From the mouths of babes...

I couldn't have been more than 13 years old. Darlene and I were hanging out, and we'd met in grade 7, so it was likely somewhere between the age of 12 and 13. If you know me now, you'll find it awfully hard to believe that at one point I didn't cuss all that much...but at that age, I was pretty 'green'. Darlene used a few words rather freely, and me of course being young and impressionable, I picked up a few words here and there. (I by no means whatsoever blame Darlene for my current potty mouth). We lived very close to one another growing up, so we spent a good deal of our time at each others' homes.

The details are a bit fuzzy -it was 23 years back after all...but I remember a day where Darlene was over at my house. We were in the living room and Dad was in the living room or kitchen area. He was teasing me or acting a fool, perhaps, as he was wont to do when he had an audience.
I looked at him, smiling, and said, "Dad, don't be such a tw^t!".

I could see the blood rush from his neckline up to his temples.

He stammered, "..Er.... wh..wh..wha....WHAT DID YOU CALL ME???!!"

I, unwittingly, remarked, possibly a little louder this time, "Well, I said, don't be such a tw^t ".

By this point he was purple.

I couldn't at all understand what he was getting upset about. Darlene, on the other hand, was doing her very best to discreetly mouth to me to shut up...and at the same time, looked as though she wanted the floor to swallow her whole. You see, Darlene had used the same word around me a number of times. I'd learned it from her. I didn't know what the word meant. But she did, and she would never be using the term around her father. I thought it was rather endearing; cute, even.

I guess my innocence was rather apparent - so Dad couldn't get mad at me. Eventually the color in his face evened, and Darlene quickly explained to me what the 'endearing' term meant once he was out of earshot.

Needless to say I didn't call my father that name again.