Getting Down and Dirty or why you need to get the words right!

This is a conversation between me, my friend Nancy in Toronto, and her nine year old daughter Lydia. We were in a Vietnamese restaurant in Toronto.

Lydia: Mom have you ever done the down and dirty?

Nancy: Excuse me?!

Lydia: The down and dirty, you know when you eat in a restaurant and then run out without paying.

Me: Oh, you mean dine and dash.

Lydia: Yeah, the down and dirty, have you ever done it Mom?

Nancy: Dine and dash, and no, I haven’t.

Lydia : Jan have you ever done the down and dirty?

Me: Dine and dash. No. My sister did it, but it was because of me. 

Lydia: Tell me when your sister did the down and dirty.

Me: Dine and dash. Well, she was out for dinner with her neighbours and I was babysitting. It was about a week after Halloween.

Lydia: Get to the part where she does the down and dirty.

Me: Dine and dash. Well, I had had a flu shot that day and then I didn’t have dinner because I wasn’t hungry, but when I got to my sister’s house I ate a lot of Halloween candy.

Lydia: What’s that got to do with the down and dirty?

Me: Dine and dash. I’m getting to that part. So, I was feeling sick and I laid down. I handed over the babysitting duties to my niece who was conflicted with enforcing the ‘no more candy’ rule, because she wanted more candy.

Lydia: Jan get to the part where your sister did the down and dirty.

Me: Dine and dash. I’m getting there. So I phoned my sister to tell her to come home. She thought I was really sick and then she did it. 

Lydia: The down and dirty?

Me: No, she dined and dashed and left her neighbours holding the bill. I turned out to be okay.

Lydia: She did the down and dirty!

Me: Dine and dash.

Words matter. Janet Reid said it. Nathan Bransford said it. Words are our tools. Get them right or there may be hilarious consequences. The least of which is being accused of getting down and dirty.    

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