My mother always emphasized the importance of being polite – saying yes, please and thank you, practicing general civility and showing kindness toward others.  I try and remember that as I go through life, but there are some days where my bright and shiny polite self seems to be a little tarnished.  There are times when my patience evaporates and I say things that I know my mother would furrow her brow about.

Most days though I push for polite regardless of whether I feel it or not.  I do this because I worked in retail once upon a time and I once had someone who was having a bad day yell at me and make a big scene in public.  Of course my reaction back in those days was to cry – the impoliteness of the man hurt my feelings even though his interaction with me was for the most part uneventful, I just happened to be the person who he unloaded on.  So I really try and be polite to others even when I am miffed – I know that is the right thing to do and what my mother expects.

A couple of weeks ago I received a Signals catalog and in it I saw a t-shirt that said – Unreliable Narrator.  It immediately reminded me of my mom.  I can see her using this label for someone as opposed to saying that they were full of…ummm…baloney.   He doesn’t just make things up…he doesn’t lie…he is just an unreliable narrator.  Diplomacy…the key to polite-speak.

I have been thinking about ways to convert potentially impolite statements to polite-speak and I have to say that while it is a challenge it is an interesting one.  I have already thought of a few good polite-speak replacements for things I might say that would not traditionally be viewed as civil. Take a few minutes today when you say things and think how polite-speak would change them…you will likely find that there are less confrontational things you can say that relay the same message substance while still remaining civil…or at least that is what I think…but perhaps I am an unreliable narrator. 😉

Day four hundred and seventy of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C