Thursday, March 04, 2004
Ah, The Innocence of Children
When I was about 9 years old, I was pretty ignorant... as most 9-year-olds are. I hung around some slightly older neighborhood kids, who took it upon themselves to teach me the ways of the world. So they taught me some things that I had no way of putting into context.
For example, when my friend Ian was telling us about how he kissed a girl, my friend Mark made a circle with the index finger and thumb of his left hand, and thrust the index finger of his right hand in and out of the circle. While doing this he said, "Ohhhhhhh!" Mark started cracking up, and so did I, even though I had no idea what he was doing.
Mark, of course, was being very vulgar. But for all I knew, he was just using sign language to say, "You kissed somebody!"
Fast forward to a family gathering. I'm playing a board game with my cousins, all of whom are all older than me, ranging in age from about 11 to 14. Well, during the course of the game, the opposing team scores a lot of points, and one of my female cousins hugs and kisses her brother's friend on the cheek. He gets embarrassed, sorta making a big deal about it. So I, using my recently acquired knowledge of sign language, make a circle with my left hand, thrust my right index finger in and out of it, and say, "Ohhhhhhhh!!!"
Everyone stopped talking. And moreover, nobody was laughing. I was very confused. My cousin's friend was now turning beet red. I wanted to apologize, but I didn't know what I had done. And so one of my other female cousins points to my hands and says to me, "That doesn't exist."
My only response was, "Oh..."
The game sorta died down after that.
For example, when my friend Ian was telling us about how he kissed a girl, my friend Mark made a circle with the index finger and thumb of his left hand, and thrust the index finger of his right hand in and out of the circle. While doing this he said, "Ohhhhhhh!" Mark started cracking up, and so did I, even though I had no idea what he was doing.
Mark, of course, was being very vulgar. But for all I knew, he was just using sign language to say, "You kissed somebody!"
Fast forward to a family gathering. I'm playing a board game with my cousins, all of whom are all older than me, ranging in age from about 11 to 14. Well, during the course of the game, the opposing team scores a lot of points, and one of my female cousins hugs and kisses her brother's friend on the cheek. He gets embarrassed, sorta making a big deal about it. So I, using my recently acquired knowledge of sign language, make a circle with my left hand, thrust my right index finger in and out of it, and say, "Ohhhhhhhh!!!"
Everyone stopped talking. And moreover, nobody was laughing. I was very confused. My cousin's friend was now turning beet red. I wanted to apologize, but I didn't know what I had done. And so one of my other female cousins points to my hands and says to me, "That doesn't exist."
My only response was, "Oh..."
The game sorta died down after that.
