The Off Topic Topic

[alfred russel]

The French definitely have a reputation for being rude, to the extent that people who have never been to France profess to not like the French and never want to travel to France, because of their rudeness.

I don't think it is true at all. My guess is that lots of people travel to France as their first overseas destination (where everyone doesn't speak English at least), and interpret everyone not immediately wanting to speak english with them as rudeness. And are generally unaware why Parisians may not be super excited to engage with them when they are just one of a horde of tourists wandering between tourist sites with their maps out in "death from above" t shirts.

[The Brain]

I never got this from them to be really. They're blunt and to the point, but in a very welcome way which isn't too negative. They know how to say please et al.
Quite different to the French who are just rude rude. Its baked into their language that they cannot be anything but.

One anecdote I heard was about the first time a friend saw that a girl had put "No blacks and no Arabs" in their Tinder bio.

His Dutch colleagues thought this was fine because it just said that she wasn't interested and let everyone know where she stood. All of his British friends were kind of horrified and felt even if you do have that personal bigotry you just swipe left, no need to add it to your bio. As I say Dutch = rude and racist; British = hypocritical and deceitful.

(As an aside I have seen this from gays in many locations on Grindr but it's racism agains Asians typically).

Isn't Tinder about er... romantic partners? How are sexual preferences bigotry?

How are racial preferences not bigotry? How can a non-bigoted mind so easily write off attraction to an entire race - particularly when there can be so much variation of appearance within a  racial category?

Is only being interested in a certain sex sexism? I guess we will never agree on sexual preferences being bigotry.

[garbon]

I never got this from them to be really. They're blunt and to the point, but in a very welcome way which isn't too negative. They know how to say please et al.
Quite different to the French who are just rude rude. Its baked into their language that they cannot be anything but.

One anecdote I heard was about the first time a friend saw that a girl had put "No blacks and no Arabs" in their Tinder bio.

His Dutch colleagues thought this was fine because it just said that she wasn't interested and let everyone know where she stood. All of his British friends were kind of horrified and felt even if you do have that personal bigotry you just swipe left, no need to add it to your bio. As I say Dutch = rude and racist; British = hypocritical and deceitful.

(As an aside I have seen this from gays in many locations on Grindr but it's racism agains Asians typically).

Isn't Tinder about er... romantic partners? How are sexual preferences bigotry?

How are racial preferences not bigotry? How can a non-bigoted mind so easily write off attraction to an entire race - particularly when there can be so much variation of appearance within a  racial category?

Is only being interested in a certain sex sexism? I guess we will never agree on sexual preferences being bigotry.

No.

Also, here's a different example from my own personal circumstances.

I never knew what to do if I saw someone saying they weren't into black guys or only seeking black guys*. Would I be considered too black or not black enough? Given the difficulty that many white people typically have with figuring out my race, would they even think I was black? Perhaps, they'd think I'm Indian.

*well slightly exaggerated, as I did know what to do, move past their profile.

[The Brain]

I never got this from them to be really. They're blunt and to the point, but in a very welcome way which isn't too negative. They know how to say please et al.
Quite different to the French who are just rude rude. Its baked into their language that they cannot be anything but.

One anecdote I heard was about the first time a friend saw that a girl had put "No blacks and no Arabs" in their Tinder bio.

His Dutch colleagues thought this was fine because it just said that she wasn't interested and let everyone know where she stood. All of his British friends were kind of horrified and felt even if you do have that personal bigotry you just swipe left, no need to add it to your bio. As I say Dutch = rude and racist; British = hypocritical and deceitful.

(As an aside I have seen this from gays in many locations on Grindr but it's racism agains Asians typically).

Isn't Tinder about er... romantic partners? How are sexual preferences bigotry?

How are racial preferences not bigotry? How can a non-bigoted mind so easily write off attraction to an entire race - particularly when there can be so much variation of appearance within a  racial category?

Is only being interested in a certain sex sexism? I guess we will never agree on sexual preferences being bigotry.

No.

Also, here's a different example from my own personal circumstances.

I never knew what to do if I saw someone saying they weren't into black guys or only seeking black guys. Would I be considered too black or not black enough? Given the difficulty that many white people typically have with figuring out my race, would they even think I was black? Perhaps, they'd think I'm Indian.

FWIW I think you make a fine sexy Indian.

[Valmy]

If somebody says they will not date/only date Indian guys then what do you do?

[garbon]

If somebody says they will not date/only date Indian guys then what do you do?

Well same story really. Given how infrequently my race is properly divined, I'm not sure what to make of these racial preferences.

By they way, this is all hypothetical now. I'm off the market.

[Maladict]

Portuguese photoshopped answer to that cover. 

That editing on the Dutch title is particularly lazy. 

[Valmy]

By they way, this is all hypothetical now. I'm off the market.

It is nice isn't it

[Maladict]

Fair enough 

And obviously I imagine from a Dutch perspective, British politeness looks a lot like hypocrisy and lies

Only to people in the know. I think most people will still take everything a British person tells them literally. It's hard to step outside your own frame of reference I suppose.

[Valmy]

Texans are full of even more shit than Brits, it did take me awhile to adjust to Europeans just saying what they actually think and feel. That blew my mind.

[grumbler]

Not to leap to Tyr's defence here, but surely England isn't the only country where the French have a reputation for being rude. I find that very hard to believe.

I used to believe the rudeness thing, until I went to France.

[Maladict]

Not to leap to Tyr's defence here, but surely England isn't the only country where the French have a reputation for being rude. I find that very hard to believe.

I used to believe the rudeness thing, until I went to France.

I've never encountered rudeness in France, but I may have a different definition of it.

[Josquius]

Quite different to the French who are just rude rude. Its baked into their language that they cannot be anything but.

The way French works gives results which are exceptionally rude to English ears.
No 'if you don't mind I'd like to know x'. Its I DEMAND YOU TELL ME X.
I wonder if a big part of it is simply down to those words entering English in such a way that left them inherently associated with haughty nobles.

[Syt]

From Fake Book Title Friday:

[Threviel]

So people have been sharing stories on twitter of their worst door-knocking stories. And these aren't the worst but some have been posting about some interactions with voters.

Johnathan Reynolds Labout MP for Stalybridge and Hyde: "By no means the worst but a constituent refused to vote for me in the council elections in 2007 because of Harold Wilson's devaluation of the pound in 1967. I've seen him several times since and he's still unhappy about it."

And David Lidington, former MP, shared an anecdote he got told by Robert Rhodes James (MP for Cambridge 76-92) who met a constituent who told him "I voted Conservative once, in 1919 becuase they promised to hang the Kaiser. And they broke their promise and I've never voted Conservative since."

It all reminds me how amazingly crazy voters are. There's a Twitter account which just posts actually profiles of voters from the electoral survey and it is occasionally really extraordinary. A favourite:
69 year-old Catholic woman from Daventry, who didn't go to university and gets her new from the TV. She thinks Brexist will be bad for the NHS, the economy's getting worse, supports European integration and voted Remain and Lib Dem. She considers herslef to be very right-wing

I was campaigning for the Swedish conservatives once and I happened upon an old gentleman whose one and only political desire was that Sweden invade Finland and the baltic states to restore the Swedish Empire. He was quite serious about it and he became quite pissed at me.

Another one wanted to leave the EU since it made it possible for young kids to see the world and get to know other cultures, apparently that cannot in any way be a good thing. They should stay at home and work at the mill.

This was in 2003, before conservatism went to hell and racism became semi-acceptable.