Have you ever seen a FIMMpersonator?


Monday Q of the Wk. Here’s how it works: Each Monday I ask a thought provoking question about life.  Pose the same question to your blog readers on your own blog along with your answer to the question.  Then come back here and post a comment with a link to your blog post so we can all read everyone’s answers!  It’s been a lot of fun getting to know my readers and their readers and so on and so on… This week’s question: FIMM 400x4001Have you ever seen/been a FIMMpersonator? FIMM (Foot in Mouth Man) is the Art of Eloquence mascot and resident MIScommunicator.  He sticks his foot in his mouth so often he has Athlete's Tongue!  He is a cartoon character who started off on my blog.  People loved to read  FIMM's wacky misadventures so much that he quickly became very popular.  It's so much more fun to learn communication skills by pointing miscommunication out in OTHERS, especially when it's so funny. Very soon FIMM's Fame grew and we moved him to our website where he now has his own video.  FIMM has been a guest on Grace Talk Soup, a speaker at the Say What You Mean Convention, a tShirt line over at CafePress called FIMM Wear, a fan club on Facebook, and now his own eBook, FIMMology 101: The Study of the Humorous Sins of Our Mouths which includs the best of Foot in Mouth Man's misadventures! While nobody communicates as badly as FIMM, everyone is a FIMMpersonator at times in their lives.  Even Ronald Reagan, The Great Communicator must have had times when he stuck his foot in mouth.  We all do.  I take those times, exaggerate them to the fullest extent of the funny bone and post it once a month. After more than two years of writing for FIMM (and for the first two he had WEEKLY episodes!) I was running out of ideas so I had FIMM get married and have quintuplettes: Timm, Jimm, Slimm, Kimm and Enrique.  Thankfully in blog years, kids grow up pretty quick so now I am beginning to FIMMerize his children so I have introduced some FIMM Faux Pas that involve his now 4 year old's.  But, I'm always on the look out for a good FIMM storyline. That's where you come in this week!  Most of the FIMM episodes are taken from real life, things I've done or seen.  So this week, I thought I'd ask for ideas from your life.  If I use your suggestion, I'll give you credit when I post it too.  Have you ever seen or been a FIMMpersonator?  Share your story here! JoJo’s Answer: There are several FIMM episodes that come from real life, things I saw and one thing I actually typed!  Due to a typo, I said something like..."Unfortunately, so and so and his wife are no longer speaking..." making it sound as if they were getting a divorce or something.  What I had meant was that they were no longer on the speaking circuit. What about you?  Ever see or been a FIMMpersonator?  Happens to the best of us!  Share your story! Have you ever seen/been a FIMMpersonator? Please post your answers here as a blog comment. Then post this question on YOUR blog and come back here to link your blog post so all of us can read about YOUR readers!

4 comments


  • Catherine Terry

    Hi, JoJo! I’m glad that FIMM is active and doing well. You’ll have to write about his children, and if they have the FIM problem too. What about FIMM’s wife?

    This reminded me of an incident last month, when I really stuck my foot in my mouth! I posted it on my blog, but it got me laughing again, so I thought that I would share.
    ~~*
    Okay, here I am sharing one of my most ridiculous moments with the whole wide web community. Thankfully, I’m hidden behind my monitor screen so that you can’t see me blush.

    Yesterday evening, while my husband & our children (actually our adult daughter & 5-year old son,) were returning from a hike, they designated me to start our outdoor bar-b-que in order to grill some steaks. All I had to do was light the coals so that they would be ready to cook once our family returned home. Sounds simple, right?

    As my DH & I hadn’t grilled in years, I took the time to read the instructions on the back of the charcoal bag and some of the cookbook which came with the grill. I knew NOT to add lighter fluid to the coals as they were the self-starting kind. I learned that once they were lit, that I had to wait until the flames died down & the coals turned white before placing on the steaks.

    Okay, so I did as instructed. What I didn’t expect was, at the touch of the match, a HUGE fire instantly mushroomed right in front of my face! Terrified, my first thought returned to my dear heart, “He’s going to kill me if I burn down our [recently purchased] house!” This was just great! :(

    Next door I saw our new neighbors talking in their backyard. The husband & his friend were on their deck.

    “Hello….?” I started out in order to get their attention. “Hello….?” I tried again. No luck. They glanced over and then returned to their men talk. Thinking of our home, our trees, and the fire, I shouted, “Fire! I need help!”

    I’m telling you, there’s nothing that grabs attention like someone shouting “Fire!” at the top of their lungs. The men instantly scaled our fence and were on our deck, moving the grill away from the house, and attempting to tell me that this was normal and that the flames would settle down. I’m sure that I looked terrified as I could barely talk my face was frozen so. I explained that my husband was away, and if they would mind staying until the flames were under control.

    They did.

    The steaks turned out delicious. It was our first evening to eat out on the deck, beneath the aspens.

    I cringe at the thought of what our new neighbors must be thinking! This family only moved in next door 2 days ago. Talk about making an impression!


  • jojosblog

    Oh Catherine, I remember reading this on your blog! Very scary, but you are right. There is nothing like yelling FIRE for getting people’s attention!


  • Laurie Neumann

    JoJo,

    I"m sure I have been like Fimm more times than I remember:-)

    A couple of weeks ago, my daughter was telling me that one of her friends wanted to meet some of her other friends. My comment was “what friends?” Well, she gave me this look and we both roared with laughter. I meant to say “which friends” but by switching that one word (which to what) it had quite a different meaning.

    We still laugh about it now.


  • Laura

    I don’t know if this is FIMM or not but a few weeks back our 6 year old daughter was beginning to recognize she had some things in common with her dad…they both liked certain foods and a certain kind of weather, etc. She looked up excitedly and said “Daddy, we must have the same pants!”. She had heard us talking about people with the same genes liking similar things and in her head, she heard jeans so it was natural to switch the word to pants. We were laughing so hard and she was looking at us like we were crazy. What had she said that was so funny? We explained it to her and she laughed too. She of course tried to reenact the joke several times after that because it was so funny the first time…not so much the second, third, fourth or fifth time. It still brings a smile though.


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