WORD OF THE WEEK: Punctilious People

Over the weekend, I was buying some last-minute Father's Day cards for the men in my family. A crowd swarmed around me at the discount bin: other vultures like myself, preying on the carcasses of greeting card leftovers. Eventually, the jostling dwindled down to two: another woman and me. We picked up card after card, unfolding, reading, then refolding and replacing; picky, persistent, and punctilious.

"Look at this!" laughed the woman next to me. I gave a start. After all, this was a stranger, and I was in a hurry, despite my steady pace in reviewing the remaining cards.

She held out the card in her hand and let me read it (which I did, reluctantly, so as not to be rude). And there I saw the culprit in her guffawing: a type-o. "You bring so much wamth to my life," the card read. I laughed out loud, too, and said, "Well, I guess that's why it costs $1!"

"I should take it home to my husband, anyway," she confided, her eyes dancing mischievously. "He always reads the newspaper with a pencil in his hand, and circles all the misspellings." And so, a momentary friendship was formed. She found another card with yet another type-o, and shared that with me, as well. We looked at the backs of the cards to see if the same company was to blame for each (it was), and proclaimed that they were sorely in need of a better editor and some product quality control.

I found the cards that fit the occasions, in my estimation, and made my way to my family event. It was a letter-perfect day.

Punctilious: (adj.) careful attention to detail in forms of behavior and etiquette. (Thanks to myDictionary.com for providing this week's word!)

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