6.18.2005

Throw-away words

So I was at Kelly's sister's house for dinner tonight. Her sister is SO cool. The food was amazing, and it was funny to watch 3 boys ages 6 - 10ish act all rowdy and boyish at the table. When I was a kid and living at home, my two brothers were completely outnumbered by girls and couldn't get away with anything. We would even check their lunch bags to be sure they hadn't taken too many snacks. Poor guys, but still. You just don't go hogging the Nutty Bars.

Managed to put my foot in my mouth when I used the word "stupid" as part of a story I was telling. The kids became very still and just stared, which is when I remembered that they don't use the word "stupid" at their house. (I should say here, though, that their mom says calling someone a jackass is just fine because it's a zoological term.) I tried to cover with "I mean, um, I felt so silly. Yes, silly." But that damage was done. I'm now That Potty-Mouthed Friend of Kelly's, and the kids probably prayed for me tonight when they went to bed. Sigh. Does anyone else know of families that have a list like this, where words other than the obvious things like swearing and generally offensive terms are banned? How do you decide which words to pick? Like, if "stupid" is out, can you use "dumb"? And if you can't say "shut up," can you say "shut your cake hole"?

ps. I read "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth Von Arnim during the DEAD conference today and it was perfect. Highly recommend it as a beach read or an it's-raining-and-I-would-rather-be-relaxing-in-Italy read.

4 comments:

Mrs. Hass-Bark said... [reply]

We couldn't say butthead in our house. Or stupid or dumb. We were really limited in our words to describe idiocy.

Darling baby twin sister anecdote: Once we had the missionaries over for dinner and my 3-year-old sister said the prayer. She said, "Please help us not to say words like stupid or dumb or butthead." My mom was soooo embarrassed.

Nemesis said... [reply]

Whatever, you STILL don't pack your own lunch.

Streets of Belfast said... [reply]

My grandfather says you can say the word "hell" because that is a place.

Kelly said... [reply]

Oh I LOVE The Enchanted April. One of my favorite books. Have you seen the movie? Very sweet.

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