So I’m a wonk

The other day I was going on to my co-worker about the importance of the result in PA-12 special election for this November. (ie voter enthusiasm, the overblown-ness of the Tea Part movement, etc) When I had finished with my piece he turned to me an simply said, “Your such a wonk aren’t you?” Thinking to myself I decided that, based on numerous reasons, including the fact that I even follow elections in the middle of May, in fact, yes I was.

For those of you who dont know what a wonk is I did a little research today. Here is what I found courtesy of Dictionary.com. (I have taken the liberty of editing out definitions that I don’t particularly like.)

wonk [wongk]
–noun Slang.

1. a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
I have a social life…I promise.

2. a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
I mean I think I’m at least mildly attractive.

3. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.
Third times a charm. This one seems the most appropriate. Forget about those other definitions…Dictionary.com doesn’t know nada.

I mean who cares if I check Nate Silver’s political blog Fivethirtyeight.com at least ten times a day, and durning election nights have their twitter feed texted to my phone, or that I learned about a completely different electoral system just so I could follow the elections in Great Britain. I have come to learn that elections matter and if I have to watch poll numbers go up and down to stay connected thats alright with me.

I’m also trying to prove that you don’t have to be a “stupid, boring, recluse” to be a wonk. Try it you just might like it.

Also according to a more reputable source, urbandictionary.com, the number one definition of wonk is:

1. An expert in a field, typically someone who is fairly young and very intelligent.

I’ll go with that. Besides if I’m a wonk, what does that make Nick Krafft?