In my army days I had the privilege of serving with an Hispanic Sgt. He was in his 50's and had only recently started a family. Being a career man, he had picked up the habit of cursing---something he didn't want to pass on to his kids. So he substituted the word "gardinia", the name of a flower. It was gardinia this and gardinia that for the 19 months I served with him. He only slipped up twice, to my knowledge. On those two occasions he had become increasingly frustrated about something and finally exploded, "Gardinia! F--- it!" We who worked with him collapsed on the floor with laughter. I guess you had to be there and know him.
|