People Share The Time Someone Tried To Correct Them About Their Own Expertise

When we’re confident that we’re correct, none of us like to be told that we’re wrong by someone else: a teacher, a doctor, a spouse, a parent, anyone.

What’s worse is having someone who’s less experienced try to tell us that what we know or what we do is incorrect. Then, just to add salt to the wound, they try to lecture us about it, even though it’s us who’s right the entire time. During this whole lecture, we might continue to stand our ground and spit facts back, but often, the other person doesn’t change their perspective. The next thing you know, their mini “lecture” becomes a full-blown argument, forgetting that they’re going up against someone who specializes in or has plenty of knowledge on the very thing they’re trying to correct us on. Frustrating is the best word to describe these moments.
If you’ve ever been “corrected” on something that someone thought you were wrong about (but weren’t), you’ll be able to sympathize with the following individuals. These folks share a story of the time someone tried to tell them that they were wrong when in actuality, they knew more than the person attempting to school them.

29. He Was Clueless When It Came To Coffee Beans

The characteristics of light and dark roasts are commonly mixed up.

“When I worked at a coffee shop I had a customer ask for dark roast, and he added, ‘The strong one’ at the end. I politely corrected him and informed him that if he wanted strong coffee he should either order the blonde roast or the medium roast.

He insisted that dark had a stronger coffee taste, therefore, had the most caffeine. I explained that dark roast just means the coffee has been roasted longer burning off a lot of the caffeine leaving a bitter taste.
He lost his temper at that point and said, ‘I’ve always had that and I’m right. Just hand me my order.’ I don’t remember much, but I probably did just that and thanked him just to get him out of my sight.

It also happened a lot when they bought coffee bags, people have no clue when it comes to coffee roasting types and just like to assume.” drizzleoftherain
28. He Told Me His Daughter Should Be Bleeding While Getting A Tattoo

“Tattoo artist here.

Had a client come in with his daughter while she was getting a tattoo on her upper arm. He insists that I’m not going deep enough because she isn’t bleeding (Side note: the ‘*****’ that you see while getting tattooed isn’t really *****; it’s plasma mixed with whatever ink you’re using.

The darker the pigment the darker the plasma.). Says I need to go deeper if I’m gonna penetrate all SEVENTEEN layers of skin. He goes on to say she should be bleeding dark red.
I correct him saying that the needle needed to only hit the second layer of skin (the dermis) and that there is only three layers total. He tells me I’m wrong and that he should know because he had a partial tattoo apprenticeship in the late 80s.

He then told his daughter that she should clean her tattoo with rubbing alcohol. At that point, I lost it and told him I’d punch him square in the nose if he went anywhere near that tattoo with rubbing alcohol. His poor daughter was mortified and embarrassed but followed my guideline for aftercare and she healed up fine. Man, I feel sorry for that chick.” vkirkncc1766
27. He Was Convinced Mesquite Ham Didn’t Exist

“I didn’t specialize in it, but when I worked a the deli in my local grocery store I had a guy come in asking for some sliced ham.

I asked him if he wanted black forest ham, honey baked or mesquite ham.
He looked at me and said, ‘It’s not mesquite, it’s mestique.’

I pointed at the sign and label (on the actual ****** ham!) that said mesquite ham, but he still corrected me. I gave up and gave him his darn mestique ham. This was a good 15 years ago, and I’m still mad about it.” dustbunnee
26. He Wouldn’t Believe Me Or The Group About The Name Of The River

“I studied history in university and worked for a while as a tour guide in Prague, Czech Republic.

I had a customer once on a walking tour of the city go really snarky with me because I called the river running through the city the Vltava. He declared to the whole tour that that wasn’t its name. I asked him if he’d heard it referred to as the Moldau, as that was the German name for the river during the Habsburg era when German was the official language, but he said no, and was I stupid.

The river was called the Danube.
I pointed out to him that the Danube doesn’t run through Prague, and asked if maybe he was thinking of Brno? No, he had definitely read in a guidebook that it was the Danube and why the heck was he paying money for this tour if the guide didn’t even know what the river was called? At which point another tourist in the group showed him her guidebook where it clearly said ‘Vltava.’ Then another showed him a map.

