Coffe Lovers. And TCKs

Here's a random post for you:

While I was visiting some favorite people of mine at "The Farm," we got into a very long discussion about/search for the word for "coffee lover." For example, there is the word enophile for someone who "appreciates and enjoys wine." A bibliophile loves books; a hippophile loves horses. There are words for people who love movies (cinephile), languages (glossophile), the latest styles and trends (neophile), and even random (and disturbing) things like snakes (ophiophile) and corpses (necrophile). With such words running around, one would think there was a word for a person who loves coffee. And yet there isn't. Or at least not that we've found. In fact, in light of such a grevious oversight, we've considered creating our own word. Like caffeophile, coffeephile, or even javaphile. Who knows? Maybe one of these words will catch on, or maybe someone will come up with a better one. Or maybe there is a word already out there but is refusing to be found. Again, who knows?

Finally, on an equally random note, I wanted to post a few fun facts about TCKs (Third Culture Kid). The textbook definition of a TCK is as follows: "A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents' culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the third culture kid's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of the same background." I posted something similar to this back in February of '05, but I felt it was time for an update. So, for your reading pleasure, here are a few fun statments.

You know you're a TCK (or MK) when:
Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
You flew before you could walk.
Your life story uses the phrase "Then we moved to..." three (or four, or five...) times.
You don't know whether to write the date as day/month/year, month/day/year, or some variation thereof (I get confused on this all the time!).
You had a passport before your driver's license.
You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
You get confused because US money isn't color-coded.
You think VISA is a document that's stamped in your passport, not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
You consider a city 500 miles away "very close."
You watch the world news and recognize your old neighborhood.
You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price (done that).
You miss reading the subtitles when you see the latest movie.
You've gotten out of school because of monsoons, bomb threats, and/or popular demonstrations.
You speak with authority on the subject of airline travel.
You can think of the word you want in another language, but the English word escapes you.
You know how to pack. Boy, do you know how to pack (and repack, and pack again...)
The thought of sending your (hypothetical) kids to public school scares you, while the thought of letting them fly alone doesn't at all.
You think that high school reunions are all but impossible.
You sort your friends by continent.

There are a zillion more, I'm sure, but I will go ahead and end my post here. Have a lovely day!