The everlasting effects of Mrs. Collins' English class

This morning, I was reading a discussion board post from one of my online students.  As I was reading, my eyes fell upon the word "germane," and I said (out loud), "Oooh, vocab word!"

For those of you who did not have the pleasure of being is Diane Collins' English class, I'll put this into context.  Every week, we studied vocabulary words out of our little workbook and were quizzed on those 20 words.  If you found one of those words being used in the real world (that is, in print), you brought the evidence into class and she would give you a point of extra credit.  I found more words in Cosmo and Calvin and Hobbes than any other sources.  She always raised one eyebrow at me when I brought in Cosmo.

I've been out of high school a great many years.  Yet, I still respond in Pavlovian manner whenever I see one of those words.  Here's to you, Mrs. Collins, for still having an effect after all these years.