This is all well and good and I thank all who have replied
My reason for starting this thread was two-fold:
1. I wondered if perhaps I was in fact wearing my britches a bit high by calling myself an amateur astronomer and thought I'd get a gauge of how fellow IIS'ers felt about the term.
2. The English language and its modes of thought and subtleties of expression fascinates me (amateur linguist, anyone?
) and I was curious as to how others view the term and its associations.
Hmm. Guess it's back to the old "star gazing" then. Oddly enough, this isn't a term that I'm entirely happy with either.
Damn! I so wanted to be an astronomer
May the Western spotted bower bird sing to you all!