Preconceptions & stereotypes

[Millymollymandy]

to Keith! I'm not like that when I'm on holiday - I try to hide the fact I'm a tourist as much as possible but that's not very easy when I open my mouth or walk around with a map but I just HATE to look like a tourist!

Then again I kind of wish I could look like I was a tourist when I'm in England (I am really!) cos I feel a bit silly sometimes when I don't know how things work there these days but if I ask with my English accent I get very funny looks and answers. If I had a foreign accent I wouldn't get those looks! Like when I was on a train a good 11 years ago and I referred to it as British Rail and the conductor looked at me like I had two heads and asked me where I'd been Oh I'm so sorry - you changed it to Network Great South Western Virgin Whatever, how the .... am I supposed to know what each train line is called, or even care?

[Flo]

.... am I supposed to know what each train line is called, or even care?

You would if you ever wanted a refund.

[Minnesota]

We call them "FT"s.

Keith, you crack me up. I don't get tourists in the farm country of Southern Minnesota where I am and surely if I leave this state, I'd be easy to spot as an FT, as I do no research of the places I go...that is why I go, to explore and learn...and hopefully to not get beat up
My biggest "once in a lifetime" type of trip was to Alaska, I have relatives there that are half Native. It was 1997, it was a blast and yet, the most scared I've ever been. At one point, I wasn't totally sure I was going to get out of there alive...Don't mix drink and herb with natives that could just as soon slice me up as to listen to my Minnesota rantings.

[123sologne]

When you live in a village, you do get frowned upon if you do not conform. I know a fair bit about that as I was born in one... When I was 16, I went to Art School and I can tell you that changed me for good, I can't tell you how many looks I went through, but it did change regularly and as I wanted to do Fashion, I was always creating things to look different... Well I got the looks alright and even a woman told my mum once, that if she was her, she would not let me go out like that... I was by then 18 and it would have been very difficult to stop me doing whatever I wanted to do. Anyway, when I came to the UK I just fell in love with London, as there you can do whatever you want, nobody even bat an eyelid, but hey London is a very big town. Still my feeling is the UK is generally more open minded to eccentricity (didn't you create it?) as once I went through Paris with just a hat on my head and nothing extravagant as far as main clothing was concerned, and my god did I get looks!! I felt that I was back in my old village!!
I thought I needed to add that when I mention eccentricity, it is said in a very nice way, as I love everything different and eccentric. I think there are people who would use it in a nasty way, probably all those villagers who get afraid of everything different...

[123sologne]

Then again I kind of wish I could look like I was a tourist when I'm in England (I am really!) cos I feel a bit silly sometimes when I don't know how things work there these days but if I ask with my English accent I get very funny looks and answers. If I had a foreign accent I wouldn't get those looks! Like when I was on a train a good 11 years ago and I referred to it as British Rail and the conductor looked at me like I had two heads and asked me where I'd been Oh I'm so sorry - you changed it to Network Great South Western Virgin Whatever, how the .... am I supposed to know what each train line is called, or even care?

That is promising for when I go back to France, having lived away from that country for nearly 20 years...

[boboff]

That is amusing.

You can't judge people by appearances.

We all choose to look the way we want, and the "scruffy / hippy " look is one chosen to reflect what our beliefs our, just the same as a suit and tie.

Just keep dressing in the way you want, and it will keep annoying your parents!

[Millymollymandy]

Then again I kind of wish I could look like I was a tourist when I'm in England (I am really!) cos I feel a bit silly sometimes when I don't know how things work there these days but if I ask with my English accent I get very funny looks and answers. If I had a foreign accent I wouldn't get those looks! Like when I was on a train a good 11 years ago and I referred to it as British Rail and the conductor looked at me like I had two heads and asked me where I'd been Oh I'm so sorry - you changed it to Network Great South Western Virgin Whatever, how the .... am I supposed to know what each train line is called, or even care?

That is promising for when I go back to France, having lived away from that country for nearly 20 years...

Just start perfecting your franglais with an English accent then you'll get away with it....

[123sologne]

Just start perfecting your franglais with an English accent then you'll get away with it....

Hum, this is promising to be interesting... I am not sure I can manage a very convincing English accent. Maybe I will buy myself a bowler hat to go with it, as many French think the bowler hat is still fashionable here, I may just convince them a little or pass for a complete fruit cake, but that is not a problem as I am used to it...
Sorry to pinch this thread. I certainly think everyone should wear what they like when they like. And forget the narrow minded idiots out there.

[Stonehead]

I certainly think everyone should wear what they like when they like. And forget the narrow minded idiots out there.

So you won't mind if I pop out in my wellies, hat and codpiece then? Hey, it's cold and hailing so I need some protection...

[123sologne]

I certainly think everyone should wear what they like when they like. And forget the narrow minded idiots out there.

So you won't mind if I pop out in my wellies, hat and codpiece then? Hey, it's cold and hailing so I need some protection...

Hum, that sounds tasty enough... Are you sure you will be warm enough with all that on.... At least, if anybody ask, you can always say you are going to an audition for a new edition of Blackadder....

[mrsflibble]

I'm often stared at in Basildon. it used to be because i had a sophie straped to my back and was wearing a two-head-hole poncho. now it's due to my messy hair/long skirt/wellies/wool wrap/wicker shopping basket/crochet handbag and matching hat combo.

i have had it said to me a few times "omg you're so normal".... WTF?!

[Susie]

I was talking about preconceptions to my brother the other day. He has an almost-shaved head and has a great big Husky who looks exactly like a wolf, I suppose the combination might look a bit alarming if you don't know him but he is very nice and friendly (and so is the husky). He was saying to me he once went to a funeral and the vicar made a huge point of refusing to shake his hand after the ceremony, also people come up to him in the street sometimes and tell him he has the Mark of the Beast ;-).

When I have the energy, I dress in a fairly dramatic, fashiony way - nothing revealing and nothing expensive (hollow laugh), but fairly fashiony. Some people I meet are very pointedly vocal about how women who are interested in clothes are a bit dim and quite slutty (I am paraphrasing, but not much). I try not to judge people on what they wear because it irritates me when people do it to me! (Although I do particularly love the scruffy/ hippy look ).

[Thurston Garden]

One of the things that is explained to a newbie freemason is that "it is the internal and not the external qualities of a man that freemasonry regards". It is so true - I have never been with such a large mix of people, in both towns and large cities, and with people from all over the world who mix and converse so well with each other.

Who cares what's on the outside?

[Milims]

I work in a fancy dress shop so a often found in fairy wings and a tiara! At halloween I came straight from work to visit my dad in hospital, dressed as a sort of gothic spider queen - I felt really rather glam - not too sure what the other patients in the heart ward made of it tho! lol!
I'm not sure if it amuses or maddens me that people are so quick to judge on what they think they see!

[the.fee.fairy]

I'm used to the photo question here. It's like being a celebrity.

Being a pierced, purple haired westerner really gets the cameras going!!

Preconceptions and stereotypes always amuse me so much. I read the textbooks that my students have, and i think the best quote went something like:

Girl: I saw an English Gentleman today
Man: how did you know he was an English gentleman?
Girl: He was wearing a three-piece suit, and a bowler hat, and he was carrying an umbrella.

Classic!

Today i was told in class that all westerners had blonde hair and blue eyes too...i looked at the student for a while...the other students got it and laughed...so i asked her where she thought i was from...and had she looked at me lately. She sat down almost not getting what i was trying to say. One of her friends explained to her, and she came up to me at the end of the class and said 'Yes, but you're not a normal westerner are you?' I couldn't answer that one...