A precocious playmate without a podcast

Today’s word came to me from MindHacks.com. The word is precocious and it appeared in an a post describing Dr. Zdrok who earned her undergraduate degree by the age of 18.

Appropriately, precocious describes exceptionally early development. I often hear it describing particularly mature or bright children. Precocious sometimes has a connotation implying a child is out of line, that the child’s expectations or behavior is out of line with the child’s age.

In the movie Rushmore, the lead character, Max, is a bright precocious high school who attempts to negotiate his way out failing grades. He is bright enough to negotiate with the headmaster, but not mature enough to realize that headmasters don’t negotiate classes and grades.

Precocious originated in the lexicon of biologist where it described plants that bloomed or ripened early. It is a combination of the familiar prefix pre- meaning before and coquere meaning “to ripen” or “to cook.”

Now the precocious Dr. Zdrok who was recently interviewed by MindHacks.com is interesting for a combination of achievements, not just her precocious adolescence. Dr. Victoria Zdrok is a doctor of clinical psychology, a Playboy Playmate, a Penthouse Playmate of the Year (2004) and a member of New York and New Jersey Bar Associations.

To read Dr. Zdrok’s interview visit MindHacks.com.