“Palinated” is the term I use to describe when you feel that some other person is micromanaging your behavior around others because they are concerned you will embarass them. Whether is is an accurate approximation on how Sarah Palin felt McCain’s campaign people treated her is irrelevant. I liked the word. Palinated. Kind of a touchy-feelier version of ‘alienated’.
Anyway, I got “Palinated” last night when I was invited to my friend’s family for Christmas. Last night I had a really nice time, bringing a cake (which they loved) talked to her relatives, asked about them and shared about myself in a way I thought was appropriate.
Apparently my friend was mortified :rolleyes: even though she invited me, most of the night she basically ignored me and hid in the kitchen. I helped her brother in law get a fire going, enjoyed eating tamales and flan, and listened to her nephew (who, as a 3-year old boy in a house full of aunties didn’t mind that some strange guy was over for christmas) as he told me all the things he got for christmas.
After I got home my friend called me and told me all the things I did wrong. It was a long phone call. I seriously started to wonder why the hell she invited me in the first place, if it was such an ordeal. I’m not exactly sure what the hell she was expecting of me, but she she seriously acted with the same mortified embarassment as a 16-year old girl going to the Prom with her uncle.
With my family, if I invite someone along, and they do something embarassing, I won’t actually bring it up with them later unless a family member makes a negative comment to me about their behavior. Otherwise, if its not worth them mentioning, its not worth me mentioning and if there’s anything more embarassing than someone being a little socially clueless in someone else’s family, its someone who is simply trying to hard to fit in with people they do not know.