# Surrealism at Walmart **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576 "2002-08-12T18:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/81 "2002-08-17T16:15:14Z")
**rilchim** , while I’m not a big fan of judging people and all, I think you’re going a little overboard here. In fact, you don’t need to stand looking at someone for minutes on end to size them up. You look at them, you get in the car, you still have the ability to size them up and draw conclusions for yourself. At the outset, **Scylla** wasn’t yet sure what she wanted, and it would have been very rude to just get in the car before she even said anything. Then, she asks a really weird question. First instinct is “what?” like maybe the question wasn’t heard correctly or something. Then there’s the response, but by this time all the alarm bells are going off, so he gets in his car. Doesn’t seem overly snobbish. Just seems like he was kind of weirded out by a strange encounter and wanted to get away from it **after** je realized just how strange it was. Yes, everyone has a tendency to categorize people in their minds. Sometimes we don’t express what those categorizations are, so as not to offend people. What I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t my impression that he acted snobbish, just that he was really weirded out by an abnormal encounter with a walmart martian 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/82 "2002-08-17T17:34:00Z")
ok so now i feel like an idiot…i didn’t see there was page 2 and thought i was responding to rilchiam initial post. please disregard this past post k?:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/83 "2002-08-17T20:47:56Z")
When I read the OP, I thought I knew exactly what the woman was asking because **I get asked this question very often.** Why? Because people can’t tell what my ethnic background is and they get very curious. I found myself assuming that Scylla must look like a mix of races that stumped the woman. Probably once a week, a stranger will approach me and apologize for asking and then ask what I am. I usually ask, “Are you asking me what my ethnic background is?” And typically, they are relieved that I know what they are asking me. No one has ever been rude about it; typically, they are a bit bashful for asking and are genuinely curious. For the record, my mother is Korean and my father is French-German. You know, that question doesn’t bother me but I **detest** being asked, “Are you Chinese?” As a child, this was the only Asian race kids seemed to know about and so I was tagged as the Chinese kid. And even when people mean well and genuinely do think I am Chinese, I find myself thinking that they are such idiots taking a stab in the dark and go for Chinese because they figure, what the hell, there’s a billion so my chances of being right are good… Even though I know that isn’t always the case, it makes me nuts to be asked that. Plus, why can’t all you white people tell the difference between Asian races? 🙂 Kidding, kidding…I’m a kidder…that’s what I do…I kid. Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/84 "2002-08-18T04:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Already in Use \* > \*\*And as for 42, Douglas Adams was an agent for the Illuminati, and 42 was just a red herring to disguise the true role of the number 23 in all of our lives (Hail Eris!). \*\* Thanks for proving my point, that every popular book has some bit that is overused. I was going to mention Eris in my last post, but I wanted to see how long it would take for someone else to do it… ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/85 "2002-08-18T04:30:52Z")
You should have told her that you are a sunglasses thief. 🆒 I assume that’s why the damned alarm kept going off. ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/86 "2002-08-18T06:28:22Z")
I had to come back and post because just tonight, I went out with some friends and this random guy approached me and asked me where I was from. I told him and he paused and then said, “Where are your parents from?” So I told him…then he asked where my grandparents were from… Well, every place I named was in the states. Finally, he said, “What are you???” Then I realized what the hell he meant. 🙂 Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/87 "2002-08-19T01:17:03Z")
**SPOOFE** : I meant to include a disclaimer in there that I wasn’t specifically refering to your post when I wrote that, but I apparently I forgot it. Under the circumstances, that was clearly the best possible answer. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by RTFirefly:_ > While we’re at it, let’s retire the phrase, “Catch-22,” from the English language. How about it? > > Didn’t think so. Forty-two! Sorry, but the analogy doesn’t work, for three reasons. First, “catch-22” serves a legitimate use as a figure of speech. It describes a certain situation more succinctly than any other word or phrase in the English language, and functions perfectly well even without knowledge of the source. The joke from Hitchhikers is meaningless without knowledge of the text (as proven by this thread) and is simply a stock response to a particular question which does nothing to answer the question. Second, _Catch-22_ is one of the Great Works of English literature, a sublime work of art that is at once hilarious and tragic, featuring complex, fascinating, realistic characters involved in an engaging plot that resonates on several levels with real life. _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_, by comparison, has a couple good jokes. And this isn’t even one of them. Third, I’m not calling for the banning of the use of the joke, I’m just expressing a bit of bitterness that something so manifestly second-rate in quality (Sorry, **Wikkit** ) has such a breadth and depth of popularity and support, while many more deserving works are largely forgotten, or at least unread. But hey, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong It only recently hit me that your screenname doesn’t mean “Real-Time Firefly,” so what do I know from funny? **Wikkit** : Bop-Ad? ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/88 "2002-08-19T04:22:42Z")
I don’t know, I thought much of the entire trilogy had some rather profound statements in them. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/89 "2002-08-19T17:37:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Sorry, but the analogy doesn’t work, for three reasons. First, “catch-22” serves a legitimate use as a figure of speech. It describes a certain situation more succinctly than any other word or phrase in the English language, and functions perfectly well even without knowledge of the source. The joke from Hitchhikers is meaningless without knowledge of the text (as proven by this thread) and is simply a stock response to a particular question which does nothing to answer the question. I’d reply that it does serve a legitimate response. It’s supposed to be nonsensical, highlighting that the question itself is also nonsense. I’d also point out that “Catch 22” as a phrase is just as meaningless, unless you know the gist of the story. Oh, and put me down as another person who really dislikes phrases such as “everyone is special”. It does nothing more than devalue those rare things and people who are special. You’d be as accurate to say “all metals are gold”. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/90 "2002-08-20T03:34:22Z")
Could she have been mentally ill? Just curious-because that sounds really strange. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/91 "2002-08-20T05:23:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\ ***Wikkit** : Bop-Ad? \*\* Huh, board ate my post from yesterday. Bop Ad is what DNA’s signature looks like. [http://www.bopad.de/images/bopad.jpg](http://www.bopad.de/images/bopad.jpg) Have you read all of his books? There’s only eight or twelve, depending how you count. THHGTTG trilogy was the moneymaker, so some parts are a bit… meretricious. Read Last Chance to See, and the short stories, the Dirk books, and so on. Hail **erislover**. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/92 "2002-08-20T06:20:17Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Gary Kumquat_ > I’d reply that it does serve a legitimate response. It’s supposed to be nonsensical, highlighting that the question itself is also nonsense. If that were the case, any answer would work. “What’s the meaning of life?” “A fish riding a bicycle.” > [@](#): > > I’d also point out that “Catch 22” as a phrase is just as meaningless, unless you know the gist of the story. Not at all. For years, I knew that a “catch-22” was a no-win, damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation. I was only vaguely aware that it came from a novel, although what the novel was about I had no idea. It wasn’t until I was finishing up in college, about three years ago, that I actually read it. Which is why the two phrases aren’t comparable. One has a specific, distinct definition entirely seperate from the novel, the other is entirely meaningless without context. > [@](#): > > Oh, and put me down as another person who really dislikes phrases such as “everyone is special”. It does nothing more than devalue those rare things and people who are special. You’d be as accurate to say “all metals are gold”. Next time some tells me all people are special, I know exactly what I’m going to say. **Wikkit** : I’ve read _Hitchhiker’s_ and _Restaurant_several times (I really liked them when I was in Junior High, less as I’ve grown older) I’ve read _So Long and Thanks for all the Fish_ once, maybe twice. Never cared for it much. Absolutely detested _Mostly Harmless_, which had all the flaws of the earlier books in the series, but exactly zero humor. Never bothered with _Salmon of Doubt_, on the general principle that there’s usually a good reason why post-humously published books weren’t published while the author was alive. I’ve also read the first Dirk Gently book, twice, and couldn’t tell you a damn thing about the plot except that it had something to do with Norse Gods and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Read the second Dirk Gently book, and not only didn’t finish it, I’ve so throughly forgotten everything about it that I can’t even remember it’s name and am only 50% sure it ever even exsisted. Never read _Last Chance to See_, but I did see Adams give a lecture about it to an auditorium full of people who wished he’d shut up about all these fucking birds and talk about goofy space aliens. At least, that was how I was feeling. Trust me on this, I’ve done the research, I know whereof I speak: I do not like Douglas Adams. I do not like him in a box, I do not like him with a fox. I do not like him, Sam I Am, I do not like Douglas Adams. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/93 "2002-08-28T05:38:01Z")
I think Scylla was being honest. Isn’t that the point here? We don’t have to be lying polite. [‘Lying polite’ being a good thing in the real world.] But … Why did she want to know ‘what’ Scylla was? He doesn’t fit the Walmart Shopper Profile; she was curious about why he was there. Consider: if it had been had been an upscale store, and he did not fit the profile, ther person accosting him could have been police. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576/94 "2002-08-28T07:59:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wikkit \* > \*\*Tepid… nothing Bop Ad could ever do would be tepid. He could do the literary equivalent of Cage’s 4’33" and it wouldn’t be tepid. \*\* You’re right; it would be plagiarism. Aram Saroyan used to write very, very short poems along the lines of: Car swerves. Nine dead. Then I guess he decided to quit being so wordy and he published a “poetry” book of entirely blank pages. He actually got _so cryptic that he stopped talking altogether_. Actually, I wonder if you could call that plagiarism? “Hey, that guy’s blank pages look _exactly like mine_!!!” Perhaps not. My (extremely tangential) point is that it’s been done. **Scylla** , I’m going to use “never ask the sausage guy what it’s made of” the next time someone asks me to defend my somewhat unusual tastes in women. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surrealism-at-walmart/123576.md?page=4)