Watch Your Mouth

Two weeks ago in Theory class, one student--full disclosure, one the rest of us don't know (because it's a class of two playwrights, five Theatre for Youthers, and This One Chick)--said, "This is gonna sound retarded, but--"

And Rabbit laid down the law. Not rudely, but curtly, she said--deadpan--"Can we not use that word?"

I know, for a definite fact, at least five of us had been thinking it, and we breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't have to be us. Ahhhh, grad school peers. The only community where I'm not the most annoyingly PC.

Flash-forward to today:

Our Theory professor says, "We only have five weeks left." I lift my eyebrows. Whoa. Time flies, and my peer with the tiny red curls shrieks, "Jesus Christ!" and This Chick gasps a "Wooooow." I think she agrees with us that summer is so sudden, when she tacks on a, "Can we not saaaaay that please?"

My peer peeps a sincere sorry, and then a "It's just, I'm surprised..." Trail off.

This REALLY bothers me, and I know it shouldn't. We did the same thing to her--we aligned and made her feel bad for saying A WORD. Just a little word that alludes to disability. But it was unforgivable. It was also unforgivable to me that anyone ask anyone to care if the full name of a Biblical character is said aloud. But, I suppose it was That Chick's right? I mean, my peer agreed to being inappropriate by apologizing, did she not?

JESUS CHRIST, why does this bother me? Why are words so powerful? Why do I despise people who say certain things and despise even more the people who despise people who say certain other things?!