I am forever and always getting trouble with my sense of humor (or lack of it) and word choice.
Two cases come to mind. One was when I was in a meeting discussing a sensitive point with a president of a university. He made a point and I replied , "Well I'm not arguing with you on that." He went ballistic and cursed me thoroughly. It took me a little while of confusion to realize he heard, "You are wrong and I not going to argue with you about it." While I meant "You are correct and I agree with you, so I'm not going to argue with you." We never did get the damn meeting back on track after that explosion.
Then there was the time I was talking with three of my colleagues who happen to all be
Black. Talking about a guy who was working for an American intelligence agency and was trying to get a college in Oklahoma to accommodate their needs I said, " The boy is black ops and a spook". The only thing that saved me was that that one of the people in the room once belonged to the Air Force Security Service and knew what I was actually saying. The guy in question was actually white but was a covert operator and a spy.
Surely I'm not the only one who has ever stepped in it. What's your story?
7 comments:
nice blog....
Boss once suggested i was bein' racist by usin' the term "cotton picking" in a column. Damnyankee. But I've told you that one.
I'll spare you the details, biut I regret ever using the term "slope food" in reference to Asian cuisine -- years ago, before I was sensitive to such -- in front of certain peeps who are close to me.
BTW, I looked at yer previous post on the miniature cattle, and first thought it was referring to the foot stools that stock shows and runaway bad genetics turned Herefords into in the '50s and '60s -- and then saw they were actually talkin' about MINI cattle, and now I'm blinded, so will pass on commenting further. Gah!
Oh, I used the phrase "suckin' hind tit" tonight in conversation with a higher-up of urban upbringing. Pray for me. ^&^%!
Executive board room discussing initiating explosives research. CEO explained to we gathered scientists, engineers and managers that "percussion explosive initiation begins with cyrstal fracture when the material is subjected to impact." I blurted out, "So..what about nitroglycerin?"
BB, I love that.
ER, I referred to a degree program once during an open meeting as, "....as useful as tits on a boar hog".
As for the mini-cattle, the ones I don't understand are the mini-longhorns. That's just a peversion. Also they have the dairy cows down to bones stomaches and utters so why shrink them down like they have?
Then the larceny in my soul whispers, "You could rustle a whole herd and hide them in a standard pickup camper."
White Castle might be innersted in them lil cows.
The Human Stain.
Post a Comment