I was just talking with my wife about stalactites today. It came up on a game show. She asked "how do you know that word?".
It's one of many words & facts I leaned in jr. high (a million years ago) playing Dungeons & Dragons. Great words like "puissance" (doesn't mean anything close to what it sounds like) and great facts like how Cronus's wife Rhea saved her son Zeus from being eaten by his father, and how to play craps.
I also quickly learned about intolerance and hysteria from my baptist grandmother who freaked out when she heard I was playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Heaven forbid some 12 year olds stay home, out of trouble and use their brains & imaginations on a Saturday night.
-geekd (living up to my handle)