“Look at that road sign for the next exit. Iota! Why would you name a town that? A speck? A tiny bit? Don’t they have any feelings of importance?” “Apparently not one iota,” my husband laughed. I looked up that Louisiana town and found out it had a population of less than 2,000. Okay, maybe it was a tiny town, but certainly the people in that town shouldn’t feel unimportant, insignificant. A character in the popular series Downton Abbey once chided a woman: “Why would you say

“Another ‘F’? That’s the third quiz I’ve failed! I can’t fail Shakespeare in my final semester!” But the professor’s warning sounded loud and clear in my head: “If you fail the quizzes, you will fail the class.” There was nothing more I could do but throw myself at his mercy. That afternoon in his office I assured this formidable gentleman whose expertise in Shakespeare was renown that I had not failed to read every one of the plays he had assigned… even two or three times! B

Unknown Caller. Unknown Number. Well, let’s see who this might be. “Who’s calling please?” I asked. “I need to speak right away with the person who owns the computer in your house.” “Who’s calling please?” I asked again. “And why do you want that person?” “We had a report of a virus on your software.” “Well that’s strange since that computer is no longer in operation and I have a MacBook.” Click. End of conversation. I never did find out exactly who was calling, but it was ob

"If you call me at the restaurant and you don't hear anything when someone picks up the phone, just start talking. It's me." When I was a student in clinical voice disorders, my client stuttered. His greatest fear was saying his own name. Imagine that! Unfortunately for him, his father had the same first name, and it was the first word in the name of the family business. Every time he answered the phone in the restaurant, he froze. Poor Tony! Afraid of his own name! Our God i