You know you're an historian when . . .

Captain Scarf · Sep 2, 2009

Apart from the obvious things like taking history courses and so on, you know you're an historian when:

1) Your choice of book for light reading is The Oxford History of the British Army

ishtar'sgate · Sep 2, 2009

Mine is Everyday Life in Ancient Babylonia.

firedrake · Sep 2, 2009

Workers, Society, and the Soviet State, Labor and Life in Moscow 1918-1929

I hasten to add it's not as dull as it sounds.

cooeedownunder · Sep 2, 2009

Too funny - :ROFL:

PastMidnight · Sep 2, 2009

-- your husband finds you hours later in the secondhand book shop, somewhat startled, sneezing over a stack of dusty books in the military history section, while the other women in the shop stare at you over armfuls of chick lit.

MaryMumsy · Sep 2, 2009

When your favorite bookstore is the used one specializing in the Southwest US and Civil War, and you are the only woman in the store.

MM

firedrake · Sep 2, 2009

...when you bore your colleagues into stupefied comas talking about the merits of the P-51 and the Spitfire.

PastMidnight · Sep 2, 2009

-- friends and family quickly change the subject when "1893" is mentioned and your eyes light up eagerly.

TinneyH · Sep 3, 2009

. . . you end your lengthy diatribe about how Corso Donati's unauthorized charge with the Pistoian troops was obviously the thing that turned the course of the battle of Campaldino by observing, "Everybody knows that!" and look up to find several faces staring at you with pitying, bewildered expressions...

DeleyanLee · Sep 3, 2009

...you can name all the pharoahs of any dynasty in ancient Egypt, but cannot remember who's running your own country, state or city right now.

Suse · Sep 3, 2009

... your idea of an evening's entertainment is Mycenaean Fortifications, Highways, Dams and Canals, a bucket of popcorn, and a giant bag of M&M's.

Zelenka · Sep 3, 2009

...People at work no longer ask rhetorical questions such as 'Why is London the British capital?' over lunch if you're at the table.

BardSkye · Sep 3, 2009

...when your kids want to picnic at the beach and you want to eat lunch while reading the inscriptions on the tombstones at the old cemetary.

Shakesbear · Sep 3, 2009

... you are made an admin on a web site because you know who ruled after Edward II ...

Doogs · Sep 3, 2009

...spend what precious free time you have researching/writing a book set in the 6th century Roman/Byzantine Empire?

...use a handy reference to the fire brigades of Marcus Crassus to illustrate the dangers of surrendering life-saving services to profit motives?

RichardB · Sep 4, 2009

... explain to a colleague that "disruptive technology" is the sort of thing that happened in 1905 when HMS Dreadnought obsoleted all the world's navies, promting the Germans to scrap their fleet and begin laying down all-big-gun battleships. Become so excited telling this story that you forget the colleague is from your company's research lab in Munich.

I did exactly this yesterday.

PastMidnight · Sep 4, 2009

RichardB said:
... explain to a colleague that "disruptive technology" is the sort of thing that happened in 1905 when HMS Dreadnought obsoleted all the world's navies, promting the Germans to scrap their fleet and begin laying down all-big-gun battleships. Become so excited telling this story that you forget the colleague is from your company's research lab in Munich.

I did exactly this yesterday.

Oh, my....

firedrake · Sep 4, 2009

RichardB said:
... explain to a colleague that "disruptive technology" is the sort of thing that happened in 1905 when HMS Dreadnought obsoleted all the world's navies, promting the Germans to scrap their fleet and begin laying down all-big-gun battleships. Become so excited telling this story that you forget the colleague is from your company's research lab in Munich.

I did exactly this yesterday.

I very nearly spewed coffee all over the lap top just now..

Suse · Sep 4, 2009

… crusty old historians in tweed suits with leather patches on the elbows transform into rock gods before your eyes, and you’re thinking, ‘Bet he could teach me a thing or two about—about—Bronze Age sealstones/The Thermidorian Reaction/Polish reunification attempts of the thirteenth century.’ * ahhh sigh *

I don’t mean to lower the tone, but there’s a geriatric professor at the Open University and whenever he comes on the telly I am rapt and my tea gets cold.

MissAimee · Sep 4, 2009

...you start celebrating King George IV of England's birthday as a annual event, and forgetting your own birthday that just passed..

Ariella · Sep 4, 2009

...you learn a dead language to get at the information you need.

PastMidnight · Sep 4, 2009

...houseguests discover that your bathroom reading material consists of the most recent issues of the Historical Novels Review.

dolores haze · Sep 4, 2009

Explaining to a person you supervise that she needs to get along better with her co-workers, using the balkanization of Eastern Europe as an allegory, and ending with the punchline: "And you know what happened to Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, right?"

Her: "He got fired?"

Me: "Um, no. He got shot."

dolores haze · Sep 6, 2009

And little historians in the making:

My six year old: "How much longer are you going to be on the computer, Mommy?"

Me: "A little while. I'll be off by the time you're done watching Scooby Doo."

Him: "I don't wanna watch Scooby Doo! I want to watch re-enactments of the Battle of Gettysberg. Please hurry up, Mummy. I want to see Picket's Charge again."

Me: "sigh - not Picket's Charge...again."

History_Chick · Sep 6, 2009

You read about Victorian sexual habits.

You know you're an historian when . . .

Smart-casual Ninja

living in the past

practical experience, FTW

Grateful for the day

Oponionated

the original blond bombshell

practical experience, FTW

Oponionated

Writing Anarchist

wants mutant powers

Going home!

Barbershoppin' Harmony Whore

knows a hawk from a handsaw

THIS! IS!! VENNNNNICE!!!!

Oponionated

practical experience, FTW

wants mutant powers

A wannabe writer who lives in a land of confusion

...

Oponionated

international guttersnipe

international guttersnipe