The Letter D − April, 1981
The Letter “D” can mean many things. It can mean you’re failing. It appears twice in the word “dead”. People use it in emoticons. Notice that the letters ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘E’ rhyme. Perhaps if you were hard of hearing, or someone were mumbling, or the sound quality were poor, it could be hard to tell them apart when spoken.
One day, in my high school geometry class, the teacher asked one of us to explain a problem he’d written on the board. He was a nice enough fellow, but no Einstein. I was sitting to the far right hand side of the class, about midway back. I began explaining the problem. I was talking about the point ‘D’ on a figure which had points ‘A’, ‘B, ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘E’.
The teacher couldn’t make out which letter I was saying.
“E?” he asked.
“No, D”, I replied.
“B?” he queried.
“No, D.”
“C?” he asked, puzzled.
“No”, I said with some amount of frustration. “’D’, as in ‘dumb’”.
There was a stunned silence in the classroom. The other kids looked at me and at the teacher. I looked at him too, feeling terrible. I actually liked him. We were on friendly terms. Class resumed, and we finished going over the problem.
After class, I went up to his desk and apologized. I told him that I had not meant it; it had just slipped out. He said it was OK. We were still friends.
One day, in my high school geometry class, the teacher asked one of us to explain a problem he’d written on the board. He was a nice enough fellow, but no Einstein. I was sitting to the far right hand side of the class, about midway back. I began explaining the problem. I was talking about the point ‘D’ on a figure which had points ‘A’, ‘B, ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘E’.
The teacher couldn’t make out which letter I was saying.
“E?” he asked.
“No, D”, I replied.
“B?” he queried.
“No, D.”
“C?” he asked, puzzled.
“No”, I said with some amount of frustration. “’D’, as in ‘dumb’”.
There was a stunned silence in the classroom. The other kids looked at me and at the teacher. I looked at him too, feeling terrible. I actually liked him. We were on friendly terms. Class resumed, and we finished going over the problem.
After class, I went up to his desk and apologized. I told him that I had not meant it; it had just slipped out. He said it was OK. We were still friends.
Comments:
intrepideddie (March 29, 2008. 05:33am)
"D", as in "d'oh!"
peahayes (March 29, 2008. 12:04pm)
At least I didn't say "D" as in "dipshit" or "dumbass".