Swinging is something that both kids and adults love to do, although i

Swinging is something that both kids and adults love to do, although it seems that the term may mean something different to different people regardless of their age. For instance, when I asked my niece if she would like to go swinging she responded with great enthusiasm that she would very much like to do that, any time or any day. She even went so far as to say that she would spend a good amount of her day swinging if she could. Then, when asking my good friend if she would like to go swinging, she looked at me as if I had just struck her across the face with a tire iron. She knew that I was aware of her long standing involvement with a very nice man, and for me to suggest that she mess that up was very much an insult to her.

For both of these people that I care about, I had to explain my questions. It really was just a matter of interpretation, I told them. My niece didn't pay much attention to me, and before I knew it we were out the door and on our way to the closest park that offered such services. It didn't matter to me much, as she is my favorite niece and I had a great time pushing her back and forth until her little heart was content. Unfortunately, it let to daily requests to go to the park and eventually I had to turn down her proposal. It was a lesson that I learned the hard way-- don't involve the young and innocent in my small and sometimes meaningless experiments. I hated to disappoint her, but I couldn't go on, day after day, with a trip to the park when there were countless other things on my agenda. Of course, she thought my agenda was silly, especially when it didn't involve playing in the park.

Roberta, my good friend, understood though that I wasn't suggesting that she have a fling. It was much easier to explain to a grown girlfriend of mine that my intentions were harmless and that I was merely conducting an experiment in the dual and sometimes triple meanings of words. She didn't find much interest in my inquiries however, and the matter was dropped after that. I was on my own from this point on, wondering how in the world the term had aquired such vastly different meanings.