As my wife said, I've had quite a day.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Blushing
Why did I not realize that the witticism "A hard man is good to find" is sexual in nature until about an hour after I quoted it to a class? I had envisioned a "hard man" being a tough, rugged fellow that drinks a lot. And why did the students not just start laughing at me? And why did I attribute this quote to Oscar Wilde, when apparently it was said by Mae West?
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Oh, how I sympathize! Exactly and precisely the kind of thing I say. I have had difficulty with unwitting Spoonerisms. I have tried to talk myself out of "stone and tile" when discussing literature and found myself unable to get it right, while the students wax merry. And I have perpetrated--and perpetuated--the Sheets and Kelly of Romantic poetry.
ReplyDeleteThe older I get and the longer I have taught the more essential it is that I turn on the "redactor" in my mind.