The English Language: I hardly know ye...

The Point/Counterpoint of the other day really has me questioning what I had up until now assumed mastery over: the english language.

Am I saying what I really mean to say? When people laugh at something I say is it b/c I said something witty or b/c I'm unwittingly tripping over my tongue like there's no tomorrow? Am I just flat out making a buffoon out of myself? Is buffoon even a real word?

Today's second-guessing of the very foundation of my ability to interact with others included:

1. Rhetorical. Is the use of rhetorical soley valid when used in describing a type of question, or is it the proper adjective for describing any type of rhetoric technique. Example - The repetition of the phrase "I have a dream" in Dr. King's speech was rhetorical. Correct or incorrect?

2. Over/underachiever. I know that overachieving means achieving beyond what was expected, and that underachieving means not living up to expectations. What I don't know all of a sudden is if calling someone an overachiever is a backhanded insult (I wouldn't expect something this good from someone as untalented as yourself) or a simple good job compliment. On the flip-side, is calling someone an underachiever always a bad thing or is that a label one should secretly hope for (you're super talented, you're just choosing to be a little aloof/modest right now). I'm going to have to stick to just calling people achievers from now on.

In other phrase-ology news, Will and I are busy introducing a hilarious but entirely useful term into our everyday vocabulary. It fits in quite well with such statements as "thinking outside the box", "that's a both/and", and "getting under the rock" and has yet to be picked up on as weird/new/unusual by any of the 10 or so people who have heard it. You'll learn of the phrase only after it's far too ingrained in your vocabulary to weed out.