The drunk driver is hardly in a position to critisize the one who is half blind after they’ve had a collision. Neither of them were doing something that was altogether wise, and just because the half-blind man can’t help his affliction doesn’t mean he should have been driving any more than the drunk man.
The complaint of smoke was rude, and its retort was also rude. Strictly speaking weight didn’t have to be brought into the picture, but weight is a health issue, and the one concerned with it has no business critisizing another’s unhealthy habits. It is the alcoholic telling the junkie that he’s killng himself; the hypocrisy removes the weight behind the argument.
I am somewhat in awe that there is a place where 252 pounds is considered grossly overweight–unless this woman was 4 foot 5.
Over here in obesity world, I mean USA–that woman is a non-starter. I routinely lift and turn folks who are well over the 300 mark. And it’s getting worse.
But, back to the OP–yes, you were rude, but you know that. I think you were honest as well, something else that doesn’t occur often in public. I hope that your remark gives the woman food for thought (sorry) and she takes steps to lose some weight.
I envy those here who have never let slip something they wish they hadn’t said. Must be nice to be so perfect in your interactions with your fellow man. :rolleyes:
Okay, but this isn’t analogous. The women’s obesity isn’t affecting chowder’s health. But his smoke does affect hers.
I think we all agree that she was rude and stupid. No one was forcing her to sit there and take it.
I’m just saying her weight doesn’t make her complaint more stupid or rude. A world class athelete, presumably, could make the same remark and be just as stupid and rude. chowder shouldn’t be getting any extra sympathy points just because a stupid bitch happened to be a fat stupid bitch.
No, but the implication here at its most basic form was that a person of unhealthy weight was complaining of someone else’s unhealthy habit. What effect whose health had on the other wasn’t really a consideration in the comment. Sure, he latched on to the health angle instead of the legitemacy of his actions – which under the circumstances and especially with the influence of alcohol involved was the more obvious target – but she brought it up. She could have said, “Your smoke is bothering me.” It would have been more polite, even if it didn’t make her argument any stronger. She chose the moral underpass by giving her statement that bit of lethal inflection. She is a fool if she didn’t expect the same in return. But then she is a fool for considering his smoking rude where he had every right to be doing it, and a bigger fool for consciously subjecting herself to things she found offensive to begin with.
Well, even if she was 6 feet tall—rather unlikely—that’s still a Body Mass Index of around 33, which is comfortably into the “obese” range. And if she was 5’8"—much more likely—then her BMI is around 38. If she was 4’5", as you suggest, then her BMI is almost off the scale about about 62.
Just because America has more large people, that doesn’t really change what is and is not unhealthy obesity.
Well Dopers I thank you for both the plusses and minus points given me.
To answer a few questions…and comments
The lady was around 5’7" tall…250+ lbs is well overweight for her size
My retort was completely out of character, I should have stopped and thought before opening my trap.
I feel that even if the lady was a thin as a rake my reply would have been along the same lines i.e “Your anorexia etc. etc.”
Next summer, 2007, smoking will be banned in pubs/clubs and the like, I shall then reserve the right to kill myself at home …pub landlord will lose megabucks
The
womans obesity could well have affected my health, if she had slipped and fell on me … :eek:
“Piss up a rope you old fat whore” I like that…it’s funny
As a fat smoker, I just want to say that I would’ve been hard pressed not to reply just as the OP did.
What kind of adult thinks its okay to wave her arms about and make rude comments? Jesus.
I hate strong perfume, it makes the back of my throat burn and makes my eyes water. Having said that, how ridiculous would I be if I walked into Lotions and Potions and started waving my arms around like a lunatic?!
Good grief. The woman was WAY out of line and clearly opened herself up for a snippy response.
I love how horrified people are by what basically amounts to a very brief, very mild exposure to cigarettes. “It’ll kill me!” as though without the cigarettes, she was well on her way to becoming immortal. :rolleyes:
And although it was a fairly harsh response, perhaps she will think twice before acting so ridiculously rude in future.
Off on a tangent (whee!)… I have to wonder about the bolded part. Are not business losses from smoking bans related to how widespread the ban is? If it’s only a city ban, the smokers decamp to the next city over and the pub-owners in the first city scream bloody murder. But I seem to remember readiong that in widescale bans (province-size, say, so that relatively-few pubs are near a border) everyone suffers equally and not as much. Does pub business go down absolutely after a wide-scale smoking ban?
Or in other words, when a choice is forced upon them, would people rather smoke in private than drink in public?
You have got the wrong end of the stick. No kidding that she’s grossly overweight–that fact in undisputed. I was being partly sarcastic and partly envious that there is somewhere in the world that someone that fat is considered massive–I am surrounded by such people every day, as is anyone else who lives in the USA. Acclimation does happen–and 250 pounds, unhealthy and fat as it may be, no longer looks that big to me. Just sayin’. I have had pts who are under 5 feet tall and weigh 250+. Hell, I work with people who are 250±-and they’re in health care!
252 lbs is big for just about anybody. I mean, I’m a total lard ass and I’m no where near that.
But eleanorigby does have a very valid point: look around your local mall, grocery store, whatever and you will see plenty of people MUCH over 300 lbs. It’s not ok, but I agree I wouldn’t describe a 5’7’’, 250 lb woman as grossly overweight. A fat ass, sure. Super giant blimp of a woman, nah.
I doubt I’ll ever weigh anywhere as “little” as 18 stone in this lifetime (yeah, I’m fat, I know I’m fat, but I can give you way better reasons to hate me :D), and what’s worse, I’m a former smoker who really (after 30 years of smoking) hates being around smoke.
But, ya know what?
You’re in a place where it’s perfectly OK to smoke, and if I don’t wanna inhale your second hand smoke, then I can leave.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had way too many people give me unsolicited free (and almost worth every penny) health advice, but there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I would have said a word to you, just like I don’t want anyone to tell me what I should be eating or drinking.
So, you’re not a jerk. She was. Yup, fat people can be jerks. Even me, but not for THAT
Bush has an album titled “16 Stone”. I’d heard in an interview that was a term they used to refer to a hooker or maybe a groupie (been a while) the band knew who weighed 16 stone. That was the first time I’d heard what a stone was as a unit of measure.
Some fat people also have asthma which is triggered by inhaled irritants like smoke or even some fragrances. Asthma can kill much faster than obesity. From my own experience, I know that it can be difficult to gauge just how much an irritant will affect me in any given situation. Sometimes even before I am consciously aware of an odor, I feel my throat narrowing and start coughing. I try to avoid situations which involve being near irritants, but sometimes social and business obligations mean that I can’t really avoid them. I have to be on the watch leave quickly if I start to have an asthma attack.
You should feel bad about saying that because even if strictly true, it was quite rude. It seems to me that she was telling you that your smoke was having an affect on her right then. It may be that she could have phrased it better, but her actions were far less egregious than if she had complained about you smoking because it was unhealthful to you.
…pub landlord will lose megabucks 