Autodidactic

It basically means to be self-taught, but appear to have been trained by the masters. First, I LOVE the way it rolls off the tongue. Its like crowning your tongue king for a moment. Second, it was one of the first “big” words I learned as a child. It is largely responsible for my love of words & vernacular. (oooh another favorite word makes a cameo!) I was homeschooled basically my whole life, and learned to work alone much of the time. At one point a math teacher I encountered in 5th grade called my math skills “autodidactic”. He wouldn’t tell me what it meant, but wrote it down so I could look it up when I got home. I went through 3 dictionaries to find it, and I still consider it the best compliment I ever received!

Ben