D is for Dip

"Dip" is a term of self deprecating affection in my family. I use the term in referring to myself when I commit some form of stupid error in logic or function.

In my family of origin dip is often used in place of accusing one's sibling, parent, or child of being an idiot when one is experiencing a mental challenge, forgetfulness, or a full blown brain fart.

I trust you get my drift.

Today I was having one of those days that I  couldn't seem to get anything just right. You know those days; slightly disorienting, troublesome, distracted, tedious. Sigh.

After walking through the grocery store this evening, list in hand, I checked out and walked to the Jeep to deposit my purchases, cradled in my reusable shopping bags, only to realize that I had neglected to get chicken stock; the reason I needed to go to town in the first place. Thankfully I remembered before returning home. I pulled my little shopping list ouy of my pocket in the parking lot to see how I could possibly have forgotten my essential ingredient for tonight's supper.

It wasn't even on my neat little list.

"I am such a dipshit!" I exclaimed out loud to myself.

Oops. There I go, swearing at myself in public again. Which is also a dippy thing to do.

Dip is such a wonderfully expressive and relatively inoffensive insult. You may not agree with me, but in my family it always brings a smile that helps one recover from the offending moment.

Well, it always makes me smile, anyway. I guess you might need our Clark Family reference to understand why.

Do you ever read Johnny Hart's comic strip, B.C.?

When the eventually famous strip ran in the Sunday funnies my father laughed uproariously and passed the paper around the room. You know, the strip that shows the "Dip in Road" sign as Thor is pedaling past the goofy looking caveman sitting on a rock in the road? In this three panel strip Thor is distracted in the first panel, gains steam while looking backwards in the second panel, and goes sailing across a physical dip in the road and makes the observation, "I don't believe it." in the final panel.

Compulsive confession time: I didn't get it. I didn't understand why my dad thought it was so funny.

He patiently explained to me that as Thor was distracted by the goofy guy, who could be classified as a dip, Thor failed to observe the road-sign warning and then crashed into the dip in the road, having failed to slow down. (I guess it was that visual that I think should have been illustrated in a fourth panel in order to complete the story!)

I still didn't really get it. My dad just shook his head and said, "Think about it for awhile. Maybe it will catch up to you."

I am such a dipshit sometimes. But at least I can laugh at myself. :)