People Worse Than Us

Part Four in PWTU's Ongoing Series

Today we tackle a mother's misguided worrying about her friends' son, who sounds really cool.

DEAR ABBY: I have a good friend, "Cathy," whose 11-year-old son, "Evan," is a friend of my son, "Noah." Evan has always been a name-caller. He constantly uses words like "stupid," "idiot" and "butthead" when talking to my son, but Noah has always laughed it off or told him to cut it out.

Today Noah told me he no longer wants to play with Evan because Evan is such a name-caller. Evan's habit apparently doesn't bother Cathy, since Evan constantly calls his baby sister the same names, and Cathy doesn't seem to notice. She is, however, worried about Evan's socializing at school because no one seems to like him.

How do I approach her about this problem, and mention that her son's name-calling is the reason Noah doesn't want to be with him anymore -- and probably part of the reason Evan is not very popular at school -- without causing discord between us? -- PUZZLED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dear PUZZLED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Unlike you, we're not going to ramble on and on in our reply. The bottom line is that it sounds like Evan has, at his tender age, already figured out that people generally suck, and oftentimes are buttheads, idiots, and stupid. Right now it might bother others that he keeps it so real, but trust us, it will pay off big-time down the road.

And his baby sister is lucky to have a cool brother like Evan.

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Tags: stupidity, realism