I love the movie “The Three Amigos.” It is an older film, back when Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin were still a bit corner…..and known, but it has a timeless quality about it. One of my favorite lines from the movie comes from Steve Martin, “Lucky Day,” when he insulting the town bully. He calls him a “Son of a motherless goat.” I have looked high and low and haven’t found a better dis than that. Not only does it make the insulted feel slighted to be called a ‘son of…anything’, but when it sinks in and they really hear it….they are stuck in their shoes wondering what the heck it means. By using this amazing dis you can not only insult, but also confuse the idiots that plague your otherwise peaceful life.

I think it is important to have good insults like this in your arsenry, ready to fire when the need arises. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t usually call people names, it isn’t nice. But sometimes, when I feel the urge to punch someone in the back of the head, or in the throat, it is a better idea to say something that will stop them in their tracks and make them wonder what the heck you’re talking about. Even if it is an insult.

I am finding that teenagers are really good with insults. Part of this is because they use words that really make no sense to adults anymore. When I was a teenager, we used to be able to call someone a nerd or, something more obvious like a jerk, but nowadays kids have come up with all these words that we think are just normal words, but in reality are some sort of major insult to each other. In my teen days, calling someone a goat would have been really rude. Today, it’s a major compliment!

Teens do have major insults, but they also use them with their friends in a loving way, so I’m just left guessing all the time.

The other day, one of my junior high students told me that I was wow. Now in my life, the word wow usually is an exclamation of something that’s really cool. But with the way that they use words these days at junior high, I really wasn’t sure what that meant so I had to ask him. What exactly do you mean when you say that I am wow? I was pleasantly surprised when he said that he meant that I was a good teacher and cool and that he liked me. I guess sometimes these streams of logical or useful words do cross, and we do find a commonality with our youth. I’m not sure exactly why I’m a “wow” teacher, but I’ll take it. these teens are pretty hard to impress but they’re pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

I can definitely say that my job is not boring and no two days are the same. They keep me on my toes and they keep me smiling, laughing, stressing but every day, every day learning something new. And isn’t that what life is really all about?

I think it is.

Cause I said so.