Situation

Elysha and I overuse the word situation. We overused this word independently before we met, and now with constant reinforcement, everything is a situation.

This dinner is a serious dining situation.

If we don’t hurry, we will find ourselves in a serious travel situation.

That woman’s choice of boots is quite a situation.

As to be expected, the way that we speak often bleeds into our student’s lexicon, until they end up sounding like us to one degree or other.

Years ago I was working with the Boy Scouts, and a brand new camper wet his pants, as brand new campers will occasionally do. He approached me with his hands covering the telltale signs of his accident and said, “I have a pants situation.”

I had to explain later that my laughter was over his choice of words and not his unfortunate situation.