And another showed him another guidebook, and so on until the whole group had basically shown him what a doorknob he was being. He didn’t apologize, of course, but at least he shut up for the rest of the tour.” QuokkaMocha
Another User Comments:
“He didn’t czech his own guide book.” Evolving_Dore

25. Her Combat Veteran Sibling Had Signs Of PTSD, But She Tried To Say Otherwise

“I’m a doctor of clinical psychology (PhD) and my areas of specialization are PTSD, Depression, Anxiety and Narcissism (both Narcissists and survivors of Narcissistic abuse).

I treat patients all day long.
I was in casual clothes on my day off and hanging at a friend’s house with 4 other moms for a kid’s play date. Someone mentioned having a troubled sibling, and red flags were going off. I asked if the sibling had ever been evaluated for posttraumatic* stress *disorder (PTSD)*. I was prompt*ly informed *that PTSD ‘i*sn’t even a real* thing; it’s a*ll for atte*ntion and %*5Bthe sibli*ng] just needs* to get his cr*ap togeth*er.’

I r*emember thinkin*g sarc*astically, *’Wow, thanks for* the correc*tion, *********,’ and ‘This is where the severe stigma around therapy and mental health comes from.’
I let her know she was wrong and that I was a doctor and an expert in PTSD.

She turned bright red. I welcomed the sibling (a combat veteran btw) to come in for a free consultation, gave her my card, grabbed my kid and left.” hipopper
24. He’s A Doctor Who Had To Admit He Was Wrong

“I worked in orthopedics as a medical assistant for over 13 years. At the last practice I worked, there was a surgeon who was always right and could never admit to being wrong about anything.

He also always had to point out if someone else was wrong; you know the type.
I had worked up a patient and took her history regarding her hip issues. If a patient had any prior x-rays or other images we would pull those images up on the computer. This lady had previously had a fluoroscopic hip injection so I pulled up the images from that procedure and documented it in the office note.

After the doctor in question had seen the patient he was at the computer work station making more documentation into her record. I was standing there at the desk along with a couple of other medical assistants. The doctor says, ‘Oh by the way that lady has not had a fluoroscopic hip injection so I took that documentation out of her note.’
As I said earlier I had been working in ortho for 13 years and I knew a little bit about it.

So me being the hard-headed person I am beginning to argue with the doctor that yes indeed this woman had had that procedure. He argued right back. I said, ‘I pulled the images up in the exam room.’ He said, ‘Sometimes you can confuse a hip injection with an SI injection.’
No. No, you can’t. You can literally see the needle going into the hip joint. And….it was also labeled.

So then he said, ‘Ok let’s go back and look at those images and I’ll show you.’ So we went back to the exam room and I pulled the images back up and he sat down at the computer to look at them. I stood there and watched him look at those pictures for at least a minute as he realized he was wrong and didn’t want to admit it.

He finally stood up and said, ‘You were right, I’ll add the documentation back to the note,’ and he stormed out of the room without another word.

I hated that ********!” MsK1026
23. The Psychiatric Nurse Thinks Bipolar And Manic Depression Are Different

“I had a weird disagreement with my ex’s mother who should have been more specialized in this than me, but was mind-boggling wrong.

She was/is an advanced practice psychiatric nurse (I hope she isn’t anymore, but don’t know).

Her job every day was to take care of mentally ill people, likely many with bipolar disorder, as it’s common.
I have bipolar disorder. So, experience, but no professional education on it.

She mentioned that she had a patient with ‘manic depression’ one day. I said, ‘Bipolar disorder’ when I asked a follow-up question.

Her: ‘Not bipolar disorder, manic depression.’
Me: ‘….They’re the same thing; manic depression is just the outdated name for it.’

Her: ‘No.

Manic depression and bipolar disorder are completely different.’

Me: (Silently horrified this woman has at least some degree in psychology and manages nurses on a psych ward.)” canwritebutnotedit
22. I Had To Explain That 911 Dispatch Isn’t For Cooking Emergencies

I can’t tell if the person calling was joking or…

“When I worked 911 dispatch years ago I had a lady who kept calling one Thanksgiving insisting I tell her how to cook a turkey and that it was an emergency because she had family coming over and they needed a turkey.

Apparently 911, according to her, existed to help anyone in need and I should have been doing my job instead of trying to be lazy because it was a holiday.
She kept calling back and calling back until I eventually sent a patrol by her place to tell her to knock it off and the whole speech about tying up resources with her nonsense is a ticketable offense.

