The Girls At School

Bonus Substack for all. Because it’s something that’s always on my mind…

The girls at school were called pigs, and then dogs. And then the girls at school were called pogs (and that’s about as clever as the people calling the girls at school names ever got). The girls at school were called ugly and stupid we called them bitches we called them dumb. We were numb to any of it actually hurting or meaning anything.

We learned it all from our dads and brothers, from the guy at the golf course and any of the others…including the bloke who came to unblock the sink and the guy that helped move house. We called them horrible, we told them they were stink and that they stank and that they sucked.

And later we even pointed out what they sucked (as if we even had a clue – and if we did it was wishful, hopeful, sinful, lustful). We told them this, we told them that, we called them anything, and then everything that we could.

Far more names than we ever should — and we did it because we thought it was funny and clever and cool. The girls at school coped with more than we will ever know. And know more than we ever knew.

We called them all the names we hope our wives and daughters never got and never get. We try to forget. But we don’t deserve that. Just as they never deserved any of it.

The girls at school…