Fractious

My best friend said, “Every time I would get “fractious” with my mother, she would say, “You’d better draw your horns in.”

I asked her, ‘Does anyone even know what that means? I never heard that old saying, but I like it.

As an older woman who doesn’t suffer fools easily, I can be quite fractious-or so I thought until I read the definition. Heck fire, I am NEVER fractious. Wait, I am, but it is with certain people that push my buttons. Usually difficult to deal with people who you cannot reason with or they say, “Yes you are right” and then keep doing stuff you have cautioned them not to do.

I had not heard the word tetchy before. It’s kind of funny when you are on the outside looking in at a “fractious” person. I always think of curmudgeonly to describe an old man who is grumpy- like in Grumpy Old Men- the movie with the two old guys from The Odd Couple. I think of old women with the “waspish” like a stinging insect who can be hurtful in their words.

But, since when do adults get permission to be like this when it is as the definition states, “Typically of children”? Something to think about. If you try to point out a person’s peevishness or touchiness, it just gets worse. As my friend stated, she has learned to “pull in her horns” and let it go. If someone is in that mood, you can’t reason with them. Just hope they wake up on the right side of the bed the next day!!

See Lily- in the picture. She is definitely fractious!!! Can’t you tell by the look in her eyes?