Just when you think you have someone figured out...

My husband and I live in a townhouse association where many of the residents are of retirement age or older. While we occasionally wish for a younger, hipper crowd to live with, for the most part, we appreciate the quiet and security of the neighborhood. I think it's also given us a new perspective on interacting with our grandparents; we regularly chat with neighbors the same age as our grandparents about things we would never talk about with our grandparents. I think it's helped me think of my grandparents not just as my grandparents, but as 80-somethings who are someone's neighbor.

At any rate, the other day I was at the pool, chatting with one of these neighbors. We were talking about television, and she was describing how she had been watching Letterman and he had done this bit about George Bush's colonoscopy that he had on Saturday:

"Yeah, he said that they removed four polyps, but when they were finished, they put his head back up his ass."

She paused, and looked a little uncomfortable. I expected she was about to start complaining about how she didn't think it was right to talk about the President like this, or even more possibly, that she was mad about what Letterman had implied. (Meanwhile, my husband and I are laughing uproariously.) But then she said,

"Which is true, of course, but he used the word ass on national television."

That's what really surprised me. I don't think of the word ass as particularly offensive at all. Sure, when I have kids, I wouldn't want them using it, but it's one of those "bad" words that I'm comfortable saying in front of my dad. I expected my neighbor to be upset at the political sentiment, but instead, she was upset by the language Letterman used to express it.

I don't know, for some reason I found this whole conversation to be quite eye-opening. I think it showed me that often, I sell people short because of some preconceived idea I have, but in reality, they're thinking something entirely different. And this is probably particularly true of someone several generations removed from me, who's had a very different life from what I've had. Living next to a lot of retired people certainly has its advantages.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for my canasta game....