Oh... em... shoot.

This week, I was approached after school by an colleague whom I respect very much. This person advised me that it would probably be best if I stopped saying "O-M-G" (or, oh. em. gee!) in front of the kids. I almost laughed because I thought she was joking, until she very seriously told me that it is wrong to take the Lord's name in vain in front of children.

Oh. So she wasn't joking.

I thought I'd be more annoyed, but I'm not because she had a very valid point. I do say the phrase a lot, and I have always thought/intended it to mean "Omigosh!" in a fun, abbreviated form. I don't want people to think I mean any differently, so I decided that very day that I was going to turn this into a personal challenge. Emily Schmitz is officially going to stop abbreviating common words in her vocab, for realz. This means no more...

- Oh. em. gee!
- Fab
- Delish
- Condish
- Comersh
- Profesh
- Loves it
- BF
- Fo' (this is the number four... it comes out a lot when I'm teaching math)

In two days, the kids in my classroom have already caught on to the changes. You should never underestimate the power of observancy in children. They catch on to ev.ery.thing. They notice when I sprout zits, when I need a Diet Coke, or when I'm having a bad day (but that's easy, because my bad days are the ones when I do NOT jump on chairs and serenade them with songs from Glee). This conversation took place yesterday:

Me: "OH. EM... I mean... shoot... OMIGOSH!"
Students: "Why did you do that?"
Me: "Do what?"
Students: "Correct yourself."
Me: "I didn't."
Students: "Yes you did! You said 'omigosh.'
Me: "Um. So?"
... blank stares...

I told them about my personal challenge and that I was finally going to enter adulthood and speak like a professional. They got all philosophical and cute and I felt like I was in a therapy session run by 10-year-olds:

"But Ms. Schmitz, your vocab us what makes YOU, YOU!"
"It's boring when you talk normal."
"Only OLD teachers say full words."

I have to admit, those are insightful things to say. What if my choices of words ARE what makes my personality the way it is? What if I LIKE shortening any words that end with "tioner" or "mmercial" or "ssional" to a "sh?" Is it really so bad? Maybe there won't be a time in my life that I am successful in making changes in my vocabulary. And someday, when I'm an old, crinkled 90-year-old woman, I hope I am still saying that dinner was absolutely DELISH, thank you very much. That would just be fab.