She called back after the holiday weekend to complain to a supervisor who promptly informed her of the same thing and that all our lines are recorded. She hung up and we never heard back from her.” kejigoto
21. They Don’t Understand My Chronic Condition

“I’m a type 1 diabetic. My pancreas doesn’t produce insulin. It never will. If I don’t give myself insulin I’ll die. Those are all facts.

They will never change in my lifetime.
The number of people who talk to me about weaning myself off insulin, or how I just need to change what I eat to fix it makes me want to punch them. It’s been about 13 years since I last produced any insulin on my own. I know what I’m talking about. I don’t care if your brother’s ex-girl’s aunt cured her diabetic cat with cinnamon.

Leave me alone and let me stab myself in peace over here.

And don’t even get me started on the people who nag me about aspartame. Yes, I know it’s probably not awesome for me. But you know what’s worse? The fracking ¼ cup of sugar in regular pop.
Now I’m grumpy again.” dbence18

20. He Said I Didn’t Know Anything About Birds… I’m A Bird Expert

“I’m an ornithologist and have handled literally thousands of baby birds.

Someone in the neighborhood was asking on our neighborhood online group what to do if a baby fell out of its nest. I told her to put it back. A guy hops on (no idea who I was) and went off about how the mom would never return if you touch the baby and that she should just try to raise the baby (not easy if you don’t know what you are doing and don’t have the supplies).

I informed him it was an old wives’ tale, of course, the mom would come back. That fired him up and he went on about how I was an idiot and didn’t know anything and I should just shut up. I informed him of my job and added a picture taken that day of me holding 4 nestlings. I added in an article about me for good measure.

He decided to double down and continued to tell me I was clueless and he knew for a FACT it was true and people should believe him because he was right and I should change professions because I clearly didn’t know what I was talking about. Ugh.” IHeartSquirrels
19. She’s A Professional Costumer, But He Said Her Outfit Was From The Wrong Era

“My friend and I went to Dapper Day at Disney last weekend, where people dress up in vintage wear.

One of Disney’s photographers asked my friend if she was Disney bounding (interpreting a Disney character) and she replied that she was simply a generic dress circa 1955.
The photographer began telling us how she was really much more late 1940s, and that we may have researched it, but he lived through it, and next time we should look at a picture.

We are both professional theatrical costumers whose strengths lie in historical costuming and her dress was taken directly from a 1955 catalog.

Further, based on his approximate age, and being generous that he may have aged well, this man was definitely not older than 5 in 1955.” ebonybird4786
Another User Comments:

“I can’t imagine knowing the difference between clothes less than 10 years apart. What were people wearing in 2012 compared to now? Idk man. Now add 60+ years to trying to remember and I’d definitely not be correcting anyone.” candybrie
18. He Couldn’t Even Pronounce The Video Game Correctly

“Got a ton of these when I worked at a video game store.

My favorite was a guy who came in around the time Skyrim came out and asked if we had ‘the new Elder Scrolls game.’ I said, ‘Oh, you mean Skyrim?’ He laughed condescendingly and said, ‘No, I mean Skrim.’
Thinking he was just mistaken, I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s called Skyrim.’ ‘No it’s not. It’s pronounced Skrim.’ At that point I realized he didn’t even want the game; he just wanted to show up the girl working in the game store with his superior knowledge.” 72PinsHorror
17. He Thought I Was Lying About My Heritage

“I don’t know if this really counts, but in 8th grade, I had this Taiwanese classmate suddenly speak to me in random Mandarin.

Being Korean American, I had no clue what this guy was trying to say so I told him that I didn’t understand anything he was saying.
He started teasing me and calling me ‘a disgrace’ for being a Chinese person who didn’t know any Mandarin, at which point I told him I was Korean.

For whatever reason, this blew his mind and so for the next 10 minutes, this Taiwanese guy who only understood like 5 Korean words due to Kpop tried to quiz me, a bilingual Korean American, on Korean.

I ended up speaking Korean to him for the rest of the class, and I finally convinced him that I was Korean, not Chinese.

