1 August 2011

The Lie: Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you.

The Truth: “Sticks” aren’t going to break anybody’s bones. What misguided person originated that phrase? How big were these sticks that he was dealing with? If they were sizable enough to break someone’s bones, then they were logs, not sticks. “Logs and stones may break your bones” paints a much more accurate picture. If I’m going to ply my teary-eyed son with dubious axioms, I figure I should at least get the semantics right.

Also, the part about words never hurting you – that’s obviously false as well. I’m probably doing Troy a disservice telling him that one, since words are going to be hurting him his whole life. He thinks “butt face” was hurtful? Wait til he hears “we have to let you go.” Or even worse: “I don’t love you anymore.” That wasn’t the most pleasant moment I’ve ever experienced. I wish she would’ve just called me a “butt face” and stormed out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *