I try not to judge others. At least not out loud. At least not so they notice. But tonight at the grocery store I think I was obviously staring. A middle-aged man was wearing camouflage pants and a blue oxford dress shirt. Now, if they had been your standard green military-issue camouflage, or some funky, "make a statement" style, I wouldn't have thought much of it (though the combo with the dress shirt would still have been strange). But these camo pants were shades of red, purple, pink, and brown and looked like they were meant to be worn when traipsing through the falling leaves of autumn, perhaps with a picnic basket swung over your arm. I wish I'd had a secret spy camera on me so I could have shared them with you. A quick Google image search turned up nothing like them. And that's saying something.
This little episode reminded me that there's really no accounting for taste. We toss around that expression, but it's something that really perplexes me. How can we all be so different when it comes to what we find attractive, interesting, tasty, and enjoyable? At the risk of offending my readers (all three of you), here are some things I just don't "get":
- Heavy metal music
- Artichokes
- Lion garden sculptures
- Bleach blondes with fake tans, lots of makeup and plastic boobs
- Cube cars and those other box-shaped vehicles
- Slasher movies
- Pro wrestling
- Incense
- The Three Stooges
- "Pants on the ground"
- Keanu Reeves
To be fair, I'm sure there are things that I like that others don't get either:
- The Indigo Girls
- Minivans
- Pork roll
- Movies with subtitles
- The smell of skunks
- Going to church
- Keeping my maiden name
- "Glee"
So let's hear it. What's on your "What the hell are they thinking" list? And what would others find peculiar about your tastes?
5 comments:
Kim - we would need to have a long discussion on the relevance of some the things in your "don't get" list. (Maybe over a pork roll sandwich sometime?) - :)
#1. The Heavy Metal music thing ended for me following the demise of the hair bands the 80's. I think it was the melody/guitar thing that hooked me. You may remember me as a headbanger in HS (although I never was a "stoner")....What they consider "metal" today I detest. At least there is Hair Nation on XM to give me my "fix".
#'s 2,3,5,10 and 11 I agree with you on.
#4. I will pass on answering this one in case my wife reads this... ;)
#6. Slasher movies were kind of a "drug" more than anything. Just the innate desire to have the crap scared out of us (but know that when it's over, we can all go home safe and sound).
#7. Pro wrestling I think has to do with the whole good vs evil thing. How in a 20 minute match you can get the whole David and Goliath saga with the good guy coming out on top 90% of the time.
#8. Growing up with this burning in my house I can 100% agree with you...
#9. Oh Kim... we'd have to go through several pork roll sandwiches (and perhaps a few beers) for me to explain this one to you...n'yuk..n'yuk..n'yuk!
And since you asked, here are some of the things I like that others probably wouldn't get:
* Songwriting - it's catharsis.
* Bob Ross - I can watch that guy paint pictures for hours. One of the few shows you can watch and when it's over have the confidence to say "You know what? I can do that"....Must admit, I shed a tear when he died.
* Classic Ford Mustangs - Grew up with them surrounding me.
* Ultraman - this one would freak you out...Classic 1966 version. Grew up watching it. Got them all on DVD now.
* MASH - If I stumble across this show while channel surfing I will watch - no matter how many dozens of times I've seen the episode.
* Saltwater Fish - These little guys are the coolest thing and not as difficult to keep as you might think.
OMG Jim, I am coming to hang with you. My MIL has hours and hours of Bob Ross paint. He is great. we will totally make pork roll sandwiches -- We take it camping with us & cook it on the fire instead of burgers. YUMMMMM (i am hungry now)
Kim, I had to read your description of the middle aged guy twice because I thought...hey, last night Joe came out of the room dressed in camouflage pants and a "dress shirt" (that is a generic term for a button down men's shirt, which he wears for everything). I kid you not. But his pants don't have purple in them. and I don't *think* he went anywhere but to his mom's house across the street!
But other than artichokes & Keanu Reeves (yeah, I admit it) I agree that I don't really get that other stuff.
8-)
Things I totally don't get:
- car music so loud it vibrates my living room floor when they are at the stop sign
- lying across the front seat when you are driving
- pants that stop in the middle of the butt (though police like them because when the 'hood tries to run they fall with their pants around their knees)
- The Godfather.....for the thousandth time
- dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs and ruin it for the rest of us
Most of the things you list as not getting I absolutely love, especially the Stooges and slasher movies. I do believe the world would be a better place if Keanu Reeves were waiting tables somewhere. I remember once talking about somebody liking something I found odd and my instructor looked at me and said, "Ben, you dress up in white pajamas for fun and you and your friends take turns trying to find the best way to hurt each other. Who are you to say anybody else is weird?" That's why he has the pretty red stripe on his belt.
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