I was at my client's store, a high end jewelry store . . . and while attempting to walk to the back room, I tripped over a decorative gate in the showroom and knocked it off it's hinges. I was embarrassed by my gaff and made a joke about being like a "bull in a china shop." My client's response was to say, "I've got to show you something on the internet."
I had no idea where she was going with that statement, as I was still focused on how much my toe was throbbing and how embarrassed I was that I was tripping through her store . . . but a minute later, I understood why she wanted me to see the video she pulled up on her computer.
It was a video that was created to dispel the myth that bulls could cause havoc in a china shop. The producers of the video simulated a "china shop" by putting big shelving units in a pen, each filled from top to bottom with pieces of china. One by one, they let bulls into the pen and each bull ran around the pen, up the down the spaces between the "china cabinets" but never once did one of the bulls run into one of the shelves, not once did they break a single piece of china.
It was clear from watching the video that "being like a bull in a china shop" didn't mean what the expression intended . . . shelves weren't knocked over, china wasn't broken on the ground, the bulls couldn't have been more agile, more "respectful" of the china.
I realized in that moment that I needed to remove that figure of speech from my vocabulary. After all, it clearly wasn't fair to bulls, as it wasn't an accurate representation of how bulls behave when in close proximity with china.
After seeing the video, I had no choice but to accept the fact that this figure of speech that I had been using most of my life was something that wasn't "true" and since I feel so strongly about always speaking the truth, it wasn't something I could say anymore.
So, to the bulls out there in the world, I apologize and I promise to not spread untruths anymore :-)
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