Friday, January 18, 2008

Hints.

Yesterday in Spanish class, we were learning a group of verbs that have a similar irregular construction in Spanish (verbs that mean things like, "to like ____," or "to need to ____," or "to be annoyed by _____"). We played a game of bingo where each square contained a sentence and a blank for someone's name, and we had to fill in the name of someone in the class after asking around to see who fit with the sentences. Some of the sentences were "No le interesa ir de compras (He doesn't like to go shopping)", and "Le disgusta el chisme (He is disgusted by gossip)" and "Le conviene ir al dentista (He needs to go to the dentist").

That last one made me uncomfortable to begin with, even if it wasn't directed at me, but when one woman in class walked right up to me and asked "Te conviene ir al dentista?" it felt like a conspiracy.

People are always giving me breath mints. Isn't it obvious how unhelpful that is? First of all, it's tooth decay that's giving me bad breath, so I don't need to be sucking candy all day. Second, it doesn't help. Nasty breath is even nastier combined with the smell of mint. And third, it's annoyingly cryptic. If you want to let somebody know his breath is foul, tell him his breath is foul. And deal with his reaction, because, though it will be useful news, it won't be pleasant news. My reaction now would be "I know," but I imagine most people don't know because their loved ones are afraid to tell them. Bad breath can be a sign of any number of health problems, so do a good deed and tell somebody he has bad breath today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. According to research by Dr. Harold Katz (bad breath expert), being offered breath and mints all the time is a sign that you have bad breath. Apparently, that's one thing people can't talk about, apart from religion and politics. You're also right when you say that mints aggravate your breath - the sugar feeds the bacteria and makes your breath worse. Check out this article about breath mints -- http://blog.therabreath.com/?p=18 and find the breath mint that does what its supposed to. I tried ZOX mints by Dr. Harold Katz and it worked unlike any other breath mint I've ever tried.