February 14, 2002
It's Parsley

I went to Journalism school with a guy named Eric whom I have subsequently lost track of. We were grouped together as freshmen and seemed to bump into each other every year at random. We continued this way all through school and onto the IDS staff.

I was recruited onto the copy desk by Ruthie, about whom a rather unkind but not entirely dubious story was circulated. Apparently at an IDS party, a drunken Ruthie had pursued Eric around the room with a sprig of parsley, acting like it was mistletoe. (Why she wanted him to kiss her is beyond me, but that's the story.) Eric was always very sensible and he would have none of it. As the story goes, he shut her down with a very calm, logical response: "Ruth, it's parsley."

I'm sure Eric, wherever he is, has gone far in the world because he is able to point out when something's mistletoe and when it's parsley. The farther I go in life, the more I find I value this ability. Indeed, more and more often I find myself required to do the same. And I find myself dealing, conversely, with people who want to insist the opposite. ("Anne, If you would only look at it you can see that it LOOKS LIKE parsley, but it IS mistletoe! Seriously! " etc.)

And they usually insist this in e-mail.

Resulting in even more misunderstandings and confusion. At best.

I'll say it to anyone's face: Ruth, it's parsley.

Serendipity: I typed "parsley" into google and found this Web diary by Amy Lester, married to Andy Lester. Hey, I know these people!
http://www.parsley.org/

Posted at February 14, 2002 11:22 AM