I think I may have just had my blondest moment ever.
I went to the store and when I went to leave, I had trouble getting my car to move. The tires just kept slipping on the ice (just had a major snowstorm last night!). I tried various things until a group of guys asked if I needed help. They tried pushing my car, but the wheels were still slipping.
Finally I noticed - my handbrake was on! I had moved it up earlier to get at some coins and forgotten about it. I nonchalantly turned the handbrake off and pretended my car found traction as I waved to the men and sped away!
When I was 19 and a big weight lifter a young woman on our college campus stopped me because her car would move - would I help push it? I went over and sure enough, it wouldn’t budge. I walked around, leaned in and released the emergency break. And of course, she no longer needed help moving the car.
A few years ago, we had a girls’ trip to Niagara Falls. When we reached the U.S. border, I dutifully rolled down my window to present our documentation and be grilled by the officer.
Border patrol: “Are you a U.S. citizen?”
Me: “Yes, sir.”
Border patrol: “How many passengers do you have?”
Me: “Six.”
Border patrol: “How do you know them?”
Me: “We’re all related.”
My Mother (from the backseat): “I’m her mother.”
Border patrol: “And where are you all coming from.”
Me: “Canada.”
Border patrol (pauses and looks pained): “Canada’s a big place, ma’am.”
Me: Yes, I suppose it is.
My Cousin: “Niagara Falls.”
My Mother: “It’s beautiful there.”
Border patrol (realizing that no terrorist was dumb enough to recruit this gaggle of hens): “Enjoy your day.”
I spent 10 minutes looking for my car keys Monday morning, then realized I had asked my son to start my car to warm it up. I could see that the lights were on every time I passed the picture window in my frantic search.
And I have to admit I’ve done that more than once this winter. :smack:
Did the same thing with a rented snowmobile about 15 years ago. Sled wouldn’t move, despite repeatedly nailing the throttle. Thought the track-belt was frozen, tried picking up/dropping the back end several times to crack it loose, but no go. Finally a friend noticed that I still had the parking brake set.
:smack:
The engine’s pulley had been slipping on the V-belt; by the time my friend discovered the problem, my repeated applications of power had worn a huge gouge in the side of the V-belt. Oops.
Another snowmobile…Not me, but the SO. Yesterday evening I had taken the snowmobile down to visit the nieghbors and turned it off at the key (instead of the kill switch) when I got back.
SO went out later and tried and tried to start it. He came in to ask if it had been running okay when I used it earlier and went back out to try it again. When I went to see if I could start it, I sat on the sled, and without even thinking, turned the key, then pull-started it the first time. It was a joy to see his face when he realized all he had to do was turn the key :smack: YAY…this time it wasn’t MY blonde moment:D
Here’s the most recent. (For me it’s a senior moment, not a blond moment.)
Went out to a gas station on a cold night to put air in my tires. Put three quarters into the machine and nothing happened. Cursing a blue streak I went in to talk to the attendant. He said, “I think it’s a dollar.” I said, “No, it’s 75 cents.” We went out together, and sure enough, it said “$1.00” right on the machine.
As Mark Twain said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble… it’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.”
Say what you will, mock me if you want, I still contend that implying that blondes are stupid is obnoxious. Are blonde men stupid, too? Or just blonde women?
I asked my son if the young man in the wheelchair on Glee was really handicapped. He replied “no, didn’t you ever see the episode where he dances?” To which I replied, “yeah, but that was only on TV.” :eek:
I really don’t want to argue or even belabor the point, because there are certainly more important things to focus on. But it’s different if you’re a man, even if someone says you had a “blonde moment.” A blonde woman has more stereotyping to contend with than a blonde man, just because she has blonde hair. And this thing about women choosing to be blonde–why shouldn’t we be able to have whatever hair color we choose without it affecting how people perceive our intelligence? I grew up as a blonde, and while I’m not one now naturally, I choose to be one because it looks best with my eye color and skin tone. Because I made that choice, I should put up with comments about how stupid I am? Really?
Blonde is short for ‘dumb blonde’. It’s a callback to the Barbie girl airhead stereotype. I guess you are interpreting it as “you are blonde therefore you are dumb”, but I’ve never seen it used that way. I’ve only seen it used as "you’re dumb, therefore you’re blonde (like Barbie). It’s about state of mind, not hair color. It’s just association slang, and not actually a hair related insult.
Suddenly I’m imagining all the manufactured outrage at the various words that have become pejorative due to UK rhyming slang. LOL those poor maligned cobblers!
I guess you haven’t heard the expressions “twink” or “Ken doll”.
