Heya, Bill,
I also did a mean thing once to someone who was bullying me.
I had just moved back to KY from AK and was starting into chemistry in the new high school. There were two football players sitting near me. One of them was a really nice guy who was also in my Latin class. The other fellow was continually ragging on the new guy. I don't know why he started in on me - maybe I was just smaller or maybe he just need to vent. But I immediately became the object of his (very poorly executed) ridicule. The fellow's last name was "Duffy," however, which inspired me to return a little of what I had been getting. I turned around so I could talk to both of them, and asked, "Duffy ... hey, is that a Latin name?"
He looked at me and then at his teammate who shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think so. Why?"
"Well ... you know ... DoofUS, DoofEE, DoofUM ..." at which point he jumped up and began chasing me around the room. Meanwhile his buddy was laughing so hard he was almost in tears.
(As I relate this story, I'm thinking it must have happened at the start of the year after I got back.)
Another cute story about the nice teammate. He and I were playing chess and I was taking just about every piece he had. He looked up reproachfully at me and said, "You know, when the masters play, they don't take all of each other's pieces!" at which point I replied "That's because when masters play, they don't givem away."
In fact, these were both pretty decent guys, though.
Thanks for bringing that back to me, Dr. Bill. Words are our friends.
k
