"I don't do math!"

I've heard and read some comments about math that sound something like, "I don't do math except in math class". I've even heard teachers say this with an added "We don't do math in this classroom". This usually comes from a language arts teacher and I wonder what the reaction to me would be if I said, "I don't do words!" It's kind of absurd because I couldn't survive without words. The same is true with math, of course. Frequently, I'll hear one of these comments and the speaker then immediately looks at their watch and says or thinks "Oh, I've only 45 minutes to..." or "I just can't afford..." It's kind of ironic. Math is a language that helps us understand the world and everyone uses it whether they realize it or not. The trick to being the master of our own lives is finding the underlying reasons that things happen, which allows us to make predictions and solve problems.