at work— mentioned something obscure, and:
Coworker: “In order to make room in your brain for that, there has to be something you left out. What was it?”
Me: “I couldn’t name even half the teams in the NFL?”
Coworker: “I don’t think I could do that, either."
Me: “I cannot name a single member of the cast of Friends, and have never watched an entire episode.”
Coworker: “You win.”

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

People's names?

And almost the entirety of pop culture.

btw: peanuts look a lot like garden beans other than they stick the fruits into the ground.

[paulwoodlin.livejournal.com]

I once had a friend who called me "the source of infinite wisdom." She said it more sarcastically every year.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I can name cast members of Seinfeld. I even know that Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a member of the Dreyfus financial services family. But, never watched an entire episode. Never watched an entire ep of Friends, either, although I know a lot of what has been written about Jennifer and that a few of the guys--or one, at least--goes in and out of rehab.

People facts stick, I guess. But I'm a character writer.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Peanut facts--we loves them.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

And that sarcasm would tempt me into crossing the line from infinite wisdom to subtle fabulation.

[cepetit.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

"I was born to be a saucier. A GREAT saucier."
"What's a saucier?"
"A chef who specializes in sauces."
-- Apocalypse Now!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to get out of the boat...

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

Since childhood my favorite activity was reading - a lot, of anything, including labels on the spray cans in the bathroom - and I've always loved it when I come across a word that sends me to the dictionary. So I've always got those fish-eye stares, too: "How the hell do you know THAT?"

"I read a lot."

I canNOT understand people who will throw a book away if it sends them to the dictionary. My heart resists thinking of them as village idiots, but...maybe that's just me.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Not you, Robert. Never you.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

And it really isn't sporting, since they don't have the knowledge to have a chance at figuring out when I cross that line.

So there is always Plan B: telling the flat truth in a totally unbelievable way.