On Speaking Politely

Learning From Your ''Inferiors"

I once had a friendship with an intellectually challenged woman (who preferred to be called ''girl'' thank-you) who had been institutionalized for most of her life. She once told me that when nurses caught her swearing like a trooper they let her know it was a bad thing to do, especially the "F" word. They suggested she change the way she used her words so that it would sound better; so she did. In her more literal way of understanding things, she made a literal change. So, following the nurse's advice, every word that started with the letter " f " was changed to start with the letter " t " instead. EVERY WORD.

In that spirit, I would like to suggest to the nurse from hell that perhaps he should "tuck right off" with his so-called "joke" or "game."

Now you won't read anything into that will you? After all, you wouldn't want to get medicated for "reading too much into things."