John Greene! Dying Declarations

The vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, have a quirky, nerdy style that people either love or hate. I love. They vlog about everything from honey beavers to Fahrenheit 451 to dying declarations. For some reason that I can't put my finger on, I prefer John. Below is one of his vlog entries. The subject is dying declarations of famous people. Take a look.

 

Come on! How can that not make you smile? A light-hearted, enthusiastic look at what is usually a very serious subject - that is what the vlogbrothers are all about. They educate about many things without being condescending and make us smile and laugh as they do so.  

So tell me, did you know the vlogbrothers before reading this post? Do you love them or hate them? And what about this topic - dying declarations. I think this book that John bought sounds fascinating, do you? Got any favorites you'd like to share? I always love hearing what you think!

 

The Nerd from Ka-Troo

Webster defines a nerd as:

an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person;especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits

Want to guess where the first documented use of the word was?   Here's a hint.  You are undoubtedly familiar with his writing.  I bet you like his writing.  I bet you like it here and there.  I bet you like it everywhere.  I bet you'd read it with a mouse.  I bet you'd read it in a house.  Yep!  Our dearly loved Theodore Seuss Geisel, commonly known as Dr. Seuss.

In a story named "If I Ran the Zoo", written in 1950, a little boy describes . . . well . . . what he would do if he ran the zoo.  One of the things he would do is bring in a creature called a nerd from the land of Ka-Troo.  The exact line from the book is:

"“And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo. And Bring Back an IT-KUTCH, a PREEP and a PROO, a NERKLE, a NERD, and a SEERSUCKER, too!”"

Seuss' Nerd

Word historians (word nerds if you will) say the term caught on with young children who worked it into their vocabulary until it evolved into today's current meaning as an unstylish, unattractive, socially inept person.  

Now I'm going to have Who's from Whoville, talking cats and fish, and Truffula trees stuck in my brain for a few days!  Not a bad thing really!