Nah, my studies mostly involved dealing with words on a macro level. I only had one course that actively encouraged the use of an etymology dictionary (or really a dictionary at all), and I think that was just because the professor enjoyed it. In short: my word on words is not to be trusted! I'm just sitting here being an armchair etymologist. (-;

Say, given that you've turned up all the way over here, and I keep running into your comments in BSR... friends?