Going Through A Phrase

“Slogan,” from earlier slogorn, a war cry; a brief attention-getting phrase; a word used to express a goal to be achieved.

I ran into just that yesterday. Seems as how “Cotton on Kids,” a New Zealand clothing chain, has (or, rather, had as of today) a line of infants’ t-shirt slogans for the innocent little tots. Things like: “I’m Living Proof My Mum Is Easy.” Or, if you want something less tasteful: “Mummy Likes it on Top,” or even “The Condom Broke.”

I ran into something disturbing in Port Jefferson, Long Island NY, some years back. I was waiting for the ferry to Bridgeport CT and there was a young girl, perhaps five or six, with a t-shirt lettered: “Leave ME Alone,” one word over the other, the “me” emphasized and the meaning quite clear.

Disturbing: She was alone. Nobody remotely near her who I could identify as a parent or older brother/sister. I would have taken her to the police station, or called 911 for her own good, but if she had that t-shirt on, she probably had drilled into her about strangers doing harm (and probably not about strangers helping her). So I left her alone.

One of my friends had a t-shirt with her name on it in Braille, but she made the mistake of having the Braille on her chest. All the ill-mannered guys who thought they had just thought up the joke wanted to feel the dots. When I made up a Braille shirt for a friend, I had her name put on the back.