Autodidacticism

As I was conducting my daily self-education, I was listening to a podcast by Tom Woods, an episode from The Tom Woods Show (http://tomwoods.com/podcasts/). While listening, Tom gave mention to a curious word that I had never came across prior; this word was Autodidact. I had no idea what it meant, though I gathered it was vaguely connected to education from the context. A strange impulse from my intellectual innards demanded that I investigate the word closer.

The next day, during my lunch break, I had the inclination to establish the meaning of tho word in my mind; this one pursuit of knowledge gave me a bulwark with which to prop up my educational wall. Do you want to know what "autodidact" means? If already know what it means, or want to, you are one. I will now consult my favorite dictionary: The Webster's 1828… Or I would except that the word did not enter the English vernacular until 1838, therefore I will consult the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=autodidactic&allowed_in_frame=0):

"'self-taught,' 1838, from Greek autodidaktikos 'self-taught,' from autos 'self' (see auto-) + didaktos 'taught' (see didactic)."

To be an Autodidact then, means that one is self taught, and by further conjecture, self motivated and a leader of one's self. As I would like to point out, and laugh at the irony I opened this post with the words "As I was conducting my daily self-education…" I was being an Autodidact. Though I was being autodidactical, I still want to know how autodidaticism can be identified. Here is a list of conditions in the style of Jeff Foxworthy, I have prepared to be able to tell:

1. If you have a library card, you might by an autodidact.
2. If you asked for books for Christmas, you might by an autodidact.
3. If you haver ever looked up a word in Latin, you might by an autodidact.
4. If you enjoy trivia shows, you might by an autodidact.
5. If you talk more about Philosophy than One Direction, you might by an autodidact.
6. If you know what autodidact means, you might by an autodidact.
7. If you ever won any awards fir your chess ability, you might by an autodidact.
8. If you know what the Hegelian dialectic is, you might by an autodidact.
9. If you are reading this blog because you are legitimately interested, you might by an autodidact.
10. If you enjoy learning and leading and succeeding, you might by an autodidact.

Thus we know who among us are autodidacts, especially those of us that expanded the list beyond the original 10. I'm grateful I was able to come across this word because it, as I said, " [it] gave me a bulwark with which to prop up my educational wall." Now I know what to say I am when people ask me why I would be reading during summer, or why I would study for my recreational time, or why I am always calling out the political propaganda in the cinema. I now can add one more layer to my identity, to my self; I hope you do too.