What's mildly amusing you today?

[Clodfobble]

One of the manifestations of Stepdaughter's crippling anxiety is her refusal to commit to anything, anything, on the first go-round. Some examples from our real, actual life:

Me: What time do you want to have lunch?
Her: What do you mean by "lunch?"

Me: I like your shirt.
Her: What do you mean by "shirt?"

This is not a dismissive or sassy thing; she just always has to make sure she completely understands any comment or question because she is profoundly terrified of making a mistake or agreeing to something that wasn't ideal. (She is also afraid of looking like an idiot, but somehow we can't convince her that this quibbling behavior does exactly that.) ANYWAY...

She was hanging out with friends from work (she has friends! from work!) and the conversation loosely turned to race relations in America. One of the guys noted to her that he never gets to think of himself as a computer nerd first, or a teenager first, he must always remember above all that he is a black man as his primary identifier. Her response, of course...

"What do you mean by 'black?'"

And the collectively whispered whoooooooaaaaa could be heard for miles. And now her friends all think she's some kind of goddamn philosopher-poet.