<p>I was meeting with a professor of mine today, and he joked that my parents were “as poor as church mice.” We were talking about technology and what kinds we use, and then he said this. There is some truth to it. Still, I kind of felt offended even though I just shrugged it off earlier. Why would he insult my family’s socioeconomic status, or do I not understand idioms?</p>
<p>How would he know the SES of your parents just by their use of technology? My aunt and uncle are millionaires and their computer is older than dirt, they don’t have cable, and they were lost about what we consider the most basic technology. My parents OTOH are pretty darn poor and yet we’ve always had some pretty good technology (mostly as gifts as we have a lot of friends in various tech businesses). They’re better with some technology than I am!</p>
<p>No one here has any idea why he said that. Maybe he thought it was funny. Maybe you misunderstood. Maybe he doesn’t understand the phrase. </p>
<p>Shrug it off and move on. If he does it again, say something if you’d like.</p>