The Pus Debacle

White liquid that oozes from wounds -- you know, that stuff? -- yeah, I realized recently I've been spelling it wrong.

While playing Mad Libs with sixth graders, one of my key rules is to add adjectives in front of nouns to make the story more colorful. Two kids decided to keep saying puss, a slang term for the female genitalia. Yellow, crusty puss, etc.

Puss this, puss that. I wasn't sure what to think about as I heard this. I wanted to stop them in their tracks and ask them, "do you know what you're saying? You're being perverted!"

But then I asked, "do you mean pus?"

And the little sixth grader said, "yes, puss!"

"NO! Pus! You're pronouncing it wrong!"

And I wanted to laugh it off so, but knew that I would give something away -- what that was and if the sixth graders would get it...I wasn't sure. I went home and told Steph about the word debacle, and to my knowledge I hadn't said it wrong -- I've been spelling it wrong.

Thank God I don't writer grotesque horror.