There are many kinds of people in the world. Slow ones, happy ones, misanthropes, puckish people, salt-of-the-earth, dull people, scared people... but I am discovering very quickly that there are a new breed of people squeezing their way up the creation chain.
These are called, for want of a better word, the uncomfortable people.
By this, I don't mean that they are unbearably bony, all angles and elbows and knobbly knee joints sticking into your soft and tender flesh. Nor do I mean to suggest they are all rolls of slippery fat, rippling and undulating with microcosmic seismic activity when you try to get comfy in close proximity.
I simply mean that their sole conversation is geared around making the recipient as uncomfortable as possible.
For example. You are in a pub, and the person next to suddenly turns to you and says: "I don't shave my legs often but every now and then I shave my *****".
It's enough to put you off your chilli flavour crinkle cut Real McCoys.
Or again, you are sitting in a group of people, and a girl turns to you in front of everyone, including her boyfriend, and asks: "Would you find my boyfriend sexy?"
How do you reply? Upon which horn of the dilemma should you willingly impale yourself?
If you say: "Not in a million years toots, he's got the face that a back end of the bus would disown. In fact, I've seen better busses in Thailand than that physog"... well you may make her feel like you're not a threat at all to her love life, but that's the end of the friendship with her fella.
If you say: "Of course, he's such a nice guy, really cool and trendy...."
You just can't win.
Sarcasm then has to come into play. And I hate being sarcastic. It's so mean and cutting and unnecessary. I especially hate sarcasm when adults employ it around young people. Kids ask questions, its how they learn about life. And it's really unfair that an adult should fob them off with a smart alec answer.
But around uncomfortable people, I have to become sarcastic. I have to speak in italics.
"Oh yeah, well, he's the office stud don't you know? Everybody fancies him, even the office cleaner."
And then you get a reputation for being sarcastic. For being bitter and twisted. Well I think I was already twisted. But bitter? I suppose there is a possibility of that happening - I already have a cat, I live on my own and I am single. And almost 30. OH MY GOSH - I am, I am a bitter and twisted spinster. I hate the world and the world hates me. And I don't care. Really.
4 comments:
SARCASM IS THE SPICE OF LIFE. AND YES, YOU ARE A SARCASTIC PERSON FOR IT RUNS IN YOUR BLOOD.
IT IS BETTER TO SAY SOMETHING SARCATIC THAN SAY NOTHING AT ALL.
THAT IS THE WAY YOU PLEASE EVERYONE YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH IN THE END.
YOU PLEASE THE FIRST LOT WHEN YOU MET THEM AND THE REST OF THEM WHEN YOU LEAVE. SO IT'S A WIN, WIN SITUATION.
EXAMPLE FROM MY PAST. WHEN I WAS WITH THE FRIARS OF ST. FRANCIS. I WAS INVITED OUT TO DINNER AT THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S GAME KEEPERS HOME. HIS WIFE PREPARED A VERITABLE FEAST AND I ATE TILL I WAS BURSTING.
I WAS ASKED IF I ENJOYED MY MEAL.
I REPLIED THAT" IT WAS ALMOST EATABLE" ( at home it was a compliment when my mother cooked something esp. when guests where there).
I WAS NEVER INVITED BACK AGAIN. GUESS I PLEASED THE SECOND LOT WHEN I LEFT.
SO, I SAY. SHOVE YOUR FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH, SAY YUMMM AND SHOVE THE OTHER ONE IN. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WORRY!
Sarcasm is great and doesn't have to be bitter. It can be very funny. I think you need to find a better class of suitor that appreciates it.
Maybe, maybe, but I've seen the hurt look in a young teen's eyes when an adult has given them a sarcastic answer. And I never want to be the cause of such a look.
on the other hand, it's alright to be sarcastic to drunken idiots on the train who try to chat you up. I usually say (in me posh tones, like): "I'm sorry, I don't understand a word you're saying, I'm foreign, don't you know..."
I think people who are also witty find it funny. Using it to put down children is cruel, but using it as a form of light-hearted banter is amusing. There was nothing at all wrong with your 'office stud' remark. You just didn't have the right audience.
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