FEAR AND LOATHING

In an amusing conversation with a friend and her acquaintance, the topic was confronting one's fears. Surprisingly, at least to me, both of the women said that they were afraid of "midgets".

Incredulously, I asked, "How about dwarfs?"  They said they did not know the difference.  My friend Gretchen had corrected my misinformation about the differences awhile back; I was able to impart the correct information but I said, "I think that they prefer to be called 'little people' rather than those other names."

Midgets are very short people who have normal body proportions;  dwarfs are very short people who have disproportionate body parts.

I think they became bored when I told them that the plural of dwarf is "dwarfs" but the variant "dwarves" was popularized by J.R.R. Tolkein in the books The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings.

My mother did not believe in corporal punishment;  thus I never had a spanking, slap, punch, or any other kind of physical punishment. My brother Les, who is nine years younger, never had any punishment either but he has an unforgettable, vivid memory of being "walloped" once.  

When he was four or five years old, he and I were in town together and we saw a dwarf and he began pointing and making fun of the man and I did "wallop" him!