The Morning File just found out, too late for an observance or celebratory feast, that last week was "Fat Talk Free Week."

We're not sure we could have participated anyway, as the lack of a hyphen anywhere in that declaration confuses us about the week's purpose. Initially, we believed it meant that if you tip the scales above some critical threshold, you receive a phone calling card at no charge -- perhaps with a direct dial to the nearest pizzeria. We kicked ourselves for not making more trips to all those Dunkin' Donuts franchises that have been sprouting faster than anti-Nancy Pelosi ads. ("Did you know that Congressman X once held an elevator door in the Capitol for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Vote no on Nov. 2 against Congressman X and the door-holding Pelosicrats!")

It turns out that, actually, Fat Talk Free Week was designed to discourage anyone from hating themselves for being overweight. If obese people feel poorly because it strains them to walk up steps or fit into normal-sized clothes, that's their business -- it's not for society to pressure them about. Various organizations banded together the past three years to publicize that anti-anti-fat ideal, condemning the media emphasis celebrating thinness.

So it turns out that last week you weren't supposed to even drop what you piggishly presumed to be an innocent compliment along the lines of, "You look great. Have you lost weight?"

The founders of Fat Talk Free Week did not, however, offer an alternative. Perhaps it could be something along the lines of, "Let's not talk about your weight. You have so many more important things that are wrong with you."

You'd think it would be harmless enough to have a week devoted to something like acceptance of excess weight, if that's one's lot in life, but no -- there has to be an anti-Fat Talk Free Week fation (oops, we mean faction). Steve Siebold, an author and motivational speaker billed as a "mental toughness expert," says he was once a "fat tub of lard" who was convinced by public embarrassment at a wedding to slim down.

"People need to hear that they're fat so they'll finally do something about it once and for all," says Mr. Siebold, who penned "Die Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People."

His press release denouncing last week's theme scolded, "People need to grow up emotionally, make a diet and exercise plan, get mentally tough and stick to it once and for all."

Yeah, you toads! And we're also tired of tolerating you cigarette-smokers who claim to want to stop but don't. You alcoholics deserve a kick in the rear end, too, as well as -- while we're at it -- editors too lazy to fix your writers' errors. It's just that the obese are a little more visible than the rest of you -- just about every waking second -- so Mr. Siebold is targeting you first.

Mr. Siebold does have something of a point, in that we're constantly reminded that it's a bad thing to be overweight. But when it's highlighted for health reasons instead of personal beauty, does that make it acceptable criticism?

A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently suggested that three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese by 2020, accompanied by soaring disease rates and health care spending, unless some comprehensive strategy emerges to prevent it. Already, at least two out of three of us weigh more than we should, and a Johns Hopkins University researcher estimated it could be 86 percent by 2030.

Actually, we're a fan of the "If Everyone's Doing It, How Can It Be So Bad For Us?" philosophy of less-than-ideal behavior. Once six out of seven people carry excess pounds, or rush to turn left at the traffic light, doesn't that make it the social norm and everyone else better get on board for their own good? Why be that person who won't order dessert when everyone else does, especially when they'll all hate you for it?

The timing of the whole topic may be a little silly anyway, with Halloween coming up. Is there any child or parent who won't do more than his part next weekend to help maintain America at its per capita consumption rate of 24.3 pounds of candy annually? Our economy probably can't afford any drastic cut in that, even if our waistlines might.

Maybe it would be better to talk about something else, after all, this week. ... So anyway, how's that election going?

First Published: October 25, 2010, 8:00 a.m.