When was the last time you saw someone hooked on a dictionary?

One step better, that person just happened to be a college basketball player.

Some people might call 21-year old Nathaniel Elliott a wordsmith for his infatuation with the English language and, well, just studying, understanding and learning about - words.

Elliott, from Toronto, at one time walked around with a dictionary. Now, the book is at home because he has the luxury of an Ipod with a dictionary app.

And Elliott hasn't got tired or un-interested in something he's been doing since he was about eight years old taking the advice of his mother and aunt who told him to check a dictionary if he wasn't sure of a word, spelling or meaning.

"They always used big words and told me to look them up in the dictionary," he recalled. "I became fascinated with words, but it was the best way to learn. My friends know I read everything - whatever helps me learn."

And that knowledge of words has helped Elliott in many ways. For instance, don't challenge him to the word game called Scrabble. Chances are very good that he'll beat you.

"Always learning, always room for improvement," said Elliott, who is also in to poetry and expands his vocabulary by checking the popular Word of the Day feature.

Elliott doesn't live a boring life. In grade school he played several instruments, from the trumpet and viola to the cello and piano. In church, he played the steel drums.

But now, in addition to the dictionary and studies at George Brown College, basketball has taken over from music.

The 6-foot-2 Elliott plays the guard and forward positions for the Huskies playoff-bound team and he's good at that too.

Chosen to Team Ontario's under-17 squad in the summer of 2008 and now healthy after an early season battle with tendonitis in his knee that kept him sidelined, Elliott is praised by Huskies head coach Jonathan Smith as a solid member of a team that will challenge for a post-season medal in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

And what's he doing at George Brown?

Fascinated with words, a basketball player and musician, Elliott is in his first year of the Culinary Management-Nutrition Program. His interest: eventually owning a restaurant that specializes in Thai cuisine.

That interest came, while in his graduating year of high school, after his interest perked from a cooking co-op opportunity at a major Toronto hotel.

Source: George Brown College

Photo Credit: Michael Stefancic