So we’ve got friends over Friday night, and they have a daughter who I believe is just over 1 (she’s been walking a few months). The father, a dedicated sports fan, tells her “Do Touchdown!” and she squeals and throws her arms up in the air. It’s very cute. This makes me think of high school and the two cultures that arose between the sports kids and the nerdy kids, I of course being one of the nerdy kids. “It’s funny how different our kids will end up,” I said. “Brendan, who’s on Daddy’s watch?” “Shakespeare,” my 2yr old son replies. I swear, I totally meant to demonstrate that the sports guys raised their kids with more of a sports mentality, while the nerdy kids raised their kids to be nerds. It was harmless, but apparently not well thought out. “Are you calling my kid stupid?” asked the mother. “Ummm……” said I. “I think you are, I think you just called my kid stupid.” Awkward! She was at least partially joking – it’s not like they stormed off or anything – but the conversation rapidly turned to other subjects.
You breached a critical social rule. Nerds are supposed to defer to jocks.
Reminds me of when I was reading King Lear at my daughter’s swimming class. Another mother looked at me oddly, and then asked, as if seeking reassurance, “Are you reading that for a class?”
“No,” I replied. “I’m reading for pleasure.”
She ceased making eye contact and sidled away.
My daughter would do both tricks. This is what happens when the nerd marries the jock. She’ll either turn out very well-rounded, or very confused. 🙂
*sings* “Awkward moment..”
I wouldn’t have taken offense to that to be honest, but .. maybe she’s sensitive to begin with
i hope she was just kidding, these are just little kids after all.
my son can do both. the other day at his football game they had a touchdown and geoff yelled “touchdown, yea verily!” and the kids died laughing and now are all running around going “yea verily!”
a well rounded scholar athlete gets good scholarships to colleges.
🙂
Want to hear something funny? Right now, in my day job (and I mean literally, right this second) I am working on software that evaluates high school student profiles for application to college based on things like academic/athletic ratios. 🙂 I have the power! I say geeks rule! 🙂
amusings_bnl, that is an awesome story! I only hope if I have kids they are that cool. 🙂
I think she sounded a little too defensive anyway…although I guess it’s a good example of how the mental connections we make don’t always play out unexplained!
LOL @ “yea verily!” That is TOO awesome.
Yeah I wouldn’t have jumped to that assumption, either, but I have no compunctions pointing out cute nerdiness since I don’t think it’s an insult any more than I would call a cute kid doing “touchdown” a stupid kid. I think both are cute. *shrug*