Grammar is the spinach between the front teeth!

At the lunch break while on a field trip during the conference, we got to our respective packets that we had picked up beforehand.  Mine was, of course, a vegetarian lunch.  As tasty as that wrap was, it also had quite a bit of greens and sprouts.

Houston, we have a problem!

When I am in the public, I prefer to avoid greens and sprouts for a simple reason--they tend to get stuck between the teeth. Especially the front teeth.  I sometimes jokingly advice students that they ought to avoid spinach at any working lunch because if they talked with a spinach growth on their teeth, then the audience will only be fixated on that ugly green thing and ignore the message.  There is also a distinct possibility that their entire presentation will be discredited.

All because of a green!

So, there I was, hungry as one can be, and devouring the vegetarian wrap, and wondering whether I was running into potential trouble.  As the field trip resumed, I remarked to the only other vegetarian-lunch participant that the only hassle with the tasty wrap was about the greens.

"Oh, show me your teeth and I will check" she volunteered.  And she certified me ok.

Perhaps people stay married only for the reason that a spousal obligation is to point out the spinach. Perhaps in a coded way such that when the wife smiles at her husband and taps on her tooth, the husband knows exactly where he needs to clean up.

Anyway, I didn't have to worry anymore.  Well, except that an incisor, which suffered a trauma after a high school punching incident, is turning yellower by the day and now I was left to wonder what she made of that yellowing tooth.  It is a no-win situation! ;)

Over the couple of days, I attended plenty of presentations.  Grammar errors in the presentation slides stood out like spinach in the front teeth.   Simple mistakes like "here" for "hear" and "censes" where it ought to have been "census."  Maybe I am cursed in that my eyes directly zoom into those errors and stay put.  As much as I consciously drag my eyes away from the annoying spinach, soon they pick up a broccoli somewhere else!

Of course, I give plenty for other eyes and ears.  As I joke with students, I am even capable of messing up pronouncing my own name.  Little do they know that I am not joking!  I can only wonder about the metaphorical spinach and broccoli in me when I was up front.  I am sure I offered a lot--after all, I am a vegetarian, mostly! ;)