Bad Form

this post is mostly for the benefit of those of you who know the wasband, because it is so obviously true, but I just saw it. 

Anyone read J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan recently enough to remember it?

I don't know exactly why I was thinking about this, but I just realized  how much the wasband reminds me of  Capt. Hook.

I 'm not being horribly nasty - just hear me out.  I am not claiming that the wasband kidnaps little orphan children and threatens to make them walk the plank.  I'm not suggesting he is clever enough to seduce fairies into switching allegiance.  In fact, I want to examine how he shares the character trait that the author might see as the captain's most redeeming quality - his sense of propriety.

I'm sorry, I can't quote; I don't have the book with me.  But basically, Capt. Hook is able to die (although he somehow invariably returns from the maw of the crocodile in most sequels) with a gleam in his eye, because of Pan's impropriety.  After the final duel on the ship, the victorious Pan kicks Hook to the water and the waiting crocodile below, and Hook is finally able to proclaim "Bad Form!"

The wasband is truly led by the aspiration to "Good Form."  I remember when we were just married, and I asked him about his crazy college days, did he do this or that.  A couple answers surprised me.  "Why did you do this?"  "Feh, it looks low-class to do the other."  Not "I didn't want to," or "I didn't think it was right," or even "It was more trouble than it was worth."  It was because of "Bad Form."   

Why do I bring this up?  Back in the "So I'm a Jerk" post,  I suggested that it was easier on my heart to think that the wasband was acting so cold not because he outright hated me, but because he thought I was a big jerk.  I don't know whether I believed that theory even when I wrote it - as I said, it was a rope to grab for.  But it is clear what really motivates his reaction.  Calm fortitude is "Good Form."

Does that make me feel better?  No, definitely not - whattaryagonnadoo?