Thought Showers

This is part of an article written by Guillermo Rubio in a newsletter I received the other day.

An article I was reading mentioned a mom who objects to the term “brainstorm.” Wishing to shield her daughter from the ravages of a “brainstorm” and the word’s violent connotation, she insists on using the term “thought shower” instead.

The word “brainstorm” triggered an image so violent in the mom – along with the emotion of fear – that it compelled her to action. That action being to always substitute the term “thought shower” for “brainstorm” when speaking to her daughter, and to ensure that others do the same.

A couple of things strike me about this.

First, isn’t it astounding how powerful words can be?

Second, what kind of a whack job is this mother? Does she really think she can shelter her daughter from common word usage?

It’s one thing to object to profanity or derogatory terms, but “brainstorm”? Really?

Does this mother also protect her daughter from milkshakes, battered fish, pound cake, wild rice, and crushed pineapple?

Is she allowed to listen to music that has sharps or broken chords?

Pretty sure they don’t drink Harvey Wallbangers at their house. But if they do, you can bet they call them Harvey Partition Taps.

I hope she’s not an athletic girl because her mom would keel over dead if she was drafted to play basketball for the Seattle Storm.

Did they watch The Perfect Storm? Probably not, because it had Bob Gunton in it.

What if they’re on vacation and drive through Killen, Alabama … or Killdeer, Illinois… or Tombstone, Arizona … or Needles, California …. or Rifle, Colorado? I’ll tell her right now to stay out of Texas or they may find themselves in Cut And Shoot, Hooks, or Huntsville.

Do they just cover their eyes or do they detour around?

What other bogus stuff should we shield our kids from?

0 thoughts on “Thought Showers”

  1. Becky, only you would be able to come up with something this funny on this topic. Battered fish? MilkSHAKEs? Let’s not forget skewered peppers or chopped nuts. My gosh, a simple dinner is a veritable medley of mayhem.

  2. “Mind vomiting” … that’s funny. My brain usually only burps.

    I think it was Calvin Trillin who calls the first drafts he writes “vomit drafts” because everything he wants to say just comes out in a disgusting gush.

    So if anyone complains, you just send ’em along to Calvin. He’ll set ’em straight.

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go punch down, er, gently caress my bread dough.

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