My Favorite Phrase

I'll never forget that morning of my senior year in Mrs. Tuckey's government class. It was during our weekly mandatory reading of newspapers on a Monday morning (or that's just what we did every morning during lecture). Heath, who just got finished filling out college applications to Arizona State on a basketball scholarship, was reading an article where a fan told New York Knick Patrick Ewing "to do something anatomically impossible." I remember Heath audibly asking "what does anatomically impossible mean?" Stack pondered for a moment and said, "I've heard that before and I think it basically means 'go ______ ________.'" We all then paused and "Ohhhh yeahhhhh"-ed together.

I've always wanted to use that phrase. Well, today I got my chance. There was a 6th grade student in my PE class who was talking while I was. I paused and looked at the student for a long time and finally kindly/quietly asked him to sit over by the wall. It should be mentioned that this student is very, very highly emotional and doesn't know how to control himself. It is a problem he's apparently had for many school years and documented. He's been doing much better this year, but still has his moments. He's basically a normal, competitive kid, just can "blow up" at times.

He doesn't like to get into trouble, especially in front of classmates, so when I carefully asked him to sit by the wall, he started crying, got up, and ran out of the gym. However, as he was leaving the area, he was able to get off this blast: "GO SCREW YOURSELF!"

Thankfully I'm always on my toes and without hesitation, calmly responded with "That's anatomically impossible."

And yes, the class was quite amused.