Espresso vs. Expresso

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Sherry from Tempe, Arizona.

Hello, Sherry. What’s going on?

Well, I need a little bit of dating advice.

Dating advice?

Oh, yes, please.

And you’re asking us?

Yep, yep.

Why?

Because I met a man. He’s a doctor, so I’m assuming that he’s well-educated.

Mm-I’m liking this so far.

Well, when we talked about where we’d meet for the first time, I suggested an espresso shop near us.

And he said, oh, that sounds good.

An espresso shop sounds like a good idea.

Wow.

You said espresso with an X.

That’s what he said.

Oh, my goodness.

And my teeth gritted and my ears burned.

And I thought, well, okay, we’ll give it a try.

So I met him, and we talked for about two hours, had a great time, but I’m really worried.

What other words are he going to come up with later on?

I dated a man once who said simular and mandatory, and I sure don’t want to run into that again.

Oh, no.

Oh, man.

I mean, if our president says nuclear, what could a doctor say?

So I don’t know.

Should I keep dating this guy or just wait for someone else who knows how to speak English?

Sherry, what kind of doctor is he?

He’s a GP.

Does that make a difference?

Well, you never know, actually.

But I’m wondering if there was a way I could gently correct him.

Boy, now that is a toughie, isn’t it?

Do you have a relationship yet?

Have you gone on another date?

No, just the one time.

Well, but Grant, I don’t know.

I mean, Sherry, from my point of view, if I had to wake up in the morning and hear somebody say, I brought you some espresso before I ever even had that first drop of caffeine, oh my gosh.

No wonder it’s hard to meet a woman.

I don’t think I could handle it.

But I think this is, you know, like Barney Fife said, you have to nip it in the bud.

Right.

Oh, I don’t know.

You know, here’s the thing.

It was one date anyway.

Right.

That’s true.

Yeah, but.

There’s a lot of different ways to approach it.

Here’s what I would propose.

Go on two more dates with the guy.

Okay.

Go to an espresso restaurant, at least one of them.

Find a way to get this word to come up and find a way to tell him what you think about it.

Joking or non-joking.

Go to an Italian restaurant.

You know, it’s entirely possible.

This is a great test to find out if he’s the kind of guy who will actually listen to an important woman in his life.

If he’s willing to listen to you and say, oh, you know what? I never thought about that.

But you’re right.

It doesn’t make any sense that I said X when it should be an S.

You might find out new things about the guy where you’re like, oh, here’s a man I can work with.

What do you think?

I think that next date is at an Italian restaurant and I will clearly order a cup of espresso with dessert.

There we go.

All right.

Thank you for your call, Sherry.

Best of luck on your date.

Yeah, let us know who it goes.

Let us know how it turns out.

All right.

Yeah, I’ll let you know.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Ooh, boy, that’s a tough one.

No, but she’s got a good point there.

I mean, I guess the whole show Sex and the City was about this.

It was about setting your standards so high and trying to look for that person who meets your criteria on every level that sometimes you kind of exclude people who are really great but have a couple things that aren’t quite right that you could probably live with if only you tried.

Grant, I didn’t know you were an SATC fan.

Well, you know, I used to read Candace Bushnell’s column before they ever started a television show.

You did?

Yeah.

All right.

Well, if you have a story for Lex in the City, give us a call.

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