"Did you wear your fucking hat?"

These were the words that I heard from my nephew Patrick. I was talking to my brother-in-law during his Super Bowl party and telling him that it was a pleasure watching the game with him. I told him that it wasn't as fun as the times we've gone to Gerstle's to watch the Vikings but it'll do. And then Patrick asked, "Did you wear your fucking hat?"

I was stunned. I gravely asked him, "What did you say?"

"Did you wear your fucking hat?" he repeated.

Was I drunk? Impossible! I was only on my second beer and had only just finished gorging myself on egg rolls, chicken wings, cheese dips, buffalo wing cheese dip, and other assorted decadent treats. My mind raced to determine what my next step would be. Should I play the part of concerned parent and ask him not to use that kind of language (he's only 14, mind you)? Should I blow it off and pretend I didn't just hear the F-bomb? Should I ask him to repeat himself again and allow him the chance to F-bomb me a third time?

But then my mind switched gears and went into translation mode. What could he have meant that phonetically sounded similar? And then I got it...

"Did you wear your Viking hat?" is what he was asking me. I started laughing. And I kept laughing. And he kept managing to slip the word Viking in the conversation. And I laughed even harder. Whew!

So I relayed the story to his father. And then his mother (hey Kim!!). And then the story made the rounds throughout the house. Before I knew it, everyone in the house was dropping F-bombs - but instead using V-bombs.

"I can't Viking believe that call."

"Shut your Viking mouth so I can listen to the Boss!"

And so on. Oh my, what Viking night :)