# Are you a worlds leading expert in anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341 "2002-10-08T12:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/41 "2002-10-16T13:51:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*I’d say I’m one of the top three experts on Panama’s birds, and the one with the most up-to-date knowledge on distribution. The other two haven’t been working in the country recently. \*\* So does this mean you’re above them in the pecking order? Did you have them shot down? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/42 "2002-10-16T19:03:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\* > > So does this mean you’re above them in the pecking order? > > Did you have them shot down? \*\* Nah. One is a museum taxonomist who co-authored the last volume of the 4-volume _Birds of the Republic of Panama_. I’m sure he knows more about the technical aspects, but I don’t think he knows the birds in the field as well as I do. The other is Bob Ridgely, who wrote the _Guide to the Birds of Panama_. He probably knows Panama birds in the field better than anyone alive, and also knows the technical literature, but for the last twenty years or so has worked mainly in South America, especially Ecuador. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/43 "2002-10-16T19:46:22Z")
Hey **Alto** , As a fellow New Yorker and medieval Latinist, I am _very_ interested in your father’s work. Does he teach in NYC? If so, there’s a good chance I know him. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/44 "2002-10-16T23:03:39Z")
I’ve written a few books about some twentieth-century fiction writers, so that makes me a candidate for world’s leading expert on their work (books on these guys, particularly the areas I look at, are few or none). One of the first threads I noticed while I was lurking here, btw, had a comment by Eve, inquiring about one of these authors. I would be more explicit, but telling the author’s name is just a step or two away from revealing my own, and I notice that Eve’s real name, and the books she’s written, seem to be common knowledge around here. As a SDMB newbie, I’m wondering if that’s okay to reveal, if that’s an anomaly, if I’m just mistaken about how common that knowledge is… ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/45 "2002-10-17T03:43:16Z")
Subject: I am apparently one of the world’s leading authorities on the introduction of the English Bible into the parish churches of England (but of course!) in the 1530’s. Even if I don’t believe that myself. Qualifications: soon to have doctorate in the subject from Oxford; conclusively won debate in the subject against Richard Rex, another leading authority; Diarmaid MacCulloch and Christopher Haigh, pretty much the “top dogs” in the study of the English Reformation, believe my dissertation contained “convincing new evidence” (MacCulloch) in the field. Caveat: I’m still editing my thesis and I quit the field of history in semi-disgust, semi-poverty and semi-burnout. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/46 "2002-10-18T14:36:04Z")
Back in 1982, my uni research project was about testing for heteroscedasticity of error variance in wool pricing models. AFAIK nobody has published a paper on this topic since, so i guess that means 1. I am still the global authority and 2. nobody else gives a shit 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/47 "2002-10-18T14:52:12Z")
They have me down as “Eve Gordon.” [Here’s](http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/briefmadcaplife-ms-85399793.html) the link. A gift horse I am _not_ looking in the moputh! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341/48 "2002-10-18T14:53:09Z")
Are you related to Ruth? I loved Ruth. Oh, and the commissioner. Oh, and Gale. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-worlds-leading-expert-in-anything/131341.md?page=2)