When someone mindlessly repeats a mantra rather than thoughtfully responding to a question, we say he was “parroting” the response. But this insults parrots, which are beautiful, intelligent birds. We knew a parrot named Larry. Whenever someone turned on the faucet in the kitchen sink, Larry would say, “Get the water.” He knew what “water” means. Two examples:

• A middle aged physician heard me criticize Fidel Castro for his oppression of dissidents, including killing about 100,000 of them. My colleague replied, “He got rid of Batista.” But did that excuse his oppression? I retorted, “Yes, and John Gotti got rid of Paul Castellano – so what? That couldn’t excuse his mafia career.” My colleague remained silent. His mantra-like response was no help in a real argument.

• A very bright high school student heard me criticize the transgender movement. He replied, “Some of my friends are uncomfortable.” Again, so what? I’ve never met a teenager who was entirely comfortable with anything. The main purpose of education and growing up is to come to accept the world as it is and learn to deal with it, not to expcct the world to adjust to you and your feelings. A kid brought up to expect that is destined to lead an unhappy life.

So please, say that these two individuals thoughtlessly regurgitated a response, not that they parroted it. That would insult Larry.