Well, it's kind of a long story.
First of all, see, my dad knew everything. Honest. It was impossible to play Trivial Pursuit with him -- he could answer all the questions.
And you all may have heard of the TV show "Ask the Answer Man" which was on ages and ages ago, yes? And then, sometime in the 70's, I think, there were a series of commercials on TV done by the California Wine Growers Association (or somesuch) called "Ask the Answer Grape," as a spoof on the old TV show.
My dad knew ridiculous amounts of information about wine, too.
So at the company my dad ran (a motorcycle accessories wholesale distributing company -- part of why I know about engines and things) the employees soon realized that dad knew all sorts of stuff, including about wine, and they had seen these ads, and so started calling him "The Grape."
And my family picked it up. All the rest of his life, my mom called him "The Grape" sometimes. Weird, but that's my family for you.
So one day I was on the phone -- part of my various jobs have involved answering a pretty random assortment of phone calls, anyway -- but I answered a question that (a) had nothing to do with my job and (b) was pretty obscure. Then, over the course of the day, several people wandered into my office with bizarre questions and I answered them all, right off the bat.
I suddenly realized that Answer Grapeness was inheritable, and that I was one. I called my sister, and when I explained it, she realized that she was one, too, and had just never really thought about it. So here we are, a family of Grapes.
Pretty silly, but it's all true...
Anne's Other Random Stuff page is sort of "up" from here...
Date last modified: 31-Mar-1999
Copyright 1999 Anne R. LaVin
This page's URL: http://web.mit.edu/lavin/www/grape.html