MuttonChops

In 1984, James Finn Garner's book of "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories" was published. Titles, professions and ethnicities were gaining finely tuned verbiage and Garner managed to provide a plethora of options while poking fun at the absurdity of not calling the kettle black. Yet, in real life, a speaker calling out the color of said utensil risks offending: a specific division of the human race; the manufacturer that chose the name "ebony;" and all kettle users that refer to the object's size and purpose rather than color. Avoiding offensive phrasing is exhausting. Rather than looking at reality and the intent of the speaker, critics conclude that people are racist. People have become so conscious of being criticized they actually avoid any type of descriptive terms. A woman told me of a recent conversation she had with an acquaintance. The acquaintance mentioned a person and to clarify, my friend said, "Was she a black woman?" The acquaintance...

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A recent excursion put me in the fortunate position of meeting a woman that shared many commonalities with me. She is close to my age, a single mother with young adult children and she grew up in the same community as I. Our conversation drifted towards her son's decision to obtain his degree in business administration, find work and his place in society before even considering marriage. "There are more important things in life than money," she said, adding that her son plans to wait until he is 30 before considering starting a family. I agreed and noted the tendancy of many career-minded adults doing the same thing. She said one of her son's college professors stressed the importance of having financial security before marriage. While this sounds admirable, we wondered if this generation was dangling on a pendulum that is swinging to a far extreme. I was reminded of a movie I saw recently called "Idiocracy." A bit campy, it seems mindless on the surface but...

MuttonChops is not a reference to the large fuzzy swatches of whiskers on each side of Elvis' face. Instead, my reference has more ambiguous meaning and failure to grasp my intent may mean this blog and future posts will require the need of tutelage on your part. Follow my logic for a moment if you dare ... Mutton: sheep; flesh of said animal Chops: cuts apart; breaks up; a specific cut of meat This then brings me to an even better definition of " sheep" noun 1. woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat 2. a timid defenseless simpleton who is readily preyed upon 3. a docile and vulnerable person who would rather follow than make an independent decision ; "his students followed him like sheep" sheep. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved June 21, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sheep Now, consider today's masses lacking independent thinkers. People are making major decisions, choosing homes, buying cars, a...