Michael was a shy and quiet kid. He mumbled and had a slight lisp, which made him sometimes hard to understand. In short, he had a problem with pronunciation. This became apparent to his father at an early age.

Michael and his second grade class went on a field trip to the local zoo. They spent the day viewing the different animal exhibits and leaning about animals, habitats, and world geography. After dinner that evening, Phil, his father, asked him about what he learned.

“We saw tons of really cool animals. Like lions and a hippo and lots and lots of monkeys.” he exclaimed.

“What was your favorite animal?” Phil asked.

Michael responded “A frickin elephant.”

Phil didn’t quite know what to say. He didn’t like Michael using the word frickin. To him, the word was a less offensive substitute for an obscene word. Phil had to correct Michael.

“Michael. I don’t want you using that word anymore. It’s not a good or proper word to say.”

Michael objected. “But dad, that’s what I saw. A frickin elephant.”

“That’s enough. If you keep using that word, you’ll get some time-out.” Phil told him.

Michael looked partly discouraged and partly defiant. “Look dad. I’ll show you.”

He fetched his backpack from his room, pulled out a flyer from the zoo, and handed it to his dad.

Phil read the flyer. Sure enough, on the second page was a picture with a caption: Jumbo – African Elephant.

He was relieved that his son wasn’t saying frickin. Phil apologized for the misunderstanding.

Michael smiled as he took the flyer from his dad’s hand. “That’s okay dad. I guess I didn’t pronounce it well.”

The situation was defused and hopefully, a lesson learned.

That is, until Michael added “She sure was fucking huge!”

Michael spent the next hour alone in the corner.