Register to leave a comment, or log in if you already have an account
People who annoy me:
The 99% of people who say “bless you” when a person sneezes. I know they’re trying to be polite, but that’s meaningless to me. Why don’t they say “bless you” when I fart?
A French woman, sitting next to me on a plane, once told me that she thought that American women were starting to dress well. I thought that was pretty funny in that she was completely confident in her own authority to make that pronouncement.
I have told a few men who are familiar with things french this story.
1) Friend/budding love interest — American guy who lived in France for a few years. “French women DO dress better than Americans, the do it easier and with less money too”
🙁
2) Friend/former French lit academic, now bank lawyer with opinions on everything.
“She certainly had the authority to say that since the French were the cultural trend setters, but it is also true what the woman said. Americans not only dress better, they do world class design, make great wines (except for the 500 dollar bordeaux), cheeses, etc.”
3) French Canadian friend who spends a lot of time in Paris. “Ha ha, what the hell does she know?”
When I was a child, back when the museum’s dinosaurs still had skin and were out there chomping grass, people didn’t take kids to museums, or any social venue, until they were old enough to grasp where they were, and how to behave. Of course, a 4 year old is not going to get the difference between Monet and Matisse, or gems from geodes. All they get is bored and not bored. It’s not fair to them to expect them to have attention spans longer than 10 minutes. Especially when their parent’s attention spans aren’t much longer. I think some parents take the kids, (or have the nanny take the kids) to highbrow cultural institutions in order to impress themselves about how cultured they are. No tv for my little prince and princess. WE go to museums. And museums are so desperate for money that they have let themselves become giant day care centers. Right? Wrong? Good for the kids, the parents, I don’t know. I guess it’s just part of the fabric of our time.
Let me say that walking through the exhibits with your young kids, like Lech did, is vastly different than dumping them in a play area or letting them run amok up and down the hallways. I just don’t see Lech letting his kids do that.
“SERIOUSLY. What the fuck is it about Europeans that they think it’s socially acceptable to say things like this when they are here? Are basic social skills not taught on that continent?”
yeah – my old roommate was eurotrash and once in a while she would complain about americans. i would kinda shrug it off towards the beginning of our time together, but after we had our big fight that resulted in her eventually moving out, i gave her a piece of my mind!
People who annoy me:
The 99% of people who say “bless you” when a person sneezes. I know they’re trying to be polite, but that’s meaningless to me. Why don’t they say “bless you” when I fart?
if only they believed in lady bics and deorant tho..
*rob*
“French women DO dress better than Americans, the do it easier and with less money too”
I agree with this. I don’t think they have a better sense of style – they just buy things that complement their bodies better.
MM, spot on!!! a 4 year old will learn MUCH more about life and themselves in the ball vat at chuck e. cheese than they will in a museum.
*rob*
A French woman, sitting next to me on a plane, once told me that she thought that American women were starting to dress well. I thought that was pretty funny in that she was completely confident in her own authority to make that pronouncement.
I have told a few men who are familiar with things french this story.
1) Friend/budding love interest — American guy who lived in France for a few years. “French women DO dress better than Americans, the do it easier and with less money too”
🙁
2) Friend/former French lit academic, now bank lawyer with opinions on everything.
“She certainly had the authority to say that since the French were the cultural trend setters, but it is also true what the woman said. Americans not only dress better, they do world class design, make great wines (except for the 500 dollar bordeaux), cheeses, etc.”
3) French Canadian friend who spends a lot of time in Paris. “Ha ha, what the hell does she know?”
“how fucking awesome would NYC really be with a no one UNDER 16 policy?”
Would certainly free up a lot of my time.
When I was a child, back when the museum’s dinosaurs still had skin and were out there chomping grass, people didn’t take kids to museums, or any social venue, until they were old enough to grasp where they were, and how to behave. Of course, a 4 year old is not going to get the difference between Monet and Matisse, or gems from geodes. All they get is bored and not bored. It’s not fair to them to expect them to have attention spans longer than 10 minutes. Especially when their parent’s attention spans aren’t much longer. I think some parents take the kids, (or have the nanny take the kids) to highbrow cultural institutions in order to impress themselves about how cultured they are. No tv for my little prince and princess. WE go to museums. And museums are so desperate for money that they have let themselves become giant day care centers. Right? Wrong? Good for the kids, the parents, I don’t know. I guess it’s just part of the fabric of our time.
Let me say that walking through the exhibits with your young kids, like Lech did, is vastly different than dumping them in a play area or letting them run amok up and down the hallways. I just don’t see Lech letting his kids do that.
“SERIOUSLY. What the fuck is it about Europeans that they think it’s socially acceptable to say things like this when they are here? Are basic social skills not taught on that continent?”
yeah – my old roommate was eurotrash and once in a while she would complain about americans. i would kinda shrug it off towards the beginning of our time together, but after we had our big fight that resulted in her eventually moving out, i gave her a piece of my mind!
i mean no one UNDER 16 allowed. *brain hurts*
*rob*