On the taste of feet in my mouth....

No matter how nice a person we think we are, it's practically an inevitability that we'll act like a total jack-wagon from time to time. I'll be the first to admit that I can be a real jerk sometimes. Most often, this comes out when people misspell words or eff up basic grammar. Yes, I'm an English language elitist. So are a lot of my friends and I can pretty much guarantee they'd readily admit it. As someone who's devoted her life to understanding and appreciating the English language, it drives me absolutely bonkers when people mess it up so horribly. It makes me twitch. And I can turn into a real jerk about it.

Unfortunately, grammar isn't the only thing that'll cause me to say something stupid and/or insenstive...or just plain wrong. There was this time I was in Vegas and while pre-gaming in the hotel room, I said something so wildly inappropriate, it actually caused insta-sobriety. There's nothing quite like having a room full of people turn and look at you and say, "Why would you say that?!" That's a horrible feeling. And it should be. What I said was both out of character and out of line.

I think we've all had those moments when something we've said caused another person to be offended or hurt. It's rare (I hope) that we say mean things intentionally, but humanity causes us to act like jerks sometimes. I know I've done it. About a year ago, I said something that really hurt and very much upset one of my dear friends. The nice thing, though, is that she's a good friend so all it really took to remedy the situation was a simple, "I'm sorry...that was NOT how I meant for that to come out." A simple apology and/or explanation is all that was needed to repair what I'd damaged.

Maybe that's the hardest thing about it, though. When I discover -- immediately or after the fact -- that I've hurt someone with my words, it hurts my pride knowing that I probably need to apologize. It's so easy and so simple to say "I'm sorry", so why does that phrase seems to catch in our throats? Why do we feel the need to justify and explain away and generally not take responsibility for the hurtful things we say? It has to come down to pride. It must. And maybe having our pride stung from time to time isn't the worst thing in the world. I suppose there's a lot we could learn from damaged pride....

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