Later I learned that he thought I was Chinese because, get this, he overheard me on the phone calling my mom ‘ma.’ Literally every language in the world refers to their mom in some variation of ‘ma.'” trineroks
16. She Made Us Repipe The Entire House After Watching HGTV

It’s one thing to ask a construction worker why a house on HGTV would have PVC piping and why their home had copper pipes instead, but this woman was convinced that she knew more from watching HGTV than professionals did from training and physical experience.

“I work in construction. My dad is a general contractor and had been for 20 years. So I’ve been around it all my life. We were remodeling this house for a lady in Malibu. We had to repipe the whole house. She came in and saw all of the copper pipes and said it was wrong. She always sees them use PVC piping on her HGTV shows and ‘That’s what we’re supposed to use.’
I tried explaining for 20 minutes that PVC piping can’t be used like that in California and those shows most likely took place in Florida.

She was insistent we change it. We did. The inspector came, saw the PVC, laughed and left. She had to pay us to take it out and repipe with cooper. And still, she said, ‘But they use it on HGTV.'” zeeknast
15. He Doesn’t Understand That Earthworks Is My Specialty

“A new house gets built next door to mine, and shortly after the owners move in, they knock on my door to complain that my house is built too high.

I explain that my house was/is built on flat ground and their builder has built their house lower, and undercut my fence.
The guy proceeds to give a long-winded spiel about how earthworks are done and my house is too high and I have to fix it. I then explain that I do earthworks for a living, have done the earthworks for 300+ houses in my suburb alone, and around 1,200 in the local area.

I name his builder, site supervisor, engineer, the exact floor levels in the street, and the law that says that he has to pay to fix my fence.

He still hasn’t paid, and legal procedures are beginning soon.” CaptainKingy
14. She Told Me I Could Control My Tourette’s Syndrome

“I have Tourette’s syndrome, and one time in middle school, we had this cranky old lady as a substitute teacher.

As one does when they have TS, I was ticcing, which she found annoying, and she told me to stop. I told her why, and she claimed that she’s ‘had students with Tourette’s before, and they don’t do that.’ Obviously, I was in no condition to stop, so she yelled at me increasingly angrily.
I told my mom, and she was furious.

She called the school, who also became angry. For some reason, they still let her substitute teach, but she acted nice to me every time after that.

You weren’t fooling me, Mrs. Abel. Fudge you.” TheHodag
13. People Who Don’t Know The Cause Of The Civil War Make Me Cringe

“I’m a history major and I live in the South. The amount of times I had to correct people on the cause of the Civil War is unsettling, especially after seeing a school book explaining it was over state rights and not slavery.

I recently saw a documentary on altered student history books that started after the Civil War and mostly by women.
The fight over ‘state rights’ was because their main source of the economy was based on slavery and they didn’t want to industrialize like the North did. Simplest answer: the South didn’t want to find a new way to make money.” XenaSerenity
Another User Comments:

“I mean ”’technically”’ (in extra quotes to point out that I am entirely playing devil’s advocate here), it was over state rights….the right of states to secede so that they could have slavery.

But to say it was just over state rights is 100% intentionally misleading. We shouldn’t say it was just a war to free slaves either though; the actual political situation was much more complicated than that, although slavery 100% was the issue behind the war.” jgandfeed
12. The Principal Tried To Teach My Students False Information

“Last year I was teaching 4th grade, having my teaching certificate in elementary education and science.

I have also spent several summers working at a hands-on science center.

My principal walked in as we were doing a lesson involving making slime and discussing states of matter and asked some kids questions and tried telling them that slime was solid. He didn’t seem to like the fact that one of the kids said, ‘Actually, our teacher told us it has properties of solids and liquids which makes it a non-Newtonian fluid,’ which I had just had them write down.

At least I knew one kid had been paying attention to what I had been saying.” thedoctor2708
11. They Don’t Understand That Addiction Recovery Is Different For Everyone

“I’ve had a lot of people throughout my life explain my booze dependency to me. How I ‘just need to do A or B’ to stay sober. I try to explain that literally everyone is different. I tried more solutions than I can name, and AA has worked for me, so that’s what I do.

I used to smoke boatloads of ‘stuff.’ I’m not gonna mess with something that has worked just to try your meditation and possibly go back to smoking stuff.
It’ll also go the opposite way and I’ll get people in AA who say IT’S THE ONLY WAY to newcomers. I always try to politely say, ‘Not everyone who is sober or clean is in AA, ********. This just happens to be what works for us.

