sed408@ihlpg.UUCP (s. dugan) (08/27/85)
> > > We discovered that > scraping the point of a house-key against the wall would > produce a pencil-like mark. > > I scribbled a few spirals (that was all I knew how to draw), > and my sister printed our names. Later, when my parents saw it, > my father asked, "Did you write in pencil on that wall?" > I was to scared to answer, but my sister calmly replied, "No." > She stuck by her denial, despite my father's increasing frustration > and anger. > > Twelve years later, my father mentioned this episode over dinner. > He remembers his bewilderment and disappointment that his daughter > had looked him in the eye and repeatedly delivered an obvious lie. > He had always known she was intelligent; even at age six she must > have been aware that no one else in the house could have been suspected. > > My sister replied, "I told the truth. I didn't write in pencil on > the wall. I used a key." My sister is now a lawyer. It figures. > > Frank Silbermann A similar situation happened to me once. My mother was convinced that I had lied to her about something (I don't even remember what.) The punishment for lying and swearing in our house was having our mouths washed out with soap. I got the "normal" treatment that day. Later in the day, I had the opportunity to prove that I had been telling the truth. My mother took me into the bathroom, handed me the soap, opened her mouth and told me to wash her mouth out! That always struck me as being a very magnanimous gesture. It meant a lot more to me than a simple appology would have. I've done similar things with my daughter once in a while, and she seems to be quite impressed by the event and remembers it for a long time. -- Sarah E. Dugan "One Day At A Time" ########################################################################### # AT&T Bell Labs IH 1D-408 The Forest (home) # # Naperville-Wheaton Rd. 1353 Crab Apple Court Apt. 101 # # Naperville, Illinois 60566 Naperville, Illinois 60540 # # (312) 979 - 5545 (312) 355 - 0445 # ###########################################################################
rdp@teddy.UUCP (08/29/85)
In article <1141@ihlpg.UUCP> sed408@ihlpg.UUCP (s. dugan) writes: > >A similar situation happened to me once. My mother was convinced that I had >lied to her about something (I don't even remember what.) The punishment for >lying and swearing in our house was having our mouths washed out with soap. I >got the "normal" treatment that day. Later in the day, I had the opportunity >to prove that I had been telling the truth. My mother took me into the >bathroom, handed me the soap, opened her mouth and told me to wash her mouth >out! That always struck me as being a very magnanimous gesture. It meant a >lot more to me than a simple appology would have. > >I've done similar things with my daughter once in a while, and she seems to be >quite impressed by the event and remembers it for a long time. > > Even though this may not be the appropriate newsgroup, I have to relate a story my grandmother told me about my father. He was brought up in a strict Yankee Congregational household where the punishment for profanity was the aforementioned soap-in-the-mouth, except that Fells Naptha was the bar of choice. One day, my father was trying to build something when he either hit himself with the hammer or made a mistake, or some such thing, and promptly exclaimed, "DAMMIT!". Well, his mother tore out of the kitchen, grabbed him by the ear, dragged him into the kitchen, and proceeded to wash is mouth out with the dreaded soap. As he was standing there gagging and sputtering, he said, "You know, Mother, that tastes just like shit!" Some people never learn. Dick Pierce