My wife recently met my eight year old son’s school teacher, to hear about how he is getting on in class.
“Oh, thank goodness,” he said. “I can think of a few things I can say about your son.”
It sounded very strange to my wife. It sounded like there were some kids in the class about which the teacher could think of nothing to say at all.
“Well, Ms. Tanaka, your son is very, um, average. Very normal. Good job.”
In one of my lessons, I ask my students if they have ever regretted expressing themselves poorly or saying the wrong thing.
One student answered, “My friend told me she was getting divorced. Without thinking, I just told her that I was not surprised, and that I had always thought her husband would have an affair. Thinking about it later, I thought that maybe that was not what she wanted to hear.”
I once heard this story from a nurse.
The nurse was walking round the hospital ward to check on the patients she was treating. There was a bunch of flowers sitting next to an old man lying in his bed.
“Lovely flowers!” said the nurse. “I wish I could keep some at home. But everything I touch dies.”
Seeing the
man’s horrified face, she quickly said, “Flowers! Just flowers, not people!”
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