More than a bite

My friend has an appointment with a dentist today, which is why I will be talking here rather than with them. Funny how ones expectation of enjoying the workplace is more tied up with who you will interact with, rather than what you will do, but that could be subject of another and not why I am here now.

Anyway, left with this free time, which I should be doing what I should do, rather than this, but, hey, what the heck. And I had been thinking, yes it does happen. Why would a person' s wisdom be tied up in their back teeth?

Now I think that is what they said, that it was a problem with their wisdom teeth. Or the least with the fact that their mouth was too small. Never been a problem of mine. Just ask anyone. Which brings me to ask. If they are going to get wisdom teeth removed, then does that mean they will never have wisdom, or the little bit of wisdom they have accumulated by this stage is also removed? That those of us with big enough mouths are advantaged with more wisdom? Or at least have the teeth to keep that we do get?

But I do think it highlights another problem. Wisdom is all too often like back teeth. Hard to access, well hidden from the light of day, often forgotten and neglected and only really dealt with when there is a problem.

We should add wisdom teeth to the list of things misnamed. Tsunami's now get their correct title, but I would pray that not all name changes are as horribly dramatic as that. We all now know they are not tidal waves. Now we need to work on star fish becoming sea stars and wisdom teeth becoming... well, anything that does not have anything to do with wisdom. Adult teeth perhaps? Except that is given to those that replace milk teeth, again misnamed as very few teenagers would go anywhere being classified as adult. Ah, this requires more thought than I have time for here.

To my friend. May your wisdom not be tied up in dental floss, may you not suffer too much from the benefits of not having a big mouth and may the fat cotton-wool feeling disappear quickly and leave no other discomfort in its wake. Look forward to being regailed with horrendous dental stories at work on Monday.