"...being too chatty with a young white woman might well have gotten the man killed, back where he grew up... Many are the marvels, but none are more marvelous than man and his idiocies." (p. 328)
Nothing varies more than sexual mores. Walking through Market Square, Lancaster (see image and here), with my visiting mother and maiden aunt, I greeted a woman whom I knew, then saw that the aunt was smiling quizzically. She asked, "Did you speak to her?" I was not supposed to speak to a strange woman on the street! I did not need the imported judgmentalism. There were things that our parents were never told and our relationship with the generations after us is completely different. (Someone said that the only generation gap in history was between those born before or after the atom bomb. Knowing that our elders could destroy the world that they were preparing us for made a difference.)
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But if you already knew that lady, it would not be odd of you to speak to her. Unless your aunt did not know that.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
She did not know that but I still disliked the judgementalism.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Quite understandably!
Ad astra! Sean
Are there still people who don't speak to others without an introduction? I thought that piece of Victoriana died out about the time my mother was born.
Indeed.
Two men and one woman on a desert island.
If they were American, there was no problem because the men talked business.
If they were English, there was no problem because the men had not been introduced.
If they were Spanish, there was no problem because the men fought a duel.
If they were French, there was no problem.
Paul:
I've seen a variant on the desert island joke. It includes several other nationalities as well as a somewhat different ending for the Americans and English.
On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of nowhere, the following people are stranded:
Two men and one woman from each of: Italy, France, Germany, Greece, England, Japan, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.
One month later, the following things have occurred:
One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.
The two French men and the French woman are living happily together having loads of sex.
The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with the German woman.
The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning and cooking for them.
The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.
The two Japanese men have faxed Tokyo and are waiting for further instructions.
The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer, and how her relationship with her mother is improving — but at least the taxes are low and it’s not raining.
The two Australian men beat each other senseless for the Australian woman, who is checking out all the other men after calling them both ‘bloody wankers.’
Both the New Zealander men are searching the island for sheep.
The Irish began by dividing the island into North and South and then setting up a distillery. They don’t recall if sex is in the picture because it gets sort of foggy after each day’s first few bottles of coconut whiskey, but they’re satisfied that at least the English aren’t getting any.
Thank you, David. (Far too complicated!)
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Maybe it's only how I was brought up, but I find it hard to just push myself onto strangers unless I have good reason for speaking to them. Such as asking for directions if I'm lost, speaking to a waitress at a restaurant, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
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