I'm not going to try it because I already know I won't like it!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

You know how sometimes if you happen to mention that you don’t want to, say, see a particular movie, or try a particular dish, someone else will say, “How do you know you’re not going to like it if you don’t try it?”

I hate that.

I have been me for a long time, and I know my own preferences. I have a pretty good idea of the kinds of things I like and the kinds of things I don’t like, and since I only have so many hours in the day I prefer not to waste my recreational time on things I suspect I will not enjoy. If I hate fish, and have hated every dish I’ve ever tasted that contained fish, I think I can be fairly certain that I am not going to like whatever fish dish you are trying to cram down my throat. Because I “haven’t tried it yet” is not, in and of itself, a reason to do something.

What’s worse, some people refuse to leave it at that. This does seem to happen to me most often with movies. I have known people to get all streamed up and accuse me of the worst kind of bigotry simply because I wasn’t interested in seeing a certain movie! It’s not as if I say (or think!) things like “I don’t want to see that movie because the star is African-American” or “I don’t want to see that movie because it has gay characters in it”; that would indeed be bigoted, although I think people who do hold such views probably should avoid movies that are going to bother them.

No, the kinds of movies I don’t want to see are movies I think I will find boring, stupid, or insulting. And it’s not as if I go around mentioning these suspicions of mine to all and sundry; it’s usually only if someone starts trying to convince me that I need to see one of these movies that I say anything at all about why I don’t want to.

I don’t understand why some people get so upset simply because everyone in the world doesn’t share their same tastes. Independence Day was a hit movie when I was in high school, and a lot of people I knew pestered me to see it. On one memorable occasion I was actually accused of being un-American because I had no desire to do so! There was an old Cafe Society thread that I cannot find now where someone suggested that I was no better than extreme Christian fundamentalists who thinks everyone else is going to hell because I said there was a movie I didn’t want to see because I thought it would offend me. Oddly, IIRC the subject of this thread was something like “movies you just know you won’t enjoy”.

The funny thing is, I have never been wrong about a movie I really didn’t want to see. I sometime end up seeing one of them anyway on video or television later (I saw Independence Day on video at a party a year or two after its theatrical release), and I have never discovered that I actually thought it was great, or even decent. That’s because, again, I have a pretty good idea as to the sort of movie I am going to like, and although I’m no Eve or anything I also know a thing or two about movies. Perhaps most importantly, I read movie reviews all the time, both online and in at least three different newspapers, so I’m not making my judgements based on the trailers alone. I know the major (and some of the minor) writers and directors and their bodies of work. I have sometimes been pleasantly surprised by movies I thought would be only mediocre, but never in my life have I loved a movie I thought I would hate.

So why on earth are there people who will insist until they are red in the face that I can’t possibly know I won’t like something until I’ve tried it?

2

There is a big difference between being scared of trying something new for which that horrible phraise may be appropriate. And your situation, where you can say I don’t believe I will like it because of a,b,c,…
Maybe you should agree to watch the movie, provided the other person pays. After which you can point out the flaws and problems in the movie, in such detail that they will not try to make you see a movie you don’t want to again.
P.S. I agree Independence Day sucked, but there was value in going to see it with friends at the movies, enjoying the one special effect of the blown up white house, and laughing with friends about hoe pathetic it all was. Even crap has its uses.

3

I’m a picky eater. I always have been, I assume I always will be. Like you, I’ve never enjoy even the aroma of anything containing seafood, and people who’ve known me ten years or more still try to shove swordfish down my throat at every opportunity.

I find the most effective means of heading that off is giving them my solemn promise that I will be sure to vomit that swordfish directly onto them once I’ve eaten it.

As for movies, I also agree. I happen to write movie reviews for an online sci-fi/fantasy magazine, and luckily, most movies I’m asked to review are movies I would have gone to see, anyway (with the possible exception of Daredevil). But I have friends who believe any movie starring someone popular or produced by a major studio has no intrinsic value, and are always pushing me to go see independent films I’ve never heard of. I have a long list of indie films I adore, but if the film is about (to borrow a line from South Park) gay cowboys eating pudding, odds are I won’t see anything I can really identify with, and will hate the movie. I tell my friends I don’t want to see it because I won’t enjoy it, and am hit with an automatic defensive “But it got really good reviews!” Please. I recall Unbreakable getting fabulous reviews, and the only opinion I have of that movie is that somebody owes me two hours of my life back.

I definitely like the idea of not paying for a movie I don’t want to see. Maybe I can work vomiting on the person who made me go see it into the equation at some point. Seemed to work with the swordfish.

