Dear Cheddar: “Cheddar” in the context you heard it has nothing to do with the sabrosísimo cheese, but is rather the Denver way to call a Mexican a wab — which is to say, it’s a regional ethnophaulism ...

We were wrong. As children we stuck our tongues out at the playground bully and hollered with a fake bravado, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." We were wrong.

When I was growing up, way back in the 1950’s, and another kid called me a name or said something harsh, my parents told me that “sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.