How do you pronounce [#@%*^$%# ?

In response to last week’s question, "How do you pronounce  [#@%*^$%# ?,"  my neighbor Al replied, "...with soap in my mouth," to which my west coast friend Bruce added, "I know how to pronounce it, but you misspelled it!  The final syllable you wrote ($%#) is merely the gurgle and pop my throat makes from the soap and pepper Miss Snodgrass (my second grade teacher) washed my mouth with, so many years ago..."

My birthday bud Jon declared, "Trump."

 My temple friend Richard cautioned, "You can pronounce it any #@%*^$%# way you want, but you have to be careful about where the $%*Ω£¢§# you say it!"  My Parrothead friend Samantha follows Richard's advice, "I have small children, so I only pronounce that in my head- and oftentimes in traffic."

 When my dad's beach buddy Bob described "unmentionable series of 4 letter words," my jeweler friend Bill provided the qualifier, "It depends if you are from the North or the South."

 My writing and sailing friend Rich concluded, "It translates to 'Special Words' such as 'The Special Work Words' when you walk out of the latest meeting or 'The Special Sailing Words' when you run the boat aground, or 'The Special Wife Words' pretty much for anything you do, sensitivity is harder than it looks."

 My PR friend Stan declared it is, "F" to which my cousin Greg thought it was "FUBAR" and my social media friend Mark thought it would be "Freaking Auto-correct."

My friend Tracey recalled, "If you've ever watch The Flintstones, Fred pronounced it at least once or twice per episode."  And my sailing friend Norm politely replied, "Cheese & Crackers!"

Please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

Is graduation a gradual thing?

We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

Congrats to those completing high school, college and post-graduate school, and their families.  If you got your masters or doctorate, are you a post-graduate graduate?

Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm.  Stop by NicheLabs to see what else I'm up to.