At a recent family gathering, I spilled food on my hands and excused myself from the table to wash them. When I came back, one relative of mine was saying, "She said, 'You pray for my kids and I'll pray for your kids.'"
Since she often relates stories she has heard from others, I asked curiously, "Why? Whose kids were these?" She changed the subject.
I was glad it was not my mother who had said that.
On another such occasion, another relative of mine had asked indignantly whether we knew what the initials "G.C.B." stood for.
"No," my mother said, confused.
"What is it?" I asked.
She refused to answer, looking away. It was plain that she was not pleased with whatever it was.
On the drive home my mother remembered: "Good Christian Bitches."
It was too offensive not to bring up, but too vulgar to be uttered aloud, even as "Good Christian B-words."
I have pretty much figured out the things I can and cannot say, but this is another social dilemma altogether. How do we talk about the thing we're not talking about?
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