Erin The Great

There is nothing like saying something in jest and having someone look at you like ‘how could you say that’ and realize that what you said not only really hit home, but there is a little if not a lot of truth to it as well. This is what I like to call ‘Foot in Mouth Syndrome’. I don’t suffer from it often, but when I do, I suffer hard core!

One of my favorite TV shows happens to be Scrubs. There is an episode where JD wonders what would happen if there was an opera singer to orchestrate when you’ve said something REALLY stupid or insensitive. You say your comment and without fail the opera singer belts out a well deserved ‘MISTAAAAAAAAKE’. I had such a moment last night.

Picture it: Provo, April 2008, I’m sitting in my living room with a few of my friends and we’re talking about our heritage. I happen to be Irish, and I was teasing a friend of mine for having the most Irish name possible without a single drop of Irish blood in him. He started telling me a story about how his grandfather was from Poland and was adopted and his name had been changed because of this. It then clicked in my brain that my friend was a Pollok and I asked him how many pall bearers were used at a Pollok funeral? Well there’s only two handles on a garbage can…Leave it to me to instantly bust out a Pollock joke, and ordinarily this would have been funny, until he told me that his very polish grandfather had just passed away and he happened to be one of the pall bearers. I could here the opera singer….MISTAAAAAAKE!

Picture it: Orem, January 2008, I was having a usual sarcasm spat with one of my buddies. This happens all the time so I usually think nothing about being a little rude, because it usually gets thrown right back at me. After verbally fighting for over an hour I ask him if he thought of doing something good for humanity and that sterility might be a very good option for him…. Only to find out 2 days later that particular day was the day he had surgery for testicular cancer…. MISTAAAAAAKE!

Picture it: various places in various time segments, unbeknownst to me, walking into a mourning crowd and then exclaiming ‘wow, it’s really dead in here’. Good one Erin!

I’m telling you, I don’t do it very often, but when I do, I do it up right! Every time I do it though, I just imagining the person taking a big ‘jerk’ stamp and stamping right on my forehead… one day I’ll learn to tune into situations like that and just keep my mouth shut.