It seems many of you have stories about your early days in the educational system. Here's the latest:
"It was time for my friend's little boy to start school," says Kristen Scott, of Lacombe.
"They had a little talk about school, and his mom woke him up and sent him off for his first day.
"The next morning she again woke him up for school. He was puzzled, and said, 'But I went to school for you yesterday!'
"They had to have another little talk."
Pelicans' pitcher
"During this baseball season," says Wayne Weilbaecher, of Covington, "I was wondering if any of your senior readers remember going to see the Pelicans play at Pelican Stadium on Carrollton and Tulane.
"There was a guy named 'Evolution' who entertained the crowd by pitching his peanuts to his customers while yelling 'I GOTTA GOTTA PEANUTS HERE!'
"He pitched his peanuts for a very long time, entertaining everyone.
"Eventually he brought in his replacement. His name was 'Ding Ding!'
"Going to see those games were some of my fondest memories."
All that glitters …
…is not "Golf," I've discovered.
In the Monday column, the New Orleans Gold rugby team somehow came out "New Orleans Golf." (Hope those ruggers have a sense of humor.)
Sorry. It's my second mistake of 2024. I forget the first one.
Say what?
More fun with wrong words:
- J.R. Clary Jr., of Baton Rouge: "Archie Bunker, arguing with Mike ('Meathead') about miracles in the Bible, tells him, 'Let me tell you about Samson, buddy boy. He picked a jawbone up outta the grass and beat the whole army of the Philippines!'"
- Punchy P.: "Justin Wilson was always talking about his friend's hunting dog, a lavatory reliever."
- Faye Guidry: "Our handyman Lionel called grasshoppers 'hoppergrassers.'"
- Elise Kaufman: "Back when you could get buy 'celebrity messages' for answering machines, father-in-law Sam Kaufman told us he wanted to get one by the comedian Nipsey Russell. My sweet mother-in-law, when they found it, told us their message was by 'Rusty Nipples!'"
'Unloaded' gun
"I incredulously read all the reports of unsafe behavior with BB guns and have to admit I was raised differently," says Alan R. Crnko, of Holden:
"When given a BB gun, I was trained to treat it like a real gun. This may have saved my life.
"One day after school, a friend was visiting. We were around 10-12 years old. He was curious about our guns, so we went to the gun closet and I hoisted my 20 gauge out.
"I immediately checked to ensure the gun was unloaded. To my shock, there was a live round in the chamber!
"My friend was the mischievous type, and I have no doubt he would have pulled the trigger as soon as the gun was in his hands."
Right word, but…
While our readers have been offering examples of wrong words, Warren A. Perrin, of Lafayette, tells a story stressing correct pronunciation, even if you have the right word:
"When I was in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) freshman class in Henry High School, studying the part of a cow’s anatomy that produces milk, our teacher, Professor Oray Huval Sr., called on me to give the definition of 'teats.'
"I knew that a teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals, from which milk flows.
"What I didn’t know was that 'teat' is not pronounced the same as the impolite word for a woman’s breast ... until told the correct pronunciation by my professor.
"My embarrassment was seriously tempered by the fact it was an all-boys class!"