Snot

Working at a preschool, it's very easy to tell that we're well into the cold and flu season, which reminds me of a story from when my brother was in early elementary school. My mom took him with her to a PTA meeting, and he and his friend Todd were playing in the corner while the parents were having the meeting. In the middle of the meeting, my brother came up to my mom, and asked (loudly enough that everyone heard, of course), "Mom, what's 'snot'?" My mom was a bit mortified, and my brother added, "Todd said 'snot' and I don't know what that is." Now it was Todd's mother who was mortified. My mom calmly responded, "It's nasal drainage," and my brother said "Okay" and went back to play. My mom looked at the other mothers, who were probably thinking, "What kid doesn't know what snot is?" and said, "Well, what do you call it?" None of the other mothers had an answer for that.