Funny or Sad

[CaptTom]

And to think... I was looking forward to getting to that age when everything you say is dismissed with an eye roll and a chuckle. When I was younger old guys could get away with saying all kinds of awful things. It was chalked up to a combination of senility and inability to get with the times.

Are you saying I'm going to be denied that simple pleasure of finally being able to say whatever's on my mind? Darn!

 

[CRLLS]

I think it is a sad state of affairs that we, as a society, cannot start a conversation with a perfect stranger in a public bar regardless of gender, age, race etc. She should have simply responded that she didn't know what he was referring to or wasn't interested in conversing. It was her, that was out of line assuming the worst and threatening to call the cops as her first response.

 

[JoeWras]

I feel like I'm walking on eggshells whenever I'm with strangers. If this continues, we're going to become a very cold world.

Example: I work in volunteer construction. I was told to stop saying "Good job" to women who volunteer because it was a microaggression.

So now I say nothing. Even saying "Are you good at cutting wood?" could be taken to the extreme. One can't ask another gender if they are good at something, let alone "wood" which can have connotations.

So now I just generally work until they ask for work and do the talking, which is a shame, because I feel like I'm cutting people out.

It has become ridiculous.

 

[W2R]

I think there's a huge generation gap. The older I get, the more I see it, so I guess I'm part of the gap. Still, I keep wondering what kids that age would do if (through some sort of time warp) they ended up on the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944 given that they aren't tough enough to handle Dick Tracy.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I suggest that young people never listen to the very excellent funk song, "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes. RIP Isaac.

Oh, don’t get them started on songs.
I’ve heard complaints about Baby It’s Cold Outside being the “date rape song” [emoji849] and the Beatles Run For Your Life being unacceptable. Now the words to this are concerning but I just love this song. And we all know rock and roll is about the music not the lyrics.

Some people are just offense collectors. They get offended by everything. It must be exhausting.

 

[Happyras]

Unbelievable, what a world. Good thing you did not say BIT#$, I quickly learned how only women can use that word, reserved for their own use. The netflix show on the history of swear words is a must view to understand how DICK was turned into a work similar to Bit#&. My very good friend DICK from High School only goes by Sir Richard at this point.....

 

[Happyras]

He used to go by Rod, Rodney T Shaft, but that went away long ago....

 

[jollystomper]

I think it is a sad state of affairs that we, as a society, cannot start a conversation with a perfect stranger in a public bar regardless of gender, age, race etc. She should have simply responded that she didn't know what he was referring to or wasn't interested in conversing. It was her, that was out of line assuming the worst and threatening to call the cops as her first response.

Yes, it is sad... but, as a minority, my life experience perhaps gives me some light on this. In general, if strangers started a conversation with me making assumptions based on me being a minority, I might not act as radically as the woman did. But it might set off a "flag" about being wary about this person.

If one wants to start a conversation with a perfect stranger, I think it is best to start off with as opened-ended a question as possible that indicates you are not making assumptions. You also have to be aware of the context of the surroundings, situation, and "differences" that might come into play.

Sometimes we older folks have a problem accepting change. But all we can do is make ourselves more aware of the current sensitivities and try to remain positive about things. I do not start any type of conversation with a woman I do not know, unless she is smiling at me, and with that I would just say "hello" with a smile and see what goes from there.

The current environment it is one reason DW and I enjoy having friends much younger than us, who learned to trust us and from whom we have learned a lot about the generations younger than us (and hope they have learned something about our generation from us).

 

[Music Lover]

Tip for old folks: If you reference something that's a few decades older than the person you're talking to they probably won't get it. If you make it into a joke it will fall flat.

It's no different than you not knowing the latest pop star or teen heart throb.

 

[Andre1969]

On the subject of pop culture references, I remember watching an old episode of "Maude" where she was in a gay bar, and ordered an orange juice. It got a huge reaction from the audience, and patrons of the bar, and the bartender refused to serve it.

It totally went over my head, though. For reference, that episode was aired in 1977, when I would've been around 7, but I didn't see it until I was in my 40s. My uncle, who's 18 years older than me, got the reference completely, and explained it to me. Well, except that he attributed it to Lee Meriweather, instead of Anita Bryant!

Going back to the original poster's story, while it sounds amusing when re-told, and would be hilarious as a plot on "Two and a Half Men" or something like that, in reality, with a potentially noisy bar, not hearing things properly, and not understanding a pop culture reference, I could understand the girl's viewpoint.

 

[ls99]

Yeah, generation gap.
One time around 9 years ago late wife's daughter was visiting us. She was marveling at rows of books I had, not sorted by languages. She pulled out what turned out to be a book of cartoons by Walt Kelly, Pogo. Thumbing through it she did not get any of it. That happens to be one my favorite set of cartoons.
Although if history was taught in school at least she would have known who Fidel Castro was. Or Kruschev. Or the machinations of the cold war. She did know Che Gueavara, 'cause he was on many popular T shirts, but did not know he was murderous scum and thug.
I am sure if I was sitting with a bunch of teenagers, I would have no clue what their words mean or who their Idols are. Seems Valley Talk has gone bye bye, long ago

Well, moving on.....
I think I'll take up Son Cubano and Salsa, no words reqired, just pay attention to the Clave.

 

[old medic]

I read it that she overheard him. He was not speaking to her.

I was going to point out a few things...
I made the comment to the 30 something guy sitting next to me, the bar was not crowded or noisy. They were next ones down, maybe 3 seats away.
The friend was the one who lost it... and even though alcohol was involved, they didn't appear drunk.

The whole incident may have lasted one minute, But would have loved to had the cops show up.... Since I and my wife have worked with most of them.

 

[donheff]

That is a funny story but, like the tango dancer comment to the stiletto heeled young woman, it illustrates the problem with old guys making random comments to young women. References like Dick Tracy and Tango dancer are likely to make no sense to most young women. It is understandable that they might assume that whatever weird thing you were saying was probably something offensive. I'm pretty gregarious and sympathize with the impulse to make friendly comments but we do need to think twice before blurting stuff out.

 

[old medic]

Yeah, old men at bars should not initiate conversation with young women. It's creepy.

LMAO.... I instantly seen the scene with Harrison Ford and Ann Heche in "6 days 7 nights"