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by Patrick Meikle
I keep forgetting that it is probably only the people who really know me, who may appreciate my humour.  These are three things that I do or say that catch people off guard: 1-misspell
my freelance status; 2-wish people a Happy New Year long after January; and 3-when introduced to people, always
ask them if they are Irish, regardless of their ethnic sounding name.
Freelance righter and aditer:
As many of you know who receive emails from my personal address, I always sign off with:
-pwm
aka Patrick Meikle
is a freelance righter and aditer...
And it always surprises me when someone comes back to "Correct" my spelling... for example, this just
in:
Just a quick note.
You may wish to correct your automatic signature
It read: “is a freelance righter and aditer who lives”
Sorry, I am a “spelling bee”.
I wrote the person back:
That's O.K. (he said laughing...),
I do that on purpose... a little inside humour,
because I tell my colleagues that I never considered
myself to be either a writer or an editor...
But thanks for editing the editor (grin).
" Happy New Year" ...all year long!
Years ago I somehow got into the habit of greeting people I know, when seeing them for the first time in a new
year, by shaking their hand and saying "Happy New Year!" Could be in the middle of summer, but it is
still "Happy New Year!"
It's interesting the comments you get back: "Where have you been?" "What calendar are you following?"
"Aren't you a little off?" (They may be referring to my mental status!) Or more often than not just a
puzzled look.
Try it sometime and see what reaction you get.
Is that an Irish name?
There are some ethnic groups that are too serious, or just don't get it (the humour).
Often times when I am introduced to someone, and they give me their name (It could be Bondarchuk, Walker, Drubich,
Fisher, Czerwinski, Van Amersvoort, Bogdanovic, Jalalabad, Eberstark, anyone with a southern drawl, Miekel (not
to be confused with Meikle, I'm scottish, that's germanic), you get the idea... I always look at them with a serious
face and say, "Is that Irish?"
And nine times out of then, they will come back to me, with an equally serious look and say, even more seriously:
"No, it's... (whatever their ethnic background is).
I guess it is only the Irish, or waspy Canadians who get it, eh?!
Sick joke?
The next time one of your colleagues comes in to work after taking a sick day off, walk up to him/her and ask them:
"How did the job interview go?" Then watch the reaction. Sick, eh?!
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Les McLaughlin
