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Point seven

Met a Very Important Partner from another law firm. Somebody asked how many lawyers at his firm. He answered, "243.7."

"Point seven?"
"If you count up the people working part time."
"Oh, I thought it might be because one of the attorneys is eight months pregnant," I joked. (I acknowledge it wasn't all that funny, but that's what popped into my head when I heard the point seven.)

He looked alarmed and laughed while putting up his hands in a "whoa" position as if I had said something wildly inappropriate, and replied, "You can say that, but I can't."

Then it was my turn to do the alarmed laugh. "Was that offensive? Sorry, I didn't realize."

I'm not sure whether he heard me, but he said, "I have to know someone pretty well before I tell an off-color joke."

Off-color? After racking my brain, I can only think of three ways this could be remotely offensive:

1. Any reference to pregnancy is taboo. (Pregnancy typically results from sex, thus off-color?)
2. Reference to baby as .7 of a person is offensive. (Maybe he reads those church brochures that chastise you for saying you're "going to" have a baby, because from the moment of conception you already have a baby.)
3. He thought I meant that the pregnant attorney herself was only .7 of a person.

None sounds plausible. (Unless he thought that by #3 I meant that somebody close to having a baby might take maternity leave and be gone for a while, and so they wouldn't add up to a full lawyer? In which case, he really shouldn't have laughed at all.)

Anyway, I guess I should have kept my mouth shut. Next time I will limit my conversation to the weather and appropriate legal topics until I have a sense of what the person considers "off-color." Then I'll let loose with my best jokes about the pregnant attorney, Bill Clinton, and the Pope.

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).