The spouse told the dinner party how a car salesman kept calling her “Dear” or “Sweetie” and how after the transaction was completed she let him know that even though she was not overly bothered by this familiarity, other women might be. Another dinner guest said he was not offended when the diner waitress called him “Dear” or “Sweetie.” “Why not just ignore the car salesman?” he said. A good discussion about sexism, sexist speech, and political correctness ensued. My questions: Is it all right for a diner waitress to call a male or female customer “Sweetie”? Is it all right for a male car salesman to call a female customer (surely he would never so call a male customer) “Sweetie”? What about a plumber, a bank clerk, or a medical doctor?

Would you be offended to have a statute of Benedict Arnold in your town square? You might think that is a crazy question because we don’t put up monuments to those who fought against the United States; we don’t put up memorials to traitors, and “Benedict Arnold” became synonymous with “traitor” shortly after the American General Arnold defected to the British during our Revolution. But Arnold, before his switch, was an American hero and had a major role in the battles around Saratoga and Lake Champlain, and he does have a sort-of memorial at Saratoga—a sculptured pair of boots (Arnold was wounded in the leg there) with an inscription that talks about a “brilliant soldier” without mentioning Arnold’s name. This, however, commemorates his bravery fighting for the new United States. We don’t have memorials when he was fighting for the British against the United States for the simple reason that we don’t honor Americans who fought against the United States. Unless, that is, they fought against the United States from 1861-1865. Somehow we don’t see these people as traitors and treasonous, but we should. They made war on the United States. A major issue after the Civil War was whether to charge the leaders of the Confederacy with treason. Jefferson Davis was so charged, but he was never tried for it, as the United States officials concluded that the desired reconciliation of the country would be harmed by treason trials. Then on Christmas of 1868, President Andrew Johnson issued a “pardon and amnesty” for treason to “every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion.” A result of Johnson’s proclamation is that we don’t see the Stonewall Jacksons and the Robert E. Lees as traitors, but, of course, they were. And if we saw them as traitors, we might wonder more about why there are so many memorials to them.

I don’t think it was intentional, but it was a dump truck. The back of it read, “In God We Rust.”

I thought it was genius when I first saw the graffito “Moses Invests” penned below the sign “Jesus Saves.”

Do you have a friend like mine? She might ask, “How did you like the movie ‘Dunkirk’?” She does not interrupt while you speak. She is only waiting for you to end so she can give you her opinion of “Dunkirk”. No real conversation ensues.

Why is it when you sleep fitfully all night that you are sound asleep when it is time to get up?

The newspaper reported that “new fossil discoveries show that prehistoric ‘squirrels’ glided through forests.” Shouldn’t it be “glid?”