🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <77068@ut-emx.uucp>, johncobb@ut-emx.cc.utexas.edu (John W. Cobb) writes...
> 
>I always get this. My wife is in public policy so when I accompany
>her to various events someone will always politely ask me "and what
>do you do?" I reply that I am a physicist and I study plasma physics.
>The usual first response is "so you work in the medical area". After I
>try to clear that one up by explaining what a plsma is and that I
>concentrate on fusion power concepts I usually get a remark of, "Oh,
>yes I followed with great interest the stories in the Wall Street
>Journal about the wonderful new results in Salt Lake City, you must
>very excited." After a few more rounds of this usually either I am
>frustrated or their eyes have galzed in noninterst/boredom. Conversation
>quickly turns to how tasty the salmon mousse is.

My wife is an illustrator, and I find myself often in the same situation.
When I am at a social gathering and someone politely asks me what I do, I
tell them I'm a nuclear physicist.  The typical response is "Really! How
interesting... What do you do/study?" at which point I ask whether they
want the real (5 minute) answer or the 10 second answer.  99% of the time,
people request the 10 second answer, at which point I say that I bang
nuclei together at high energy, and isn't the salmon mousse tasty... 

Only twice can I recall someone asking for the long version, and one 
of those turned out to be the son of a nuclear physicist who used to 
work here at Berkeley!  The other was an engineer who knew that if he
let me talk for 5 minutes, then when his turn came he could talk for 
5 minutes too.

-Scott
--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"The question seems to be of such a character
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		that if I should come to life after my death
				and some mathematician were to tell me that it
				had been definitely settled, I think I would
				immediately drop dead again."      - Vandiver