The entrance to our little community in western New York is hard to see in the dark. That’s because our second home is in a somewhat rural area without street lights. So coming home in the dark last week, we almost missed it.

“I don’t understand why the builder didn’t light the entrance better,” I groused to M. “I’m tempted to buy some Tongan war spears and plant them on either side of the driveway!”

Tongan war spears? What the he….???

“You mean tiki torches,” M said. And we immediately burst out laughing. In fact, we laughed so long and hard we were both in tears.

Because, of course, I couldn’t think of the term tiki torches. So what came out of my mouth was Tongan war spears.

Now, I’ve never seen a Tongan war spear. I have no idea why my brain even knew the term. But being a writer, I’ll credit it to writerly creativity.

It took us days to stop laughing about that slip of the tongue. And when I’ve told it to a few friends my age I thought would appreciate it, they laughed, too. And hard.

Because these things happen to those of us who are a certain age. And we might as well laugh about it.

UPDATE: My friend, Woody, did a little research and discovered that yes, there actually ARE Tonga torches (not spears) and they look just like tiki torches. I have no idea how I knew that! Certainly not consciously!

How about you? Do you have a similar story you can share with us in the comments?