fear of AWK

As a teenager and young adult, I was terrified of people. People I knew, people I didn't know, people in my family -- all potential subjects for e-m-b-a-r-r-a-s-s-i-n-g.

I actually used to recite those letters in the moments after a perceived embarrassing encounter. Spelling it over and over to myself. I'm sure this helped my self-esteem.

Yeah. (I say again, thank you, prozac.)

My high school English teacher used to mark run-on or clunky phrases with "AWK." Too true.

The article linked below gave me one of those oh-so-rare "someone managed to put into words exactly what I feel all the time!"

http://www.theawl.com/2011/03/i-can-awkward

Less so these days, but still, fear of AWK applies.