Accidental Ambivalence

Seen and Heard: Starbucks

Sunday afternoon the weather was gorgeous, so I decided that I should take my reading material (see the sidebar, kittens) outdoors. Since my apartment has no yard and no patio, I opted for an iced caramel latte and the unobtrusive company of Starbucks.

I was feeling just a bit smug, sitting there with my advance reader's copy of the next Philippa Gregory book, when three people sat down at the table next to me. One gentleman was telling the couple he was with a story about taking a girl for a ride on his motorcycle (a drool-worthy cruiser, I must say). The interesting thing, though, is that he was one of those people who misuses words.

You know that person. They were far more prevalent in high school or in college classes that they weren't really qualified to be in. They've read a pretentious word in a book or heard a professor use it or found it on their "Word a Day" calendar, so they think they know how to use it. But then they throw it out into a conversation and it totally backfires. He was one of those.

As I sat there, listening to him butcher words like "consummated" and "arbitrary," I found myself wondering what someone might think if they eavesdropped on my conversations. While I would like to think that they wouldn't be able to judge my grammar and vocabulary, I wonder what they would find to judge.

It made me wonder if perhaps it was unfair of me to listen to the too-loud conversations the people around me have and judge them. Then I realized that I don't care. Consequently, I will be going straight to hell.

Labels: eavesdropping

posted by nicalyse @ 7:08 PM