All week I've been whistling the tune from ''The Sound of Music,'' mentally substituting the name Teresa for Maria.

''How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Teresa? A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the-wisp! A clown!''

Not that Mrs. Kerry is any of the above - far from it - but finding the right word to describe this unconventional potential first lady has spinmeisters and wordsmiths politely stumped. Democrats' protests to the contrary, she is a bit of a problem for the man who would be president.

It isn't so much the content of her recent ''shove it'' remark to a reporter, which doubtless millions applauded in vicarious appreciation, but rather what her volatile reaction suggests about Mrs. Kerry's temperment and a clear sense of entitlement that precludes all but acquiescence from the hoi polloi.

Suffice it to say that people with a billion dollars don't hear much from ''No-men,'' while the need for grace under fire rarely comes up.

Mrs. Kerry's now-familiar ''shove it'' comment followed remarks to the Pennsylvania delegation during which she lamented creeping incivility in public life, noting that ''un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits'' are infecting politics. As if to demonstrate the point, she told a reporter to ''shove it'' after he asked her to clarify what she meant by ''un-American activity.''

No matter how hard the Kerry camp spins her outburst, regular folk - those so beloved by the two-Americas, two-John ticket - see it as behavior unbecoming a first lady. As matters evolved, Mrs. Kerry's speechwriters came up with a clever way to mute the controversy by introducing a feminist conceit and opening the floor to discussion of the more politically palatable question of equality.

''My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called 'opinionated,' is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish,'' she said, ''and my only hope is that one day soon, women, who have all earned the right to their opinions, instead of being called opinionated will be called smart and well-informed - just like men.''

Hear, hear, though I'm not sure that telling a reporter to ''shove it'' qualifies as smart and well-informed. Never mind that hoping women can have a public voice is about 30 years late. What's next, bra-burning?

First ladies continue to baffle us as we try to sketch an appropriate image in a world of evolving gender roles. We want someone strong yet feminine, accomplished but not too ambitious, maternal and wifely, but not smothering and subservient. Recent first ladies have run the gamut.

Nancy Reagan was viewed as too doting, gazing like a Labrador at her master, while Hillary Clinton wasn't ''wifely'' enough, famously displaying her Rodham charm by declaring that she wasn't the stay-at-home, cookie-baking sort.

The two Mrs. Bushes earn consistently high ratings among both Democrats and Republicans. The senior Mrs. Bush is everybody's no-nonsense mom - strong, kind and humorous. As for Laura, what's not to like?

Then comes Teresa, a native of Mozambique talking about un-American traits, an extraordinarily wealthy woman who, whatever charms she may possess, clearly isn't used to playing by the usual rules of civility toward lesser mortals. The rich really are different than the rest of us, but the smart and well-informed ones let the little guys believe otherwise.

At least until their husbands get elected to the White House.