“Playing Golf Together” Must Mean Something Else, Too

Grandparents, Home, LGBTQ, Silly, Texas, USA, Wordplay | Related | June 6, 2018

(My great-grandmother is rather open-minded. However, being from her generation, sometimes she lacks the vocabulary to talk about things. So, when her granddaughter Karen comes out as gay, she is very supportive, but rather than say, “lesbian,” which was an insult in her upbringing, she refers to anyone gay as a “friend-of-Karen’s.” We have this conversation years later when she is in her mid-nineties.)

Me: “…and then he got his doctorate degree.”

Cousin: “Good for him. He’s a friend of Bob’s, isn’t he?”

Me: “Yes, he is.”

(My great-grandmother gets very confused.)

Me: “What’s wrong, GG?”

Great-Grandmother: “I’m afraid I’m losing my memory. I remember what a friend-of-Karen’s is, but what does it mean when they are a friend-of-Bob’s? Is that when it is two boys?”

Me: *pause* “No, GG, we just meant he went to school with Bob and they play golf together.”

This story is part of the misunderstood-lesbians-themed roundup!