March 14, 1996
Dear Everyone:
No movies this week.
“Jeannie” had to work on Saturday, then had editing to do on
Sunday. I took the
opportunity to do a little cleaning and rent
Forrest
Gump (finally).
“Jeannie” also had to work last Thursday, so we still don’t know what
her Tax Man thinks of the
Excel
spreadsheets we did.
“Jeannie” did bring
by a clipping from a local paper in which the editor stated that “women
have fashion sense, men don’t”.
Now, any gender-based stereotype or generality, in these
“politically correct” times, is already fraught with peril.
Telling “dumb blond” jokes can get you stood up against a wall.
And be careful who overhears you muttering, “Men are
so
dumb!” no matter how well
deserved it may be.
But in this case, I
take exception to the author’s statement because it’s not entirely true.
Take for example one, not completely typical, family such as
ours. On the one hand, you
have “Richard” who might be the first, or at least the second, to admit
that he can probably be trusted to pick out his own socks but, beyond
that, would like a little guidance.
On the other hand, you have “Marshall”, who thinks nothing of
driving from Fresno to San Francisco (not to mention back again) and
paying a probable average of $100 each for “decent” ties.
Anyone want to claim that “Marshall” (who’s concession to
“dress-down Friday” is to wear loafers) has no fashion sense?
“Jeannie” reads
Vogue
magazine religiously, and therefore can tell me with complete authority
that, “vests are in this season”.
Whereupon I look up and notice that, yeah, a lot of people are
wearing vests, aren’t they?
And then forget all about it, not even having thought through which
“season” we’re talking about.
“Jeannie” has fashion sense.
I just keep wearing the same suits to work each week until they
start to fall apart.
So much for
generalities. The trick, of
course, is to be a little more specific.
“Most men have less
fashion sense than the average woman.”
This is much safer.
Another possibility:
“Studies have shown that 78% of males, age 18 to 49, either do not
register that there is a difference between avocado and teal, or just
plain don’t care.” If
challenged about the truth of this, simply say you got it “off the
Internet”.
If anyone tries to check out your source, they will either be
lost for days on the Web, or will stumble across just such a study.
Either way, you’re in the clear.
By the way, the
author was careful to differentiate between “taste” and “fashion sense”.
“Richard”, for instance, clearly knows the difference between
See’s chocolate
and a Whitman’s
sampler. Given the choice
between being seen driving a
Lexus or a
Gremlin,
“Richard” would definitely pick the one with all the gold piping.
Whereas “Marshall” drove that orange
VW Bug for I don’t
know how many years, and only traded it in on a
Honda because no one in
their right mind drives a car without air conditioning in
Fresno in
the summer.
So go figure.
Movies...
If you’re one of
those people who skip ahead looking for movie reviews, see paragraph
one.
Love, as always,
Pete
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