I know, I'm a word geek

Ok, so I was reading this article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6750005.stm) about a giant bird-dinosaur that was discovered in China. Here's a small excerpt, if you're too lazy to click on the link I provided.

"Nature journal reports that the beaked animal was 8m (26ft) long and twice as tall as a man at the shoulder; yet it was only a young adult when it died. The authors suggest the dinosaur's enormous size was due to a fast growth rate, faster even than the precocious Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Here's the part that got me...the author described a T-Rex as "precocious". This threw me off. I've always heard the term "precocious" used to describe rather "naughty" children in a sort of patronizing way. So, off I go to dictionary.com to look up the definition of "precocious".

pre·co·cious
–adjective
1. Unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: a precocious child.
2. Prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.
3. Of or pertaining to premature development.

So, basically, this would pertain to smart children who knew how to work the "system". (Aka, their parents, or other older people in their life)

Mmmkay, so I was partially right, without knowing why. Cool. I love words.

Precocious little T-Rex!

~Molly