4

They just can’t comprehend that something they find so entertaining could be exposed for the mindless, witless drivel it really is. It exposes their own lack of critical thinking skills and makes them realize that their own vapid waste of a mind is not now, and likely never will be, used properly.

…or something like that. :wink:

5

My grandfather used to use the argument that “If you like Ingredients A, B, C, & D seperately, you will like them together.” For example, we’d always turn our noses up at his fried eggs over rice, even though we liked rice and we liked fried eggs, or Shepards Pie (carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, and ground beef). Finally, we’d come up with something like “Well, I like hamburgers, chocolate and jello, but I wouldn’t mix them together in the same bowl and eat it.”

6

Both eggs over rice and Shepherds Pie are really good. I can’t believe you think you wouldn’t like those things Casey105. How can you say you don’t want to eat them, have you ever even tried them? I eat fried eggs over rice all the time and I love it, I’m sure you’d love it too.

7

Casey1505 why though did you turn your noses up at those things? If the answer is 'I don’t know, they just sound odd" then you should at least try them.
For me, I like Shepards pie, but only ocasionally. I wouldn’t want to try eggs over rice though because it sounds far to bland.
By saying this, if White Lightning knows eggs over rice isn’t bland, he/she could tell me why, and I would then be moved to an interest in trying this dish.
Your Grandad was allmost completely correct except that, not only must you like each ingredient separately, but each ingredient should go with each other ingredient.
ergo
carrots goes with peas [tick]
carrots goes with mashed potatoes [tick]
carrots goes with ground beef [tick]
peas goes with mashed potatoes [tick]
peas goes with ground beef [tick]
mashed potatoes goes with ground beef [tick]

so Shepards pie is a perfectly composed foor stuff.

(I included the longwinded list above, since this way of thinking I find invaluable in creating your own recipies, with the caviat that some of the combinations need not go if they do not clash and the other combinations are all good)

8

I think the problem is that tastes change, and it’s good to push yourself at times to try things that you previously didn’t like. Now, I’m not saying that every single time someone says “eat fish!” and you don’t like fish that you have to try it, but maybe it’s a good thing every once in a while to take a nibble and see if maybe you’ve developed a different taste. Whether it’s movies or books or food or whatever, if you stick to tried and true all the time, you’re missiing out on some potentially great experiences.

9

A friend I know dropped off a one kilo tenderloin of freshly caught tuna from Half Moon Bay last Sunday. It was all of four hours old.

I immediately called aloha aloha, told her what I was bringing and dropped by Mitsuwa Marketplace on the way to her house. A hour or two later, her houseguest, she and myself were all dining on sesame crusted seared medallions of tuna, sushi nigiri, sashimi and tekka maki made with all the trimmings. A Greek salad and country style flatiron steaks rounded out the meal.

aloha aloha’s houseguest had never tried sashimi or sushi before but gamely sampled every offering on the table, right down to the shoyu ninikku (pickled garlic).
He loved it every single thing. As someone who likes to cook, the only thing I ever ask is that you try something once. If you really do not like it at all, I will never raise the subject again.

10

Can’t remember who it was that once said something on the lines of:
‘You should try everything once in life except incest and buggery’.

Wasn’t Dr. Suess in ‘Green Eggs And Ham’ was it?

11

**

I don’t think tastes change much, if at all, in adulthood. I would encourage people to give food they decided they didn’t like when they were kids a chance, since kids are notoriously picky and tend to dislike many foods with strong flavors that they might actually enjoy as adults.

This may be true for some people with particularly conservative tastes, but I think most people have a pretty clear idea of what sorts of entertainment they will actually find entertaining. Some people love explosive-laden action films. I do not. I am not saying the entire genre is rubbish, but that even good explosive-laden action films don’t really do it for me. I can recognize that they are fine examples of the genre, but I don’t ever really enjoy them. And for the many explosive-laden action films that fall into the “fair to poor” category, well, I’m sure I have some paint I could be watching while it dries.

12

I go through the things everyone has been talking about on an almost daily basis.

I don’t like cheese or tomatoes at all. Period. And yet people keep insisting that if I just try them I will like them. I will admint I have not tried every single type of cheese out there but of the ones I have tried and the many, many more I have smelled I have not found one which I liked. People are always commenting on the fact that I don’t like cheese or tomatoes.

Even though I am a picky eater, I manage perfectly well to eat a varied diet which I enjoy.

