When Good Words Go Bad: A Case Study

Imagine you have just finished a comedy set at the Stork Club in 1946 and Sherman Billingsley greets you as you leave the stage. He’s really excited. He loved your set, and he says one of the following…

1) “You look smashing and your gags are to die for.”

2) “You killed out there tonight, you really slayed me.”

3) “You are so bad… you are the bomb.”

4) “You are so phat and dope and sick, you make me sick.”

In which scenarios do you smile and shake his hand?

In which scenarios do you slap him?

In which scenarios do you give him a great big wet kiss and yell, “Thanks dawg! Your club is the shit. I mean this joint is so totally ass, I want to burn it down!"?

This week's opening line... I'm thinking of it as a middle-grade novel, first-person narration...

Being invisible would be great, imagine all of the trouble you could stay out of.

Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

And now to music... from the movie "The Stork Club", I bring you, Betty Hutton, (I have to admit, I find this hilarious).