One Tiny Flash of Clarity in an Ocean of Fog

Amongst the laundry folding and closet cleaning, I had a single moment of clarity this weekend.

Recently, Michael has been exposing the kids to Monty Python classics, such as the Dead Parrot and Cheese Shop sketches and the Argument Lesson. (THANK YOU, Michael.) I learned all of these skits from audio recordings (remember LPs?) as a kid, and though most of the time we had NO IDEA why they were funny, my brothers and I howled uncontrollably at them. Much as my kids are now doing. Except, my kids are also memorizing them and acting them out NON-STOP.

(Would it be foolhardy to tell them that Uncle Jason once went trick-or-treating as a Cheesy Comestible? Yeah, probably.)

So, you remember how the guy looking for an argument accidentally wanders into Abuse? Yeah, my kids spent the weekend flinging around phrases like "you snotty-nosed heap of parrot droppings" and "you malodorous pervert" (I explained "malodorous," but not "pervert." There are limits.)

My moment of clarity involves Abuse. At one point, the Abuser tells our hapless hero to "shut your festering gobutit!" At least, that's how I heard it when I was 11, and that's how it's been imprinted in my brain for the last 30 years, nonsensical as it may be. It is with some regret that I realized this weekend that the line is actually "Shut your festering gob [mouth], you tit!".

I'll take my epiphanies where I can, these days.

But I still don't understand this one. Please don't try to explain it to me, as that's the way I like it.