# Comments from people that have either shocked you or have left you pondering... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 27, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821 "2008-10-27T19:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/81 "2008-10-31T03:25:13Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Pretty sure that most places these days consider “mulatto” to be offensive. Just thought it was kind of funny coming in the OP of a thread asking about what comments from people have shocked you. I didn’t even notice the word. Though I also didn’t think anybody still used it. ---
**Author:** ![Ted\_Y](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@Ted\_Y](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted_Y)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/82 "2008-10-31T03:50:14Z")
Umm, my dad thought the first US president was black so he didn’t know what the big deal about Obama was. There is the possibility that he was joking but I think he defended that view for a little while. He’s said some crazy stuff before so I didn’t pay much mind to this but this is for sure the craziest to date. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/83 "2008-10-31T03:51:31Z")
I was outside my house in the yard raking up some leaves. My children were a few feet away from me, just happily playing. This woman pulled up in her car and shouted at me in a nasty voice, “Keep an eye on your kids, would ya!?!” I was stunned. They were a few feet away from me, perfectly in my view, doing nothing in the slightest bit harmful to anyone. My first thought was that she must have seen some other kids doing something naughty and assumed they were mine, but there were no other kids in view. Very bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/84 "2008-10-31T06:39:55Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > An anti-abortion person I know said he was anti-abortion because life begins at conception. I asked him if he thought all frozen embryos should have to be implanted, even if we had to draft women to carry them to term. His response “Well, it’s only life if conception happens inside the mother.” I wonder what your friend thinks of spontaneous abortions (including the 25% of pregnancies which are miscarried before the mother even has a decent chance of knowing she’s pregnant). The work of the devil? And what of 45-year-old women, when they have a 75% chance of miscarriage? Should they be prohibited from getting pregnant? > **[Miscarriage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_abortion#Prevalence)** > > Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can survive independently. Miscarriage before six weeks of gestation is defined as biochemical loss by ESHRE. Once ultrasound or histological evidence shows that a pregnancy has existed, the term used is clinical miscarriage, which can be "early" (before 12 weeks) or "late" (between 12 and 21 weeks). Spontane The most comm... (Sorry, I know I’m preaching to the choir, it’s just that medical ignorance in the so-called abortion “debate” is a pet peeve of mine.) > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > A neighbor of mine whose daughter plays with mine got upset with me because after yet another instance of her daughter causing mine to come home in tears by being a bully/jerk/saying the meanest things In the future, can you break this sort of thought down into, say, 2-5 sentences? I had to stop for a breather three times by the first comma. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/85 "2008-10-31T12:48:07Z")
> [@Ted\_Y](#): > > Umm, my dad thought the first US president was black so he didn’t know what the big deal about Obama was. > > There is the possibility that he was joking but I think he defended that view for a little while. He’s said some crazy stuff before so I didn’t pay much mind to this but this is for sure the craziest to date. Well, his name was Washington, wasn’t it? Of course he was black! d & r ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/86 "2008-10-31T12:57:36Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Pretty sure that most places these days consider “mulatto” to be offensive. Just thought it was kind of funny coming in the OP of a thread asking about what comments from people have shocked you. It might not be offensive in the Dominican Republic, however, which is where the OP is. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/87 "2008-10-31T13:09:03Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I don’t get it. Vampires are really pale, right? What am I missing here? Vampires can only operate in darkness. They’ve sold their souls to the Dark One. They’ve gone over to the Dark Side. They wear a lot of black. They’re Gothic, old-school Gothic, for crying out loud. He didn’t say “she has dark _skin_,” he said “of the darker _persuasion_.” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/88 "2008-10-31T13:13:11Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > Why would you alert HR? > Sounds to me like he thought you might be a racist and wanted to make sure that you were OK with working with a black woman. Sure, he thought I was a racist. See, that’s how it works – he assumed _everyone_ of his “race” shared his racist views, just that some of us were too polite to say it out loud. Remember, he was the one bubbling with excitement over a secret he was dying to tell me. To him, the knowledge of her race was itself a big deal. If he thought I was an abhorrent racist, why was he wiggling his eyebrows? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/89 "2008-10-31T13:15:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It might not be offensive in the Dominican Republic, however, which is where the OP is. Exactly. Not offensive in Spanish, at least not anywhere near the level it is in the US, and that is the OP’s native language. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/90 "2008-10-31T14:21:58Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It might not be offensive in the Dominican Republic, however, which is where the OP is. Yeah, well over here its a pretty common term. Nobody would get offended if you called them mulatto. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/91 "2008-10-31T14:28:14Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Pretty sure that most places these days consider “mulatto” to be offensive. Just thought it was kind of funny coming in the OP of a thread asking about what comments from people have shocked you. Hahahaha, found it shocking to find out “mulatto” was considered offensive in the states. 🙂 Even in the Wiki article this word is mentioned to describe DR ethnicity: [Dominican Republic - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_republic) Just goes to show how different cultures can be. I find it curious now that the word “black” can be considered offensive and “African American” is now a better term. ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/92 "2008-10-31T14:39:52Z")
