Or what about that girl in Intro to Blah with you who speaks passionately every five minutes of your 90 minute class, forcing her opinions on uninterested ears and drawing out one lecture over an entire week? You and the rest of the class make eyes at each other, recognizing that these would-be debates are consistently the voice of only one person.

Or the girl who start/ends every sentence with, "I feel like..." as if her intuition can substitute for what others would deem "facts."

Or the guy in every one of the classes for your major who constantly outshines you with his "deep" and "profound" ideas, which everyone else recognizes as a mere attempt to appear both "deep" and "profound" so that you might go tell your friends he is "deep" and "profound," thus giving him a reputation for being a "deep, profound" intellectual.

Okay, granted, I do my share of silly away message quotes far from dripping in profundity, and make comments beginning with "I feel like... " on occasion, but I've noticed, and you may have to, that some tend to take this to another -- aforementioned -- level.

There is nothing wrong with being a genuinely deep-thinking, insightful person. In fact, such a person is incredibly lucky for having a natural affinity towards seeing the multiple layers and underlying messages of everything while the rest of us have to acquire this skill. But actually wearing one's insightfulness merely for the appearance of it is less than admirable, and only magnifies a certain insecurity, no?

At Wake Forest, the student population boils down to three types of people: those who "get it," those who don't and the faux deep. The ones who "get it" are innately insightful; the ones who don't are too laid-back or comfortable with themselves to be concerned; and, of course, the would-be's who simply end up looking foolish by trying too hard. Let me try to give an example so you can better categorize yourself.

I am reminded of a Comedy Central skit I once watched on television that I think offers a perfect solution to this problem. A female psychiatrist sits in her swivel chair, nodding thoughtfully and releasing little murmurs of contemplation as her patient wails about his wife leaving, his chronic depression, his problems at work and his gambling addiction, to name a few. When he finishes and looks at her hopefully for motivational, inspirational advice to save his life, she spends a few minutes in apparently deep consideration. After a good amount of time, she looks back at him, says, "Stop it!" and leaves the room.

Okay, this obviously wouldn't work in practice; as much as I want to shout "Stop it!" -- yes, sometimes even to myself -- and have that be that, recognizing that silliness is the first step towards recovery.

Here's a visual that might work better: ever seen a small child flailing around in the deep end? Thought he could handle it but ended up embarrassing himself by frantically waving his arms around for all to see, unable to pull off the calm, controlled swimmer image? This could be you! Work your way to the deep end, but don't just jump in, even with floaties! Everyone can see your floaties!

Truth: Yes, we all have sporadic desires to appear fabulously philosophical. But the point is, let's not take it too far, okay?