A few honest words

Thibault called Clément a douchebag this morning. I had a mild cardiac arrest, then emphatically asserted, "We do NOT say douchebag. Definitely not. That's a pretty bad one." Clément insisted I define douchebag. Everytime Clément said douchebag, my heart raced a little faster. "Quit saying it! I'll tell you what it means in 9 years." And when I asked Thibault where he heard that word, he told me he heard me say it. I almost slapped his face. I know I haven't said this word in front of them. I've let a few things slip here and there, but never a 'douchebag.' I felt like the dad in those old commercials about marijuana. Dad confronts teenage son about the pot he found in his backpack. Teenage son said he learned it from Dad. Dad looks shocked and ashamed. But I'm not Dad because I really didn't say it!

I'm positive this is another word he learned in the halls at school. It's frightening to me that 12 year old kids go around calling each other douchebags. The problem is that Thibault's vocabulary is stunted as it is, so instead of learning creative adjectives to describe his friends, he's being lazy and resorting to words such as douchebag. I think this is what bothers me most. My mother used to suggest medical terms to verbally abuse the kids that picked on us at school. So when someone said, "You're stupid!" we could retort, "Oh yeah? Well why don't you go duffocate in your backyard!" In which case, the other person would usually walk away confused about what it was I actually suggested they do in their backyard. I am a big proponent of a well placed 'douchebag' but if that's the only word you can conjure up to verbally assault someone, then we have some work to do.