This is the second David Sedaris-inspired poll, from his recent appearance on the Daily Show. He likes to test out pet theories by polling people at his book signings, one of which inspired the Guns and Beards poll.
He had another pet theory that two gay men in a restaurant will share a dessert, but two straight men won’t. Straight men will share a plate of Buffalo chicken wings, but they won’t share a dessert.
Disclaimer: This poll is for entertainment purposes only. No scientific basis is claimed or implied.
I’ll share a dessert with another guy, but not a spoon, fork, or plate. That is, I’ll cut what I’ve got in two and place the smaller half on another guy’s saucer, but no more.
But that’s true of anyone but my wife. With her I’ll share flatware & china. Hell, if she really wants my entire piece of pie, I’ll probably let her have it.
I’m straight - and eat out with other guys fairly often. One of my guy friends I do do this with, but the others I don’t. It does feel a little weird - and I get the impression the servers assume we are gay, but hey we both like dessert, but don’t want the whole thing.
That’s not quite the same thing. If I had a plate of chocolate chip cookies, and my buddy asked for one, I’d let him have one. But I’m not going to cut my piece of cake in two and give him a slice. Why? I don’t know; maybe a bunch of discrete items subconsciously seem more “shareable”.
I’m not particularly focused on being masculine. I’ve worn mascara, nail polish, lipstick, dresses, had my hair teased into a flip (think the Patty Duke show), sewn overalls together from a pattern, kissed men, played nude chess, etc.
Like Sedaris’ example, I’d share a plate of meat or non-sweet starch with another guy in a second, but dessert just seems weird. I dunno why that is, or what it says about my psyche. Maybe dessert just seems more personal, maybe I’m not crazy about sweets.
But, two straight couples can share a large dessert. Also, two or more straight guys would share a novelty dessert (5 gallon ice cream sundae or something similar).
Wouldn’t share a regular dessert, there is a romantic connotation.
Huh. I don’t think I have ever seen a straight woman order and consume an entire order of dessert by herself, without at least trying to coax another person at the table into sharing it with her.
I’d say it’s a closeness thing. I’d have no problem sharing with, say, my dad, but it would be odd with any of my male friends, although doable if we actually split it (and both pay for half–that’s important). What would seem irrevocably gay to me is if we both ate out of the same thing without splitting it. That’s just too intimate for anything short of a more romantic relationship.
I almost never order dessert, as restaurant desserts are usually a dinner’s worth of calories on their own (seriously, I don’t know how people have room for dessert to begin with after a typical restaurant meal), but in the very rare case that I do, of course I don’t have any problem with it. Why would I? And, yeah, even off the same plate/bowl/whatever.
