Reverse Corn

I always think of corn when I hear the words, “buttering-up.”

So when one of my friends, surprised at what was to be a kindly gesture said to me, ‘What are you buttering me up for?”  My response was plain and simple, “I don’t butter.”  There was no pre-thought or ambiguity.  I never have a hidden agendas, so I gave him a straightforward answer with no salt, pepper or hot sauce.

But the cliché made me think.  Buttering is the coating on the outside of something that makes what its covering more palatable.  I would probably be the last person to think of buttering someone up, but that label got to me.  I always try to use courtesy and empathy in most situations and it wouldn’t even occur to me to be anything less than kind.

I let it go for a few days and here I am back again today, trying to finish this piece.  I changed the title to Reverse Corn.  Now whenever I do something for someone or when someone shows me a gesture, I wonder, am I being buttered up for something.

It’s interesting and if nothing more than it makes me think about the eventual outcome of who is buttering who?  Or is it whom?

OTOLI