Some Crazy Pants, and Unpleasing* Words

*(unpleasing to me, that is)

Last night I had dinner with a couple of friends from my last job, which was very enjoyable. So good to see them, and so empowering to be reminded that I made the right choice to leave that company (ahem). The funniest thing, though, happened just as we were leaving.

We were standing outside the restaurant saying good-bye when a couple came out after us, and the man had on these ... pants. Unfortunately, words fall short of describing them. And as the mere sight of them froze my brain, I couldn't get my camera out in time (seriously, they were paralyzing).

I can tell you that they were sort of white, or off-white, with a design of swirling blue lines, but it just doesn't convey the sensation that seeing them did. To put it mildly, they were startling. Perhaps on a runway in Milan they would work, but in Burlington, at a mall?

I was the only one of the three of us facing the doors when they came out, and after I froze, I caught the eye of one of my friends when she saw them and almost burst out laughing directly in front of the man. I managed to turn it into a coughing fit, which is something I've read about but never done before, and let me tell you it feels very unnatural to choke back such strong laughter. It was actually painful.

I looked after them a moment later, and this couple, who were perhaps 30, had joined hands and were skipping exuberantly across the parking lot. It was really quite odd.

But funny. We laughed and laughed, sputtering "what were those?" and "those pants!". Even when I got in bed last night, I got comfortable, snuggled the kitty, and suddenly giggled again thinking of them.

Maybe he lost a bet.

**********
I sent a message to that business card designer on Etsy that I was talking about yesterday, and by the way, can I digress? (Try to stop me.) Etsy calls these messages conversations, which I don't mind, though I think message would be fine (after all, it isn't a conversation until they answer you). But, the real problem is that then they shorten it to "convo", which makes me queasy. Even worse (to me), I've seen people use that as a verb, saying that they "convo'd" a seller with a question. Ew.

In the same way that the word twitter as used by the eponymous website doesn't bother me but "tweet" does, and "I tweeted about that" does even more, *shudder*. Just, no.

I know that things change and today's unthinkable becomes tomorrow's without-a-second-thought, but at least today, I really doubt I'll ever either "convo" or "tweet". I'm not going to swear, but I'm pretty sure.