13

I like them all just fine, seperately. It’s when you put them together that I just find the taste to be, well, odd. Not bad or disgusting, just odd. A side dish of peas tastes much diferent with a hamburger than peas do when *mixed in[/] and baked with ground beef.

My wife refuses to try things like brussels sprouts, artichokes (stuffed, made by an Italian aunt or grandmother), asparagus, dirty rice, etc. You know what I tell her? MORE FOR ME!!!

I’ve never forced her to try anything she says she doesn’t like, although I’ll chase her around the house with an open can of tuna when I’m feeling blue. That usually cheers me up. :wink:

14

Some of the people suggesting you try things may have had experiences like I’ve had.

At one time, as an adult, I knew that I didn’t like certain foods. Then my youger brother decided to become a chef and started trying out recipes on the family. At first I only tried his dishes to be polite (and because he bugged the crap out of me) but I soon discovered I really enjoyed them despite the fact that I’d never liked the foods he used before. A whole new world opened up before me, if I may wax poetic. This was a few years ago and since then I’ve tried all sorts of foods, including the previously undreamt of category of uncooked proteins, and I’ve enjoyed most of them immensely.

However, I certainly wouldn’t nag someone to try something repeatedly if they’ve said they don’t like it. That just seems kind of rude. My brother doesn’t press me to try things that I know I still don’t care for. (Like fennel for instance-yuk.) And I certainly don’t assume that if a person just tried something they will be bound to like it. Tastes vary so much it’s silly to assume that.

15

Here’s another story. Growing up the two cheeses in my house were yellow American and Mozzarella. Occasionally, my mom would buy Munster for herself, but that’s about it. So, when I moved out worked for someone who only had Cheddar cheese in his house, I was stuck. You see, the few times I’d had it, I hated it. However, I learned to tolerate Cheddar, and now, 3 years later, I will choose Cheddar over Mozzarella, and I can’t remember the last time I had American cheese, yellow or white. So, I’m glad I had to eat something I * knew * I hated.

16

RickQ would you try a cheese that is unlike any you have tried before?
Would you try hairloom tomatoes, when I tell you that this variety does not have seed structures like common tomatos, but the flesh throughout is more akin to the flesh of a plum but with a savoury flavour?

I have no problem with someone who will try in such circumstances, or will explain that they don’t like plums either.
Too often you meet people who say such stupid things as
“I don’t like cheese because it’s flavourless”. If I feel I owe it to such a person, then I would try and get them to change their ways, or at least to learn really why they don’t like cheese. Having a diet without cheese is not unhealthy, but it is as limiting as having a diet without meat, in that you are missing a whole spectrum of flavours.

17

Bippy, I eat my eggs and rice with linguica or some other spicy sausage and usually some cheese. Plain eggs and rice might indeed be too bland although I bet with just a bit of cheese and some salt it would taste fine. Sometimes I like the egg fried other times I make it over medium so the yolk bleeds over the rice a little.

18

Either Robert Benchley or George S. Kaufman said “Try everything in life except incest and folk dancing.”

19

I tend to be the same way. I’m also the same way with deciding whether or not I should open a thread based on it’s title (You did a good job with this one). This goes for you people that tend to be vauge in your thread titles. If it is lacking in some kind of detail, I simply won’t open it. Another kind of thread I refuse open because I know it will suck - “I went to the denist today,… Or is my kid really retarded?”, these type of threads just do not appeal to me at all.

20

I’m gonna have to go ahead and say that I am one of those people that know what I like. That said, I will still try most anything once (food-wise.) However, some things I will never try, this includes 99% of any seafood dish. I’m not allergic, but I might as well be. I have treid numerous fish things, many different types (tuna, swordfish, salmon, lobster, crab, clams, mussles, shrimp, oysters, sushi and sashimi, trout, etc…) and have only liked the following: fried clam strips, clam chowder, tuna from a can (but only when mixed with mayo in a sandwich or pasta salad of some kind.) Anything else tastes like FISH to me. It all has thge same taste, varied slighty, but yet still that fish taste that I loath so much. So as a result, I now refuse to try any seafood anymore, because although there is probably a 1% chanve I will like it, that does not outweigh the 99% chance I won’t likie it, and seriously want to vomit from it.

Most other things I will try, though, but I still despise it when anyone says that “Oh, but it’s swordfish, it doesn’t taste like fish, it tastes good!” No, you are lying, because it sure as fuck does taste like fish.

(And the first Doper to suggest I try ANY kind of seafood will have a very angry bouv track them down and shove 100 lbs of said seafood into their throat, since they seem to think it’s so grand :p)