When I was younger, I used to have this unstoppable urge to correct peoples’ grammar.  Thankfully, that impulse seems to have dissipated as I’ve gotten older, but I found out yesterday that it’s not entirely gone.

I walked over to FamousCoffeeCompany for a bit of the old you-know-what, and I was wearing my dark brown corduroy jacket.  The barista commented on it, saying that she loved it and that it was very teacher-esque.  My first thought was, “I think you mean ‘profesorial,’ ” and if this encounter had happened when I was twenty, I’m quite sure that’s what would have come flying out of my mouth.  With age comes dementia wisdom, however, so I said, “Thank you.”  Smile.  “Yeah, it even has patches on the elbows.” I raised an arm in front of me to show her.

“Nice,” she said, smiling back.  “Well, it looks great.”

I’m learning.  Slowly but surely, I’m learning.  Flirtation is much better than pedantry.  Or should that have been ‘pedanticism’?