Tin Ears

      My Dad taught me a lot of $50 words in his day. Two of the most memorable are Nepotism and Tin Ear. I learned the meaning of nepotism when I told him at the ripe old age of ten that I wanted to work at his law firm. He smiled and sensed what they call today a "Learning Moment" and told me that was impossible. It had nothing to do with my desire only that his firm had strict rules about hiring relatives. I went and looked it up in the dictionary and never forgot it. When I got to college and met the students at the nearby Dickinson School of Law, I was glad for nepotism policies. What a dull lot of people they were and what an equally dull profession they were seeking out. No offense intended towards all my friends who are lawyers and are not dim-witted by any means. I can only speak for myself.

     The second $50 word I recall is Tin Ear. I was explaining the antics of a particularly greedy president of the New York Stock Exchange. My Dad knew him well and wasn't at all surprised by his avarice. He added that the man had a tin ear. I asked him to explain and he simply said that with everything going on around him and all that was being written about him in the papers he had to be completely oblivious. I went to my trusty dictionary again to be sure I understood:

      Insensitivity to the nuances of current situation or subtleties of a craft; indifference to somebody else's attitudes and moods.

 

Yes, that pretty much described the man who was walking a way from a job in disgrace with a huge golden parachute.