Having spent far too much time at Harvard taking classes in subjects that would do absolutely nothing to help my long term professional goals, I think it might be about time to put some of that information to good use. Of course, Harvard wasn’t the start of my search for knowledge that is, politely, termed “useless.” A significant portion of my formative years was spent in similar pursuit: suddenly interested in airplanes? Well ok, go watch 200 hours of Wings on Discovery; wild animals? got that too.
Of course, useful is in the eye of the beholder. When I take a good, hard look at my gathering of knowledge, it seems to me that the best way to deploy it is in short conversations. Anything too long, and I’d likely find myself out of my depth, subject to the whims of the fellow who has actually read, understood, and can discourse upon the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. So then it hit me, cocktail parties! I’m pretty good at those, mostly because of a) my hard earned knowledge b) my ability to capably wear a blue blazer and c) an appreciation for gin. I can’t really give you the second two (at least, not just now), but, if you would allow me, I can give you some useful bon mots to deploy at your leisure next time you find yourself in a situation where you feel conversationally under-prepared.
Thank you Discovery channel, Trivial Pursuit, Peter Graves, James Burke, Chinese Imaginary Spaces, and, of course, my mother, whose Saturday morning lectures on topics like the effects of the Spanish Armada’s defeat on Spanish agriculture did not go unnoticed.
