Convert faux pas, part 3

I very nearly answered the phone at the convent last night with "Hail, Missionaries of Charity!" Fortunately I switched the first word to "Hi" just in time. I'd just started a Rosary; that's what messed me up.

But that's not as funny as the story Fr. Ed told from his own childhood. The family was praying the Rosary together and the phone rang. His little sister went to answer it while the others continued. She picked up the phone, and without thinking she chanted in unison with the others, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name..." When she realized what she was doing she slammed the phone down in embarrassment. That must have been one confused caller!

Yeah, those aren't really convert faux pas, but they remind me of my previous posts on the subject. :)

In Reader's Digest I learned about the new soldier on guard duty who called out "Hark! Who goes there?" when someone approached. Unfortunately it was a superior officer, and the sentry had to do thirty pushups and say with each one: "This is the army, not a Shakespearean festival!"

Fr. Ed's story reminds me of a time when I was about nine and my younger brother and I were at a public pool. I happened to see him swimming by me and I wanted to talk to him, so naturally I seized him by his red hair and hauled him up to the surface. But when his face came up to my level I realized it wasn't my brother. It was another red-haired, freckle-faced six-year-old kid. I was so embarrassed I immediately swam away. No doubt there's a red-haired man out there somewhere with traumatic memories of this event.