Tuesday, October 9, 2007

You smell like pee pee OR Cussing, part two

Its hard for me to make the cussing rules stick. Its because I find cussing to be an integral part of life. I mean, who the fuck doesn't?

And cussing rules are so arbitrary for kids because they have no concept of social mores. "Its ok to say a computer is stupid, but not to say your friend is stupid." Huh? So we have the Big List of Unacceptable Words. They are as follows:
pee pee
poo poo
stupid
dumb
dumbass (my fault-- apparently this is my most common cuss word. Tallulah picked it up over all others!)

But outlawing these words leaves some questionable social situations. For instance, telling a friend he smells like pee pee is rude, right? But what about when he really does? Poor Tallulah has faced this dilemma. Although I tell her that the appropriate response is to pull her friend aside and whisper, "You're smelling a little not-so-fresh down there. Why don't you ask your mommy to help you with that?" She insists on yelling, "You smell like pee pee! Ha! Pee pee, pee pee, pee pee! I smell pee pee!"

And I have a hard time sticking to the Unacceptable Words List. Have you ever noticed how many times you say stupid in a day? I have a personal auditor now.
"Mommy, you said stupid."
"I did? When"
"Just now on the phone. You said, 'stupid goddamn crap.' You're not supposed to say stupid."
"You're right, baby. I'm sorry."