P. Not B. P.
Ever suddenly learn something about yourself that surprises you just a little?
Last night, Ben and I were in the car on the way to Wilbert’s graduation from his obedience school classes. We were driving down Evans, talking about I have no idea what, when Ben said something about thespians. Except he pronounced it as thesbian. As in rhyming with lesbian. And I proceeded to freak the fuck out.
When I was in high school, I was a big-time drama geek. I was in a number of the plays, worked on the others, student-directed two, assisted the drama teacher and was on the Drama Club Exec Board. Biiiiiiiiig drama geek. And I knew many people who were not, in fact, big drama geeks. And who thought drama geeks were funny. And who thought lesbians were funny. And constantly pronounced thespian as thesbian, because hey, any time you could make fun of the drama geeks and the gays, well, that was a good day’s work and twice as funny as just hitting one.
And it annoyed the CRAP out of me. Because drama geeks? Were doing nothing wrong. They were getting through high school the best they could, finding their niche and throwing themselves into it. And lesbians? Were also doing nothing wrong. Because if you can find someone to love, anyone, you should go for it and love them as much as you can because not everyone’s that lucky. And also? Very few lesbians at my school, as far as I recall. Or at least, not out at my school. Quite a few gay boys (many of whom, coincidentally, were also drama geeks…..yep, you’re blown away there), but very few lesbians.
Plus, the Thespian Society was a Big Deal in high school (you know, for drama geeks). Anyone could join drama club, but to be a thespian, you had to have 100 hours of involvement in the club, including both onstage and offstage time. And that may not be that hard to get at some schools, but at my school, maybe 75 people would try out for a play with 8 roles. The musical got a lot of people the time they needed, but for those of us who couldn’t sing, it was no help. So when you did finally make it, you could be justifiably proud of that.
So last night, Ben innocently said something about thesbians. And I immediately got totally annoyed and said something like, “that’s not even funny and why would you even say that and it’s stupid and seriously grow the fuck up already.”
And he kind of looked confused.
And I realized that I had possibly overreacted just a teeny tiny bit.
And he said, “what?”
And I said, “oh, er, sorry, not YOU, exactly.” And explained why it annoyed me.
And he explained that he’d never actually known it was supposed to be pronounced with a P, not a B sound, because he’d always heard it that way before.
And I said that now he knew and I was sure he'd get it right from now on, and he agreed.
And we continued on to class, and Wilbert graduated, and life was good.
But no motherfuckers better be talking about thesbians around me or I will probably once again freak the fuck out. And nobody wants that.
Last night, Ben and I were in the car on the way to Wilbert’s graduation from his obedience school classes. We were driving down Evans, talking about I have no idea what, when Ben said something about thespians. Except he pronounced it as thesbian. As in rhyming with lesbian. And I proceeded to freak the fuck out.
When I was in high school, I was a big-time drama geek. I was in a number of the plays, worked on the others, student-directed two, assisted the drama teacher and was on the Drama Club Exec Board. Biiiiiiiiig drama geek. And I knew many people who were not, in fact, big drama geeks. And who thought drama geeks were funny. And who thought lesbians were funny. And constantly pronounced thespian as thesbian, because hey, any time you could make fun of the drama geeks and the gays, well, that was a good day’s work and twice as funny as just hitting one.
And it annoyed the CRAP out of me. Because drama geeks? Were doing nothing wrong. They were getting through high school the best they could, finding their niche and throwing themselves into it. And lesbians? Were also doing nothing wrong. Because if you can find someone to love, anyone, you should go for it and love them as much as you can because not everyone’s that lucky. And also? Very few lesbians at my school, as far as I recall. Or at least, not out at my school. Quite a few gay boys (many of whom, coincidentally, were also drama geeks…..yep, you’re blown away there), but very few lesbians.
Plus, the Thespian Society was a Big Deal in high school (you know, for drama geeks). Anyone could join drama club, but to be a thespian, you had to have 100 hours of involvement in the club, including both onstage and offstage time. And that may not be that hard to get at some schools, but at my school, maybe 75 people would try out for a play with 8 roles. The musical got a lot of people the time they needed, but for those of us who couldn’t sing, it was no help. So when you did finally make it, you could be justifiably proud of that.
So last night, Ben innocently said something about thesbians. And I immediately got totally annoyed and said something like, “that’s not even funny and why would you even say that and it’s stupid and seriously grow the fuck up already.”
And he kind of looked confused.
And I realized that I had possibly overreacted just a teeny tiny bit.
And he said, “what?”
And I said, “oh, er, sorry, not YOU, exactly.” And explained why it annoyed me.
And he explained that he’d never actually known it was supposed to be pronounced with a P, not a B sound, because he’d always heard it that way before.
And I said that now he knew and I was sure he'd get it right from now on, and he agreed.
And we continued on to class, and Wilbert graduated, and life was good.
But no motherfuckers better be talking about thesbians around me or I will probably once again freak the fuck out. And nobody wants that.
posted by Allison @ 2:07 PM
<< Home