"And I Quote. . ."

You probably know that there was a fire at the lumber yard two lots away from us recently. When it happened, I intended to post about the warning we got. I got busy with other things, of course, but was reminded again when I read an article in today's paper.

The article was about a local vandalism spree -- property being shot up with paint balls. I don't think it's much in the way of vandalism, because my car (along with several others in that parking lot) got tagged with one about 12 years ago and the paint washes right off. But apparently it has the local sheriff jumping.

In the article, it says the sheriff has identified four boys responsible for shooting houses, and quotes him as saying, "It's all over." Both Jennifer and I found this a bit confusing given the rest of the article. But then we figured out that he was not saying that the spree has come to an end, but that events have been too widespread to have been done by only those four boys. In other words, a confusing choice of words was quoted.

The other week, when the police knocked on the door shortly after 5:00 a.m., they were also confusing. The officer said, "A shed is engulfed."

It took a while to get from "a shed is engulfed" to the understanding that the neighbor's property was burning and we were being advised to leave. Particularly since the officer gesturing in the direction of the fire from the doorway was also gesturing in the direction of my shed, which might have had some snow on it, but that's all I could imagine would "engulf" it. At the time I thought maybe he had deliberately chosen words that I'd have to think about, so that I didn't panic.

It wasn't until I got home from work that day that I found out that the local fire department was already tied up at a different fire in town when we were being advised to leave. Nor that the fire fighters who eventually put the fire out had to come from two towns 10-15 miles down the road. Although I can't blame the guy for not explaining that, when he had other houses to warn.

I frequently find that I've said something straightforward in a manner that just plain confuses my audience. Well, now I know. . . I should have taken a career in law enforcement.

-=-