# I made two enemies at the pool. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333 "2010-02-24T23:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/21 "2010-02-25T02:15:46Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > Then I could have sat there, mesmerized by it floating and bobbing in the current. But then I’d have to change my name to FloatyPoopy. That is both disgusting and funny.😛 ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/22 "2010-02-25T02:52:18Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > The two white guys start talking about “those damn foreigners”. They’re going on quite loudly about “I have to work my whole life for everything and all they have to do is come to this country and they get medical and dental and…”. Ok, I gotta ask. I hear this type of thing all the time about immigrants getting great tax cuts and free this and free that. As a recent immigrant, I’m inclined to think it’s ignorant bullshit - but if it’s not, can someone point the way? I could use some free stuff. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/23 "2010-02-25T02:59:33Z")
> [@fubbleskag](#): > > Ok, I gotta ask. I hear this type of thing all the time about immigrants getting great tax cuts and free this and free that. As a recent immigrant, I’m inclined to think it’s ignorant bullshit - but if it’s not, can someone point the way? I could use some free stuff. I’m in Canada so everyone gets health care. Dental is not included and I know there aren’t tax cuts for recent immigrants so I think you’re right, it’s ignorant bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/24 "2010-02-25T03:01:29Z")
It’s total bullshit. You’re not missing anything. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/25 "2010-02-25T03:02:05Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > When I was getting changed into my swimsuit there was a Down Syndrome girl in the change room who said to her mom “I have to poo!” So her mom took her to the stall and she pooped, stinking up the entire changing room. At first I was a bit grossed out but then I realized that I was VERY glad that she used the toilet. I’ve never understood people getting miffed when people take a crap in, you know, the toilet. Where else would one take a crap? What exactly is it _for?_ On the other hand, it’s a bit much to swear and pray and such. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/26 "2010-02-25T03:02:13Z")
The best floatygimpy moment I had was at the salt lake spa in Watrous, Saskatchewan. It’s so salty you can’t sink - it’s saltier than the Dead Sea, and they heat it up into this big pool Very buoyant! ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/27 "2010-02-25T06:24:12Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > I assume they are speaking Urdu because I looked up the languages of Pakistan and it said that the languages are Urdu and English. But they just sound like my aunts mother who speaks Punjabi. For what it’s worth, I have a few Pakistani friends who speak Farsi. And I myself am Indian but don’t speak Hindi. They certainly could have been speaking Punjabi, as it IS a big place, and (at least in India) there are certainly pockets of locations where people don’t speak the national language but only a dialect. Then again, maybe Urdu and Punjabi sound similar? I’m not that familiar enough with the languages to know. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/28 "2010-02-25T06:51:58Z")
> [@fubbleskag](#): > > Ok, I gotta ask. I hear this type of thing all the time about immigrants getting great tax cuts and free this and free that. As a recent immigrant, I’m inclined to think it’s ignorant bullshit - but if it’s not, can someone point the way? I could use some free stuff. I know huh? I’ve lived in this country for almost 30 years, and the only free stuff I recall getting was my Pell grants when I went to college. Of course, I also had work-study and loans to pay my way. My white friends were constantly bitching about affirmative action in front of me, like I was somehow getting special treatment for being a minority alone. I guess my 4 years of honors English and French in high school had no bearing on my getting admitted. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/29 "2010-02-25T13:33:51Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Ew, hot tubs. After working for several years at a dermatology office, I can never think of them the same. Little micro-universes of infection. The one at our gym always has a yellow froth on it, and is full of old people just boiling god-knows-what out of their wrinkles. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/30 "2010-02-25T14:23:18Z")
Urdu and Punjabi don’t sound that familiar. A litle. Urdu and Hindi, though. However, if they were from Eastern Pakistan, they might well have been speaking Punjabi. Eastern Pakistanis and Western Punjabi Indians speak similar dialects, and wear similar clothes. After all, Punjab was cut in half to create the Partition. I myself being an immigrant (though by no means recent) thank you on behalf of those two gentlemen. Those white guys have just no idea how to behave in public, I guess. Besides, do people really think immigrating is easy? That we just pick up our shit and go “Tra-la, today I’m going to the US”? The pain of going is written into our poetry, our songs, our books. The pain of those staying behind. It’s not as easy as thinking “streets of gold”. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/31 "2010-02-25T14:41:13Z")
