This here post brought to you by the letter J, y'all

One of the guys in my class is named AJ. If I had to divide the class into two groups, he'd be in the "cool kids" group. As opposed to the "jerks" group. I wouldn't be in either group. I'd be in the "guys who wish they could practice medicine in a 19th century mining camp" group...by cracky.

So, AJ needed a nickname. Why? Well that's a dumb question - everybody needs a nickname. Little known fact about Montgomery: he loves dispensing and propogating nicknames. So D-Rock came up with one†. He merely translated AJ's name into Spanish. And thus he became "A Jota."

Well, old AJ didn't cotton to this name. I reckon he shot down that name faster'n you can lick butter off a knife. Some of you might be in a bit of a shindy right now. It might be tough to twig if'n you don't speak Spanish. You see, "jota" is Spanish slang for "slut."

Well, since AJ's a regular curly wolf, I didn't want to mess with him. But I did want to research this crazy term. And I found that "jota" has even more definitions: slut, prostitute, drugs (esp cocaine or crack cocaine). How did one little letter get such a bad rap? So many negative connotations, just for being between "i" and "k." Anybody know why J is known to be such a scoundrel?

Oh well, I won't get my dander up. It also has some positive definitions: the native dance of Aragon, Spain and the Boy Scout's "Jamboree on the Air." So I guess it balances out. My only question is whether I should keep calling him "A Jota." I figger it might make him ornery as a fried toad...

Time for me to quit beating the devil around the stump and get back to taking notes. I'm not one for big city learnin, but i better keep my eyes on the trail. If I don't quit barkin' at the knot, I'll be stewin' in my own juices come midterms...

† D-rock asked for a footnote.


I love prospector slang...