![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UHLI1qn2YG8/SVkNa7yf_LI/AAAAAAAABLU/Rtaq-o3nVcE/s200/universal_sign_for_choking.gif)
The idea of asking someone who's choking whether or not they're choking was always a comical idea to me when we learned that first step rule in school.
Until recently. When my wife, during dinner, began to choke.
I sympathetically responded with,
"Ugh! What are you doing? Go over the sink!"
I had thought she was trying to spit something out she didn't want to eat. She was merely trying to breathe.
So friends, make the sign. And public education, I apologize.