Up yours...hmmm

I witnessed a fight the other day at the grocery store during the early evening. An older man, who had a hearing aid, simply could not get out of the way on time. He had been pushing his carriage slowly and surely did not see the angry woman behind him. She was (I surmised) in a hurry to get home to her screaming children. I heard her tell the man to hurry up, but the man could not respond in time. She banged his cart in order to get around him. Grocery store aisles are getting smaller and smaller as the years go by and there is no talk to widen them given the current recession.

The older man saw his cart fly forward and yelled: "Up yours, lady!". I thought I had taken a trip back to the fall of 1991 when I heard his irate voice and the expression up yours. I simply placed my bottle of olive oil into my basket and watched for a reaction. The woman, whose back was turned to him, raised her hand and flexed her middle finger. I don't know if the older man saw this gesture, and I am hopeful that he didn't.

I spoke with the older man about the incident. He replied: "I have a hard time hearing. I just felt that she could see my hearing aid on my head, but she obviously couldn't because she went ahead and bumped me. Up hers...that's what I say." I told the man that up yours had been replaced with a more acceptable expression in today's busy world, namely fuck off. He smiled, thanked me, and patted my shoulder. He then said: "Next time son, I will use that. I am not afraid to use a four letter word to cut to the chase."