Word of the Day: Lay off (someone/something)
The boy in the picture looks a little bit intimidating, doesn’t he? Even though he is just a kid, he is a kid with a bat, and he seems like a bully. If he is a bully, that is not acceptable, and it is the responsibility of society – parents, teachers, neighbours, everyone – to tell him to lay off bullying people.
As a grade nine kid, I was bullied. I had just moved to a new school, and one other kid decided that he was going to pick on the new guy.
I didn’t take kindly to bullying, and I told him very clearly to lay off.
He didn’t; of course, he didn’t. One day, while he was bullying me during math class, I hit him.
Yep, right in the middle of the lesson, I think it was English Literature I stood up and hit him.
Yes, it must have been English Lit. because Mr. Wickens was the teacher.
Everyone was surprised: the other students, the teacher, the bully and even me. I was, perhaps the most surprised.
Anyways, the point from today’s word of the day post is that lay off means to stop doing something. If you consume too much sugar you need to lay off sugar; if you are negative all the time, you need to lay off being negative, and if you are a bully you need to lay off bullying people.
Nobody likes a bully.
PS, in case you are wondering what happened. I did not get into trouble. The principal called me into his office and told me that I had done a good thing, but I should never do it again.
The bully had always been a bully and a problem in the school. He was a city boy who had never bullied a country boy before and probably never did again.