kär-tŏg'ra-fē

Today at work, one of my co-workers asked me to make a quick map for her. Geekily excited to use my map-making skills (my ninja skills aren't in demand much these days), I whipped one up by hand and presented it to her. Impressed, she exclaimed to our other co-workers, "Look how professional this is! This looks fantastic!"

Inordinately proud of my mad mapping skills, I responded, "Well, I wasn't always in HR. My degree is in cartography."

Blank stares all around. Some coughing. And then eventual disbursement of all parties.

You know what, people? It doesn't matter that you don't know what cartography* is, they're called context clues. Employ them. They are your friend.

*It totally matters that you don't know what cartography is. Are we that far removed from a time before Mapquest that you can't fathom what a real map looks like or that there is an entire discipline devoted to creating them? Or are you just stupid? Really, I want to know.