It doesn’t work for everyone.'” TediousSandwich
10. I Was Told That Authoritarian Teaching Was The Best And Only Way

No specific style of teaching works for everyone, but from first-hand experience, I’ve found that having a good, open, respectful, communicative relationship with students is usually beneficial for those who have trouble learning or don’t try hard in school. I’ve watched struggling students’ grades go up when they had a teacher who genuinely showed that they cared about them, both as a student and as a person.

“I’m a teacher. One of my admin gave me a TON of criticism for having a good relationship with my students. Said I didn’t need to relate to them on a personal level and be ‘their friend,’ but I needed to be more authoritarian in my classroom.
My entire teaching philosophy is that every student should feel like they are loved, respected, and welcome in my room.

They should know they can come to me with anything at all because I care about so much more than their content knowledge (which of course I care about as well).

Teaching is my way to help the next generation become who they are supposed to me and feel supported in whatever that was, and my administrator gave me a bad evaluation because of it.” DaenerysSkyWalker
9. She Completely Downplayed My Fibromyalgia Diagnosis

I wish people knew that both physical and mental illnesses affect sufferers differently and, not to mention, they may experience different symptoms and intensities of those symptoms.

“Someone who doesn’t have fibromyalgia (but their neighbor’s cousin’s ex-husband’s boss does, and she’s able to work a full-time job, volunteer at a homeless shelter, run marathons, single-handedly raise 5 kids and prepare 4-course meals every day) insisting I should be able to at least get out of bed even when I’m in bad flare-up, or I’m malingering.

Fudge you.

It’s even worse when other fibro folks whose symptoms aren’t so bad to presume to know that just because something is working for them, it will absolutely, definitely, guaranteed work for the rest of us because, you know, identical genes, life traumas, and a cluster of medical issues.

Fudge them.” Anonymous0212

8. She Thought Soundproof Windows Were 100% Soundproof

“Went out for the free consultation my company offers for soundproofing windows. Gave our standard information, which includes, ‘Please don’t misunderstand the term ‘soundproof.’ Although our windows will block out some sound, it won’t block out everything. If your neighbors’ speakers are blaring music 10 feet from your bedroom window, we can’t block out all of that noise.’

The customer got mad and was like, ‘What? I want all noise blocked out–100%.’

Me: ‘That doesn’t exist.’
Customer: ‘Yes, it does.

I’ll hire another contractor that offers it.’

Like two months later, I go out to see the same customer again. The ‘soundproof’ windows she bought from another company sucked and she could still hear all the outside noise that was annoying her. She decided to have our windows installed, as they were better than what she had.” unbelievablepeople 
7. An Amateur Tried To Correct My Taekwondo… I’m A Blackbelt

“I’ve done taekwondo for over a decade of my life (I’m 17 and started it at 6).

I am a third dan black belt. I know my stuff.

I was training without my suit on because I’d just swung by and decided to join in at my local club, and a grown man (he was a yellow belt) came up to me and explained that I was doing my kicks wrong and my hand techniques wrong.

I stood and nodded thoughtfully as he explained to me that you have to have your left foot forward and your right foot at a certain angle, etc.

My grandma then showed up with my suit in a carrier bag, and I went to change. The look on that guys face when I walked in with my suit and black belt on was priceless. 10/10 would do again.” JasonJaye1912
6. She Kept Accusing Me Of Not Knowing Where My Home Country Is On The Map

“Not specialized at but I’m from Germany and I was a foreign exchange student in the US.

My host sister there was in 9th grade and they just did European geography. She asked me where I live and so I pointed to the approximate location of my hometown (in Germany, as I am German). She says no and points at France, saying that this is Germany and that I can’t be living over there. We discussed a little bit before I had to accept that I’m apparently living in France.” junkrat_main64
5. She Told Me My Method Of Potato Peeling Was Wrong

“When I first met my mother-in-law, I was over for dinner with the family and helping to prep dinner, peeling potatoes, she tried to tell me I was doing it all wrong tries to ‘show me how.’ At the time I had been a sous chef at a 5-star restaurant in my city for over 3 years with over 5 years of professional cooking experience.

