I have a female that’s been living in my house for almost seventeen years. It’s not that woman I married. It’s not a relative. It’s a cat, Precious Kitty by name. Sometimes I affectionately call her PK.
Since 2014, I have taught at least one learning support reading class per year at the Claiborne County campus of Walters State Community College. In that class, we often discuss PK. In that case, the topic is not a cat—it’s a concept called prior knowledge.
Simply stated, prior knowledge refers to what a person knows about a topic before reading or studying about it. Unless it is an extremely obtuse concept (as nuclear physics would be to one who is not a physicist), most people know at least something, even if minor or trivial, about most subjects.
Sometimes prior knowledge is valuable. At other times, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
As an example, I cannot repair a car, yet I know that some of the parts necessary to make a car operate are the transmission, ignition, and radiator. Were I to study auto mechanics, that would be the foundation on which I would begin.
Unfortunately, sometimes a person’s prior knowledge is so lacking that it can lead to embarrassing and misleading assumptions or predictions.
I will give you a personal example. Before embarrassing myself, let me give you the foundation of my prior knowledge.
I once went to what was then FSG bank in Maynardville to do business with Wayne Cox. I was so impressed with the curtains in his office. As best I remember, the drapes were red and had the letters “FSG” embroidered (or embossed?) in gold on the center of the valence (cornice?), also known as a “curtain box” (https://www.msbtblinds.com/msbtblog/wooden-cornice-box/ Retrieved January 28, 2026). Admittedly, I had to go into Google to get the terms “valence”, “cornice”, and “curtain box” that I used in the previous sentence, though I could see their images in my mind.
As a child I remember my mother hanging plastic curtains on strings tied at each end to nails driven into the top corners of the window trim. When those curtains hung in extremely bright, hot sunlight for a while, they faded and eventually fell apart, much as does a plastic table cloth used for a picnic. Even now, I’m not with modern times. In one of the spare bedrooms in my house, I still have the pinched pleat drapes I bought for that room when I moved there thirty-four years ago. Even so, I did know what swags were in respect to curtains, though I have never had curtains with swags in any house in which I have lived (perhaps “drapes” would be a more appropriate term for such fancy window coverings).
Knowing what swags in drapes looked like was the extent of my prior knowledge of the meaning of “swag”.
I was enticed to attend one of Lincoln Memorial University’s homecomings, I believe in 2017, marking thirty years since I graduated with a bachelor’s degree. I was so excited. Grant-Lee Hall, which was the last dorm I lived in at LMU, had just been renovated as the university’s administration building. I wanted to see the changes that had been made. I knew the exterior was unchanged in keeping with the history of the building. I wanted to stand in the window of what was my last college dorm room and look out once more on the beautiful fall foliage, relishing memories of the happy days gone by.
Another enticement was the swag promised to LMU’s alumni who attended the event.
I was so excited! My prior knowledge (lacking though it was) activated. Wow! Just like Wayne Cox had his FSG curtain header in the bank, I would have an LMU swag to hang either in my office at work (assuming I received only one) or in my home library (if I could coax them into giving me two)!
Here I was, grown man of fifty-two, an educator, recipient of four degrees from that fine institution of higher learning, going to a homecoming expecting to receive curtains emblazoned with the university’s logo! This is a prime example that one is never too old to learn.
Initially, I was embarrassed that I was so ignorant of the meaning of the term “swag”. After all, I have taught students for decades that many words have multiple meanings. However, I was glad that I had told practically no one about expecting to receive curtains for my windows. At least I had never been so ignorant that I thought a “paradigm” was twenty cents, even when I didn’t know how to pronounce the word!
The story had a happy ending. Not only did I become better educated, but I “got me some swag”! My favorite was the set of matching coffee mugs with LMU and Grant-Lee on them. I also got a notebook, and what notebook is complete without a pen with the university’s name on it?
So this is swag. Fascinating! I have been accumulating swag all my life and hadn’t realized it! I can “strut my stuff” with a “swagger” (any one out there need me to define that word for you?).
And now a word about that woman I married. There are times that she really comes through, letting me know that she loves me. She didn’t laugh at my ignorance and disappointment concerning my alma mater’s swag. (Believe it or not, I did know that “alma mater” wasn’t a form of fruit that I don’t like to eat!)
On one of her trips to KARM or a rummage sale, my wife found very thin fabric, much like a scarf, with the LMU logo in the school colors, blue and gray. Out of this material, and a piece of solid gray material as backing, she made me valences for my home library. They are a beauty and joy to behold.
Though I was ignorant of pertinent prior knowledge relating to the term “swag”, my good wife saw that I got what I had dreamed of. This February, the “month of love”, may someone show you, Dear Reader, that you are so loved.
And Super Bowl 60 will be this February 8. If necessary, refer to the Answer to Question of the Week # 83 below to refresh your prior knowledge.

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 83
What was the wife’s idea of a Super Bowl? (ANSWER: A toilet that cleans itself.)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 84
Why are actors told to “break a leg” before going onstage? (See the next “Mincey’s Musings” in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)