the bump where the tail should be

Some people have jobs that require meetings. Other people are not so luckly. Plumbers don't have meetings. They plumb. Carpenters don't sit around and discuss what they are going to do, maybe, and how, perhaps; they just build stuff. "Bert, we've been hitting the nails with the big end of the hammer for as long as I can remember ... have we overlooked the small end ... wait, hear me out." But some jobs apparently do require discussion and communication. Unfortunately, from my experience, we've only mastered raw jabbering. On a good day. Since meetings accomplish very little, we must learn to enjoy them for the subplots. At a recent session to discuss lord knows what, someone said "we will use templates for the pages." All well and good, but "template" was pronounced "tem-plate" ... you know, like a temporary plate. This caught my interest. Clearly that was wrong. Right? Moments later, someone across the table - let's call him Dave - replied: "Yes, Larry, using templates is a good idea." Pronounced tem-plet. Ah, better. The score was now even and I went back to doodling. But Larry took the bait. "Oh, TEM-PLATES are definitely the way to go, there's no question!" Dave leaned forward. "TEM-PLET-IZATION IS KEY!" The volley continued for 10 minutes with others joining in, taking sides. When the dust settled, I believe the final score was tem-plate 10, tem-plet 8. Sounds like we need another meeting. Tem-plet.