Q: What's a Hokie?

A: "The origin of the word 'Hokie' has nothing to do with a turkey. It was coined by O.M. Stull (class of 1896), who used it in a spirit yell he wrote for a competition..."

I've somehow managed to avoid the topic of Virginia Tech this week, for a few reasons. For one, because as Charles Krauthammer writes, "What can be said about the Virginia Tech massacre? Very little. What should be said? Even less." (He goes on to say several hundred words after that, including several dozen I disagree with, but I'll get back to that in a later post).

I do try to keep things lightish here at The Answer May Surprise You, so — even though I was privately (embarrassedly) devouring every bit of psychological voyeurism in the slow unraveling of the shooter's psyche — I opted here to focus on breezy, more hilarious stories like, you know, Sanjaya or the disintegration of the U.S. justice system.

It just seemed like — with the news media doing such a fine job of botching the story themselves — maybe the nation could do without T.A.M.S.Y.'s Photoshopped input on this one.

(That said, there are still a few things stuck in my craw that I'd like to write about later on, maybe not so much for your sake as for mine...)

Anyway. Today is a day of mourning in Virginia — but Virginia Tech's alumni are also calling for solidarity, declaring it National Orange and Maroon Effect Day and encouraging everyone, alum or otherwise, to wear the school's colors. I don't own any orange or maroon clothing, so I went for the next best thing and dressed up my blog.

I've never even been to VT, but having seen and read so much coverage of the campus, its students and community this week, I can't help but love 'em a little. And what better way to show my respect and support than by redesigning a blog they don't read?

On the off chance you are a Hokie, past or present, T.A.M.S.Y. salutes you.