My friend Stephanie from high school went to college in another state. Before she left, we were talking and somehow got on the subject of Winnie the Pooh stories. She revealed, “I don’t like Christopher Robin.” “Why not?” In my recollection, he had never done anything polarizing. “He’s a putz.” I had never heard anyone use the term putz as a noun, so I didn’t realize she meant “He’s a doofus.” I had heard the term “putzing around,” so I figured she meant that he was a slowpoke. Defensively, I exclaimed, “He had these leg problems!!” She didn’t know what I was talking about, so I explained that he wore leg braces. Well, after she went away to school, I looked through the books and found that I had remembered it wrong; one story mentioned him wearing a back brace. I didn’t bother to mention my discovery. When Steph came back to visit, she showed me photos from her semester, including a Halloween party she had attended. She handed me a photo of a guy wearing walking shorts and a sweater, holding a helium balloon. “What are you supposed to be?” She’d asked him. Wouldn’t you know it? “Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.” She told me that she asked him, “Aren’t you supposed to have these leg problems?”
Whoops! Sorry, Steph!