I’m not so sure saying “do you really think it’s appropriate to be having a conversation like that with these two gentlemen sitting right here?” counts, all that much toward speaking up. You didn’t really express any righteous outrage, at what they were saying, only whom they were saying it in front of. If you’re going to make enemies, I say, step up and say something you can be righteously proud of, not just “Shush now”, like a schoolteacher. (Apologies if you really are a schoolteacher!) I’m thinking of something along the lines of; 'Shut your cakeholes you ignorant pricks!" I could really get behind that! (In Canada, a small number of refugees arrive penniless. When this happens, they are often provided bus/train fare to wherever they are headed, (often a city/town with a shared ethnic community), and some start up money, to eat etc. Once they arrive, where they are headed, they are often hooked up to service organizations that will get them access to housing (free/subsidized), language classes, employment services, food banks, etc. As refugees, they have left everything behind, and are really only seeking an opportunity to create a life for themselves. That’s a pretty strong motivator, and they are usually self supporting, (certainly not wealthy by any Canadian standard), within a few months. Often filling jobs that, largely, Canadian’s don’t want. From this stems the way out of proportion outrage of the narrow minded.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/32 "2010-02-25T15:00:39Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > The best floatygimpy moment I had was at the salt lake spa in Watrous, Saskatchewan. It’s so salty you can’t sink - it’s saltier than the Dead Sea, and they heat it up into this big pool > > Very buoyant! So a poo would pretty much shoot straight out of the water and into the sky, huh? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/33 "2010-02-25T15:03:22Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I’m not so sure saying “do you really think it’s appropriate to be having a conversation like that with these two gentlemen sitting right here?” counts, all that much toward speaking up. > > You didn’t really express any righteous outrage, at what they were saying, only whom they were saying it in front of. Hmm (checks crazy-ometer), I agree with **elbows**. That’s actually what I was thinking when I read the OP. It seems to me like you said “Don’t make fun of the ethnics in front of the ethnics” instead of “Don’t make fun of the ethnics.” What I’m reading is that you stated their behavior was rude, and not that their sentiments were ignorant or offensive, which is the real problem. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/34 "2010-02-25T16:00:48Z")
Okay, so you made enemies out of those two jerks. Surley, you wouldn’t want them as _friends_. And if you really want to get ooked out. Take scuba lessons in a public pool. When you’ve got a good mask on and you can see the body hair and assorted floating mysteriosities in the water, you’ll never want to get in the pool without a hazmat suit again. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/35 "2010-02-25T16:13:05Z")
Similarly, once you’ve cleaned the playland at a fast food restaurant, you won’t let your kids go in there anymore. Sorry for hijacking your thread, **Floaty** , I think you were very brave to say anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/36 "2010-02-25T16:16:41Z")
While what **floatygimpy** said may not have been absolutely perfect, he at least said something — and besides, they got the message. Just think how hard it is to say anything at all. How many of you would? _Really_? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/37 "2010-02-25T16:24:43Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > While what **floatygimpy** said may not have been absolutely perfect, he at least said something — and besides, they got the message. Just think how hard it is to say anything at all. How many of you would? _Really_? Yeah, I wouldn’t get so nitpicky about what he said. Those guys were guilty of two things, being xenophobic and being rude. He called them on one of the two things. Good on him. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/38 "2010-02-25T16:28:34Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Just think how hard it is to say anything at all. Not very? > [@](#): > > How many of you would? _Really_? I would, I have, and I do. But, alas, I realize that other people are not me, and many of them find it difficult to confront a stranger (or anyone, for that matter). I don’t really want to knock **FloatyGimpy** here, or get hyper-critical about him not saying the precisely correct thing, it just struck me as odd when reading it, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/39 "2010-02-25T16:51:23Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > I know huh? I’ve lived in this country for almost 30 years, and the only free stuff I recall getting was my Pell grants when I went to college. Of course, I also had work-study and loans to pay my way. My white friends were constantly bitching about affirmative action in front of me, like I was somehow getting special treatment for being a minority alone. I guess my 4 years of honors English and French in high school had no bearing on my getting admitted. :rolleyes: That was a lesson my ex learned when she was goin thru Law school..first week i picked her up she said that guys kept asking her what her LSAT score was.. I told her not to bother..first of all if she told the truth they wouldn’t have believed her because it didn’t fit into their perception of who they knew she was. Some black woman who stole somebody spot who was more worthy. You’re a better person than me FloatyG. I take a newspaper me so i can get some reading in and avoid situations like that. Then again I’m pretty big and black so I might not have been privy to that wonderful exercise in xenophobia.. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333/40 "2010-02-25T16:51:34Z")
I do, too, **MeanOld** , but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard! Or that I even do it every single time. I’ve thought, “Speak up, even if your voice shakes,” and drawn strength from that. It’s downright impossible for some people to say anything, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-two-enemies-at-the-pool/530333.md?page=3)