I let her have her moment showing me how to do it ‘correctly.’ While eating she asked what I did for a living, the look on her face when I told her was priceless….” xProperlyBakedx
4. My Authority Was Questioned Then Satisfyingly Defended

“So, Canadian lawyer here…

I used to do primarily firearms law. I taught a course in firearms law at university, I’ve been consulted on it by lawyers, I’ve had judges tell other lawyers to phone me with firearms law questions.

I had a law student telling me that I was oh-so-wrong about firearms law on a particular topic. Eventually, they went and cited a particular case, which I politely advised them they were wrong about. They keep going on, talking about how just because I’m a lawyer and they’re a student doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Meanwhile, I’m just holding my tongue.
Eventually, someone else chimed in to be like, ‘Uhh, don’t you know who that is? And the case you cited was a case he personally argued and won on.’

Satisfying AF.” varsil

3. They Questioned My Mechanical Ability Until They Realized I Actually Know What I’m Doing

“Asked to do the rear brakes on a classic Vespa, I think it may have been a 200 Rallye, not sure, it was decades ago.

So the owner and his pal turn up with the scooter. I loosen off and remove the rear rim and tire, loosen the hub nut and go to put the rear rim and tire back on. “Oh hey, wait a minute mate, what the heck you doing?’
‘I’m getting the hub off.’

‘Not like that you’re not.’

So I tell them I’m going for a cuppa and a smoke and I’ll be back when they’ve removed the hub.

4 hours….4 ****** hours they were at it, the hub wouldn’t budge, not 1 millimeter.

Getting bored I go back to them, put the rim and tire on, screw in and tighten 2 wheel bolts and using a mallet hit 3 times in one point, then 3 times 180 degrees opposite, rinse n repeat 3 or 4 times, whole rim/tire/hub assembly lifts off.

I charged them 1/2 a day labor for a 30-minute job.” bawheed64
2. I Live And Design By The Code

“I work in Lightning Protection here in the States.

I do the estimating and the designs for the largest company in the southeast. I have for going on 7 years. Certified through our industry’s certification company.

The amount of engineers and architects that love to argue with me about the code is astounding. I live that code. Being I estimate and design systems, my main job is to know that code.
The worst was the Army Corps of Engineers.

We had a project that their designer designed that was in the bid package drawings. Pretty standard, pick out the materials requested and ignore the incorrect design. That is how we bid for it, won it, and designed it. This would have provided them with a fully certified system. In our business, a U.L. Master Label certification is as close to a requirement for every job as anything can be.

Two weeks after we submit our design it comes back with a revise/resubmit stamp and a very snarky demand from the Corps that we change our design to the one provided in the bid package. I went back and forth on email and calls with the engineers trying to explain to them that their system would not work, was potentially a dangerous hazard, and ultimately could not be certified or warrantied.

The came back basically with we don’t care what you say, we know better, do it. So I did. Designed exactly like they had and put a disclaimer on the drawing saying there would be issues and we were not responsible.
A few months go by, it’s installed and ready for certification. They call the inspector out and he fails it without even getting on the roof.

The Army is angry and tried to come back at us. I politely forward the countless email chains to the officer in charge.

Now they scramble to get it up to code. As a consequence, it resulted in us issuing a change order to bring it up to code that was around 75% of the original cost of the project.” cmjordan3988
1. She Kept Correcting The Way I’d Hold My Pencil… My Handwriting Is Flawless

I always hated it when people would “fix” someone’s way of holding utensils.

If their method works for them, then there’s nothing to correct.
“A stupid assistant teacher in year 1 (kindergarten?) was trying to force me into holding my pencil the way she wanted me to do it which made me have horrible writing for the rest of the year. It might have been because I’m left-handed. I don’t know.

Jokes on you; I would switch back as soon as she was gone, and now I have nice writing, and maybe you could call me a specialist.

I’m not trying to be full of myself here.” someredditnoob
The more you know about something, the more it stings when someone attempts to school you on something you already know. Like in some of these stories, like the German foreign exchange student who accepts that his host sister will never believe that he actually does know where Germany is on the map or the customer who lectured a deli worker that it’s “mestique ham” not “mesquite ham,” sometimes you just have to let incorrect people be right while you internally laugh at their lack of knowledge.

I guess for some people, ignorance is bliss if it makes them feel smarter or gives them an ego boost! Sign up at www.metaspoon.com to upvote and downvote your fave stories! (Note: Some stories have been shortened and modified for our audiences.)