When good people say bad things. Photo Qz10/Wiki.
Most times I’m not surprised by profanity. I’m on the bus and, stereotypically, there are young people that feel the need to ‘dress up’ in adult words. Like any little girl in her mommy’s pearls and high heels I find these incidences rather amusing (and then I get a headache for it seems there is always a squeal-ly girl in the bunch).
But there are times when the most innocuous swear words drops from the mouth of someone who seems to have a large vocabulary. For example, I recently had a session with a counselor who used Jesus and bullsh*t in the same sentence. And he was trying to make a point for Jesus! Weirded me out a bit.
Anyway, let’s get to the effin’ point, shall we?
Gist of the Story
Sedaris sits next to well-dressed people on a plane (he’s always on a plane in this part of the book! See also, “Solution to Saturday’s Puzzle”). Instead of coughing up a cough drop and having it stick to their good clothing, Sedaris is surprised with the gutter language they begin speaking. I’d provide a few examples but I’d like to keep this review as G as can be.
So, Sedaris gets off the plane and gets into a New York taxi. The driver begins conversation quite nicely…and then things seem to take a pornographic language turn. Stuck in traffic on a bridge, Sedaris has no option but to listen to it, try to ignore it or reply back in kind. What do you think he did?
First Lines, Last Words
They looked like people who had just attended a horse show: a stately couple in their late sixties, he in a cashmere blazer and she in a gray tweed jacket, a gem-encrusted shamrock glittering against the rich felt of her lapel.
Weren’t we?
Quotable
This was just the way they spoke, the verbal equivalent of their everyday china.
Book Rating
This story is part of a larger work called When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I’ll be rating the entire book together. See my book ratings chart for more info.
My name is Britty and I'm chief bottle-washer at this site. I'm a book-lover, student and freelance writer when I'm not being a mom of three and wife of one.
