Embarrassing Moments? I could write a book. I could teach a graduate seminar. Where to start? Here are 3 examples for a Tuesday morning: 1. Years back, I was traveling in the Yucatan Peninsula while still learning Spanish. At a cafe in Merida, I confidently ordered a bowl of sopa con "camiones" instead of "camarones." That would be "trucks" instead of "shrimp." The waiter got a good laugh out of this, then invited all his fellow waiters over to share with them. They stood around my table laughing heartily for a bit. The first guy eventually explained my error to me. 2. As a new Dad, stopped at a pharmacy to pick up replacement nipples for the baby's bottle. Holding up the old one (the NUK brand) I loudly asked the (inevitably) beautiful, young woman behind the counter "Do you have nipples like these?" She turned several colors before I figured out what I'd said. 3. While in Boy Scouts I fell for every gag known. The bucket of steam? The left-handed smoke-shifter? You name it, I was the abuse magnet with the horizontal learning curve willing to go after it. - Merritt
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