Adventures in Bucolic Children...

In response the the exam question "It is better for children to grow up in the countryside than in a big city. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to develop your essay.", one of my students repeatedly used the term 'bucolic children'. "Bucolic?", I thought, a puzzled look furrowing my rather unruly brow. Judging by the context, he didn't mean 'Beubonic', nor 'colic', nor 'broccoli'. I made a mental note to look it up, and promptly filed the mental note between "Pecans, while tasty and festive, do not a proper dinner make." and "Do something with my unruly eyebrows."

Later that evening, I tucked myself into bed with my daily crossword puzzle and a handful of pecans. As I worked on the crossword puzzle, I was stopped mid-pencil stroke by number 12 down. Bucolic. 5 letters long, and starting with an "R". Normally, it's strictly against policy to look up crossword clues in my dictionary. However, I retreived the mental note, and decided to look up the word not for the sake of my crossword, but for the sake of my student. Very noble. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my dictionary, and looked up 'bucolic'. I then jumped back into bed, grabbed my pencil and filled in #12 Down: R-U-R-A-L.


Just out of curiosity, how many of you, my dear readers, knew what 'bucolic' meant before you got to the last line of my story?