Fat Is Fat And That Is That

Successful "plus-size" model Tess Holliday is proud of her body, but don't call her "fat."

While visiting our cousins, my husband and I attended a small dinner party given by their friends. Being out-of-towners, all the guests were strangers to us. There were 14 in all: Myself and the three people I already knew, and five new couples -- the old-fashioned kind consisting of one man and one woman.

Everyone was welcoming and a good time was had by all. But if a crime had been committed that night by one of the women and I had to describe them to the police the next day, I'd say there was a thin one with a fabulous smile, a stylish blonde, a serious one wearing glasses, a chubby woman with cropped grey hair, a cheery extrovert with a Buster Brown haircut and a very fat lady who scowled a lot. The cops would have no trouble figuring out who was who.

The next day I was chatting with my cousin (the thin one with the fabulous smile) and said how much I enjoyed meeting her friends, except for the fat one who was not very friendly. The fabulous smile faded as she explained that she never used the word "fat" and thought it was akin to a slur. She prefers "heavy."

I say fat is fat and that is that. If fat people don't like being called "fat" they should A, lose weight or B, get over it. As Charlie Brown once said, or was it Snoopy, "The first step out of blahdom is knowing that you're blah!"