another question to add to the stupid question list:
Why don’t ya just shoot the bastard?
Gawd I hate punks that beat on women. I’d gladly do it for ya!
Um, excuse me, but while the knifes are legal to buy & sell, I would have taken that question more to mean, are they legal to carry on your person? And in most cities I’ve lived in, it isn’t legal to strap a bowie on your side and trounce down the street.
Stupid Questions about Norway, Asked of flodnak While in the States:
Do you have reliable electricity (phone service, running water, television, highways, colleges, grocery stores, cities…) there?
Do you have a king? A real king? So you can’t vote or anything, right?
Are the polar bears a problem?
Are there any penguins near where you live? Please, god, tell me these folks are thinking of puffins!
Isn’t it awfully cold there?
Does anyone ever speak Norwegian everyday, or is it just like for special occasions?
What do people do there?
What do people eat there?
And then there are the questions about flodjunior’s condition, benign congenital hypotonia, a mild and non-progressive neuromuscular problem. This is a rare disorder and I don’t mind educating people about it, but there are two questions that I have heard much, much too often:
- Is he… normal? Now what does this mean, exactly? “He’s normal for flodjunior” is what I normally answer, which makes as much sense as the question. I think they want to know if he is of normal intelligence, which he is and then some. But then why can’t they say that?
- What about him? (pointing to flod2k) Does he have it too? Aren’t you glad he doesn’t? Well, I’m happy for his sake. But for my own sake? I don’t care. I don’t think of it in those terms. They are who they are, and I love them as two unique individuals, not as “the healthy one” and “the hypotonic one”. Besides, saying I’m personally glad flod2k isn’t hypotonic implies that I feel sorry for flodjunior. And I don’t!
At the library:
“Are you going to read all those books?”
No, I’m going to pour ketchup on them and eat them.
At the check-out counter at the candy store:
“Will that be all for you today?”
If I wanted anything else, I would have picked it up, wouldn’t I?
At Neiman Marcus or Lord and Taylor:
“May I help you?”
Obviously what they really mean is, “You don’t look wealthy. What are you doing here?”
From an employee in the shoe department:
“We don’t have a tan in that size. Would a black or brown be all right?”
No, it wouldn’t. If I wanted black or brown, I would have asked for black or brown.