Percy shunted Gordon's coaches into Knapford.
"Ah good! I was starting to think I would never get my coaches. You are a tenuous little engine."
"What does 'tenorous' mean?"
"Tenuous, Percy."
The small engine winced at the emphasised correction.
"It means that someone is weak." And with that Gordon huffed away.
Percy was stung- both by the insult, and the fact that he got another word wrong.
"I'm not tenorious!" He whistled after Gordon, earning him some strange looks.
...
But later, Percy was upset.
He felt like a fool whenever engines corrected him. He especially hated it when Edward did it, because his older brother was one of the smarter engines he knew.
So he went off to work on Thomas' Branchline.
...
However, James was helping out for the time being, as Thomas was away being repaired.
"Hello Percy!" tooted James happily
"Hello James." Percy sighed pitifully.
"What's wrong Percy? -you're never usually upset." James noted.
Why do I keep getting words wrong James.
"What do you mean?"
Percy explained about what happened at Knapford.
"First don't pay attention to what dad said- I'm sure he didn't mean it. Second, there's no need to feel bad about not being able to say words right."
"Why not?" Asked the small engine.
"Well, you're still little. I bet you'll learn how to say words properly, and say new ones too. Everyone had that problem at your age."
"Even Edward?"
"Yeah- but he caught on pretty quickly. And so did I. With age however comes an improvement."
"I...guess so." Said Percy.
"But until then, don't be afraid of making mistakes- everyone learns that way."
"Thanks, James." Percy smiled.
"You're welcome."
...
Percy felt much better after his talk with his older brother.
And for the record, he learned the meaning of absolve when Gordon next saw him.
It was a word he willingly used. And got right too.