...with the poster who said that if an older male co-worker had read a sexual meaning into an innocent cat tshirt, she would have been freaked out. Here is a link to what I assume was the tshirt "Kitty" was wearing, since it's the only "kitty's not happy" tshirt I could find. I do think anyone who could find this tshirt provacative has to be a bit warped.http://cgi.ebay.com/KITTYS-NOT-HAPPY-T-SHIRT-lg-SURF-SKATER-KARDIAC_W0QQitemZ300119302436QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Sorry posting the same link as the letter just before me; I guess that was posted while I was writing mine.

At least the one I found isn't. I guess there is more than one, because the one I posted isn't Felix either. The one I'm talking about isn't an anthropomorphic cat at all--just a sitting cat with a sad look on his face.

The comparison you are making is not apt. Although "pussy" originally meant cat, nowadays it's only used to refer to female genitalia and wimpy males, while MOST of the time, "kitty" refers to a cat. And if you do look at the t-shirts Scribblist and I found, you will see that neither of them is in any way sexually suggestive.

Because they are way back in this discussion.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KITTYS-NOT-HAPPY-T-SHIRT-lg-SURF-SKATER-KARDIAC_W0QQitemZ300119302436QQcmdZViewItem

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Pixyboodle_kittys-not-happy_W0QQfciZQ2d1QQfclZ4QQfsnZPixyboodleQQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2QQsaselZ211936510QQsatitleZkittyQ27sQ20notQ20happyQQsofpZ0

Now, can anyone say that either of these shirts is provacative? Felix is a male cat, and it looks to me like he's making the "talk to the hand" gesture with his paw. That's an invitation? The other is just an ordinary, non-humanized white cat with a sad or angry expression. And to those who think that the LW was talking about a different shirt because he wrote "Kitty not Happy", I used that as a search term on the same day Cary posted his column, and it brought up no

...should have been nothing.

Well, at least nobody's mad at him over his t-shirt...

Anthony Hopkins is bi-racial? Since when?

...but my own reaction to the LW is more irritation than hostility. It seems that the LW is a 31-year-old woman asking her mother to bail her out of debt, but trying to spare her own pride by attempting to build a case that the money she wants is rightfully hers. I don't know if the mom's finances/their relationship are such that the LW could say "Mom, I messed up and would appreciate some help here", but I do think that she needs to approach the situation honestly.

Are you equating not having what you want with having a rough time? The LW isn't unemployed, she's returning to school because she wants a different career path. She's not homeless, she just doesn't own a house. It did occur to me that perhaps the debts she was talking about were student loans, but in that case she's asking her mother to pay off her education debt so she can acquire more education debt plus another huge debt in the form of a mortgage. Do you really think a parent who doesn't consider herself obligated to do this for her daughter is selfish?

Poor LW--not only pendantic, but wrong too. Try not to make your friends and coworkers feel guilty for being angry with you for the banana peel you have placed on this slippery slope.

Should have said "pedantic" not "pendantic".

The stepmother is not biologically related to the 17 year old, but her daughter is biologically related to all of them. You really don't think that at some point the daughter might have a problem with her mom cheating on her dad with her half-brother?

...after reading on MSN.com that when she was stopped by police, she tried to say that she wasn't driving, the "black kid" was. That's just despicable.

I find the best way to be rid of an unwelcome song in my brain is to think of other, more agreeable songs. As to the content of the song that's troubling you, I just think that our brains have a tendency to throw out random garbage, for who knows what reason.

But since you feel guilty and upset about that particular song, why don't you try listening to music that depicts the struggles and pride of Black Americans? Stuff like Marvin Gaye's "What's going on?" album. Or Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" or "Curtis Live",Parliament's "Chocolate City". War, "The world is a ghetto", etc. I don't know if you can use headphones at work, but if not, listen to it a lot at home and maybe you will find yourself absorbing it, and you can hit the mental "skip" button at work when the offensive song starts up in your head, and start up something more in line with your feelings. This is of course assuming that it's only the content of the song that's bothering you, and not the fact of having an in-brain concert.

That under no circumstances is she to teach the cats to play soccer or take them on a rollercoaster. And if bouncing was dangerous, every baby and former baby you know is brain damaged.

Ouch!

Maybe your co-worker is allergic to dust and mold. I am, and although I take medicine for it, I still sometimes have coughing spells that last for a couple of minutes. Those are bad enough, and I assure you that anyone who is coughing constantly is desperate for relief. It sounds like your co-worker is doing everything he can to get a diagnosis and treatment for his cough, so I suggest you do as a previous poster suggested and bring your ipod to work. Some annoyances you just have to learn to tolerate.