Letting my hair down: Literal vs Figurative

I love letting my hair down at the end of a long day at school. Sadly, that is not a figurative statement referring to my active social life.

Every day I put my hair up in a bun. I do it on purpose to help my image as a professional. I don't know if it really makes a difference or not, but I know that partway through last year, when my kids saw my hair down and loose, they were all surprised and impressed. (You know, white girl hair. Remember the tendril girl in Class C? Did I ever blog about that?)

Anyway, my Friday Fable today was The Swollen Fox. The moral of the story was 'Don't get too big for your britches.' And you know what I was shocked to find out? NOT ONE of my students had ever heard that saying! Shocked, I tell you! I kind of flailed around and talked about not having a swelled head. But I'm not sure that's the best comparison. Please, blogger friends, how else can I explain that? Was I totally off?

When I asked kids for their input, they talked about getting overweight. Which led me to discuss a bit of literal vs figurative. I asked if anyone ever did instant messenger with their friends. Of course many hands waved in the air. On the overhead, I wrote ROFL and asked what that meant. I said, "Don't EVER use that unless your butt is ACTUALLY ON THE FLOOR, in helpless laughter!! Don't say "LOL" unless there is an actual "hahaha" emitting from your mouth! It irritates the rest of us!" "And don't even THINK about using an abbreviation like that or like 4 or U in school or anyplace but instant messenger or text messages!"

I did my best, people, to help educate the young'uns about proper use of language. It's up to them to take it to heart.