You know you've been playing too much EQ when hearing the word "Erudite"
makes you think of tall, black gentlemen or women with high foreheads,
instead of Isaac Asimov*.

(For the confused, a definition:)

Word of the Day for Monday February 18, 2002:

erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are
guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are
erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors
and now offer private tours.
--"What's Doing in Istanbul," New York Times, February 23, 1997

The works of Baudrillard, Deleuze, Guattari and Virilio are filled with
seemingly erudite references to relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos
theory, etc.
--Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense

Erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, "out of, from" + rudis, "rough,
untaught," which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is
erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state.

-----------------------------------------------
Talies the Wanderer

*Isaac Asimov loved limericks. He once made a challenge that no one could
build a limerick using his name. This was the winner:
That erudite Asimov, Isaac
Created a tremor quite seismic
When asked why he did so,
Replied he, these words low,
"Baked beans for lunch: not a wise pick."

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