Word of the Day!

The highest court of appeal in France has upheld a law which allows children to sue their parents for allowing them to be born. The court has ruled that disabled children are entitled to be compensated if their mothers were not given a chance to abort the defective fetus.

During a recent action in which this law was upheld, the parents, in their own defense, claim they "would've aborted the child had they been aware that he would be born disabled."

Said one spokesman, "Obviously, there are many inherent advantages to this legislation, which seems to indicate that parents should abort imperfect fetuses, thus sparing themselves from potential liability and the stigma of being irresponsible enough to have brought forth imperfect children."

The list of conditions categorized as imperfections for purposes of liability is already being compiled and maintained by the French government. Besides including all teratological defects, the list includes imperfections such as brown eyes, left-handedness, and French language illiteracy.

A lobby group consisting of people who wish they'd never been born has formed to make additions to the list, giving them grounds to sue their parents for the conditions most responsible for making them unhappy with their existence. One unhappy ulotrichous victim claims that "Because I was born with such curly hair, I have been the victim of such taunting and personal abuse that I demand to receive the compensation my parents owe me. I should never have been born."

ulotrichous / U-lo-TRICK-us / adj. Latin. having short curly or woolly hair. Observant readers will notice the variant form of the word from last week's story. Probably because of the link... :)