I work in the main office of an academic department at a state University. The Department Head had the reputation among the staff of being a total megalomaniac, reinforced over the years by her greed, financial absent-mindedness, and pleasure in breezily assigning pointless and time-wasting tasks. Somehow, if you “can’t remember” receiving a $2,500 check for a travel reimbursement and would rather I spend an hour or two looking it up than checking your own bank balance, you probably don’t really need that money. God knows the taxpayers love to know my time is well-spent. But I digress. At some holiday, I received a tube of hand lotion from her; inexpensive, obviously from TJ Maxx. Nothing wrong with that, I buy that kind of thing myself. I thanked her, and in the spirit of proper etiquette, mentioned I just so happened to need some new lotion for my gym bag or whatever. She chuckled condescendingly and said “Oh, it is so easy to make you people happy!” I smiled thinly, and in my head the ghost of Butterfly McQueen hollered “OH thank you Miz Professor Lady Ma’am! You sho is good to me!” Whatever lady. Don’t give me a raise or anything. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/93 "2008-10-31T14:44:31Z")
My mom sent out a group email yesterday, with the subject line “Voting made simple”. I generally delete all forwards from her unread, because they’re all glurge and ridiculous shit, but something made me open it. In it was some text along the lines of, “Forget black and white, forget male and female, forget Christian and Muslim…etc”. Then there were pictures of Obama and Biden in a box that said “Lawyers” and McCain and Palin in a box that said “Not Lawyers”. The email finished with the ever-catchy “Any Questions?” Well, yes. As in, what in the hell is this supposed to mean? And why are you sending it to me? I wrote back saying I didn’t get it and she replied, “It’s a slam against lawyers! I can’t wait to see what \ replies! And I’ll bet \ will have something to say as well!” (Exclamation points hers.) Oooookay. I’m an Obama supporter. So is my sister. So is my brother-in-law. I highly doubt either of them are going to see this as the Colossal Burn that you think it is. In fact, I’m willing to bet they’ll be flattered. And finally, why are you bubbling with excitement (to borrow **Sailboat** ’s phrase, which is quite apt here) over pissing people off? Note to self: go back to deleting the forwards unread. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/94 "2008-10-31T15:06:53Z")
I work in rental property management. We charge a fee equal to one month’s rent. One person said “Well, if it would help me get an apartment, I don’t see why you can’t waive your fee.” And how are we suppose to get paid? Another time we had a nice two bedroom house available for rent and we got several applications, including a person on rental assistance. When the landlord took a working couple, Ms. Section 8 says “People should have to take a Section 8 application.” I guess people not on rental assistance should go live in the street. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/95 "2008-10-31T15:36:25Z")
Almost 30 years ago, when I was on a Boy Scout summer camp’s staff, I got to talking about music with a senior counselor who I thought very highly of. I mentioned a number of groups I liked, including Manhattan Transfer. He said offhandedly, “Eh, I haven’t liked them much since they started doing all that nigger music.” Totally out of left field. Ugh. I never saw him the same way again. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/96 "2008-10-31T16:49:46Z")
Husband and I were at a gas station, waiting in line to pay for some snacks. Apparently, someone had pre-paid $5 and driven off without putting the gas in their car. The following conversation ensued: Cashier: Huh. I guess I’ll just cancel it out if he don’t come back in a few minutes. Guy in line: Don’t do that, I’ll put it in my car. Cashier: It’s only $5. Guy in line: Well, that will still buy me a couple gallons. Cashier: I don’t know, probably not with that big GMC you got out there. They get terrible mileage. 😕😕😕 Same cashier who, when it was our time to pay and sign the credit card slip, couldn’t find a pen. His response? “Huh. Someone musta run off with it.” Then he just stood there and looked at us. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/97 "2008-10-31T16:54:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Eh, I haven’t liked them much since they started doing all that nigger music.” Years ago, a friend of mine, who is African-American, was listening to Dianne Schuur in his bedroom when his (very racist) father stuck his head in to berate him for listening to white music. Dianne Schuur is a jazz singer, in case you don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/98 "2008-10-31T17:03:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I work in rental property management. We charge a fee equal to one month’s rent. One person said “Well, if it would help me get an apartment, I don’t see why you can’t waive your fee.” And how are we suppose to get paid? > > Another time we had a nice two bedroom house available for rent and we got several applications, including a person on rental assistance. When the landlord took a working couple, Ms. Section 8 says “People should have to take a Section 8 application.” I guess people not on rental assistance should go live in the street. Actually, it’s not a bad deal to rent to people on rental assistance. Most if not all of their rent is going to be automatically paid by whichever agency is giving them assistance, so you are more assured of getting paid on time. Based on my minimal experience, one of the best tenants I ever had was on rental assistance, and the very worst was not, but had to be evicted, owing us back rent of more money than I care to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/99 "2008-10-31T17:56:52Z")
> [@autz](#): > > I was outside my house in the yard raking up some leaves. My children were a few feet away from me, just happily playing. > > This woman pulled up in her car and shouted at me in a nasty voice, “Keep an eye on your kids, would ya!?!” > > I was stunned. They were a few feet away from me, perfectly in my view, doing nothing in the slightest bit harmful to anyone. My first thought was that she must have seen some other kids doing something naughty and assumed they were mine, but there were no other kids in view. > > Very bizarre. This reminded me of something very similar. When my now almost 18-year-old son was maybe one, we were at the grocery store, my son in the baby seat in the grocery cart, which I was actively pushing. My son was in a particularly happy mood, gurgling away. An older man walked by and my son babbled something cheerfully at him. This guy gave me the DIRTIEST look and said I shouldn’t let him talk to strangers. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/100 "2008-10-31T18:00:55Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Pretty sure that most places these days consider “mulatto” to be offensive. Just thought it was kind of funny coming in the OP of a thread asking about what comments from people have shocked you. I initally thought that, too, but figured I was wrong, since nobody else brought it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821.md?page=6)