Eve - that was funny as hell. I imagined you making the Austin Powers/Dr. Evil gesture when I heard that in my head, and I got the giggles.
Philster, are you fucking blind?
Official warning. Take your bitching elsewhere. Failure to do so may result in the revocation of your posting privileges.
As for your arguments: they’re way off. I’m not even going to respond to them.
A few thoughts:
Most of the time, we laugh and find something funny because it is tragic. Not because it makes us happy. Laughter is (if you will forgive the purple prose) an inverted scream. It is also one of the things that make we humans what we are. The OP committed no sin.
Think about it this way: most of you would have found both scenes hilarious if you had seen them on TV or in a Movie. To be sure, some of you are so noble and pure that this is not the case, but for the bulk of us the pratfall is pretty much the Acme of humor. Falling anvils and exploding TNT.
The fact that these events happened IRL in no way mitigates that they probably looked darn funny. At least the OP has enough self-awareness and honesty to admit that. On top of that, the OP did not laugh at the woman/child, just to himself later.
- We are being too hard to the OP, though his reactiosn were inappropriate and he clearly doesn’t klnow his audience
Coldfire, Philster was 100% on-target. If you can’t stand the heat, you shouldn’t be a Moderator. Or at least you should get used to people climbing allll the way up to your throne to call you on your statements.
I’ve been officially warned, but my MPSIMS relevant comment is that I can see this happening on the bus. Awkward situations happen everyday. I can bet that’d be just my luck that I’d have to hop over her. Stiil though, somebody should have done something, like maybe the bus driver, if for no other reason than to put an end to an awkward situation.
Is it something in the water today?
I said, earlier on in this thread:
What is so hard about that, Eve? The rules apply to you, too.
It’s not about not being able to stand the heat. It’s about the fact that, as the forum descriptions state for the BBQ Pit, “This is the place for all complaints and other discussion regarding administration of the SDMB”.
Now, go open a Pit thread already. Preferably one with the term “power hungry Nazi bastard” in the title.
You can call me any name in the book, and you can disagree with me until the cows come home. But stop bitching in MPSIMS.
What would have been funny is if there was also a soda bottle on the floor and it and the woman had rolled around in unison… bus makes a left and the woman and the bottle had rolled symphonically to the right, etc.
Other than that I’m going to have to trust smam’s judgement that the woman was merely embarassed and not in actual distress. I think he’s allowed that at the very least.
Oh, I hardly think that’s necessary, dear heart; there are 24 Pit Threads on you already. Just go back and link to your personal favorite.
as they say:
the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
By persistantly trying to help the woman, you could have as well pushing her humiliation level sky-high. Might as well sit in her face and say:“we all know that since you are the size you are, you cannot help yourself” She wanted to be left for her to get up by herself.
What if she started screaming at whoever was still trying to pull on her arm for her to get up?
Smam everyone here can huff n puff about what you should have done.
And everyone’s right about the bus driver. He of all people should have at least stoped the bus long enough to ensure the lady gets up, even if it would run the scheduel late.
Wasn’t it Mel Brooks who said “Tragedy is when I slip on a banana peel. Comedy is when you fall down a manhole.”?
Umm, Eve? Really, I think you should leave it alone.
And if there is going to be a pit-thread, I want a tag-line.
Did I say she was fat?:dubious:
The type of people that believe a woman when she says she isn’t injured.
yeah, me too. i laughed
the grind of day to day life makes those surreal
moments all the more amusing
i may regret this but…
As Coldfire noted,
i do think it is a cultural difference.
In the US she’d sue the bus company, the driver and
all the passengers for looking at her as she lay there.
Her she’ll dust herself and get on with her day.
and hopefully have a chuckle about it later herself
Hey, hey, don’t put words in my mouth. And don’t let Philster convince you, either. I merely noted the OP was in Scotland and not the US because another poster mentioned that the driver’s inaction could possibly be grounds for litigation - which it may very well NOT be in Scotland.
I’m not prepared, or interested, in discecting this matter on a cross-cultural level. 
If you can’t laugh at someone falling over and rolling about, what can you do? It must be a cultural thing.
The people in Dundee are odd (in a nice way!) but they’re not unfeeling wretches. I’m sure the woman got lots of attention and sympathy. But if she says she’s ok, and her eyes aren’t rolling back into her sockets or blood’s gushing out a head wound, people are going to believe her. In Scotland we still, for the most part, like to think adults can accept some responsibility for their own well-being.
As for the driver. He probably would be in trouble if anyone kicked up a fuss. But that isn’t very likely.
And I’m sure it was funny, in a surreal way, at the time. And I bet the woman sees the funny side of it herself. She’s probably even howling over the story with friends right at this moment. It is possible to be embarrassed and simultaneously amused at yourself.
Personally I would have found the whole situation ridiculously funny, though I would try and restrain myself. I once saw a man trip in the street and empty a litre of milk over himself. It was possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, ever. He was ok, and a bit cross, but he couldn’t deny it wasn’t funny. Curiously, no-one at the time even considered calling in the paramedics or the compensation squad. They were too busy muffling laughter and picking the guy off the ground.
Everyone who has absolutely never ever laughed at something that happened to someone else, please raise your hand.
I thought so.
Once, just as she reached the top of the looong set of stairs on the way into a very solemn leavers ceremony at school, my friend’s shoe went flying back down the stairs and landed at the bottom. Red faced, she turned to go back down and get it and she fell down herself.
Falling over is a good thing to do.
to everyone who thinks there’s something wrong with smam: listening to the wishes of someone is kinda a good idea. stuff like, oh, i dont know, people saying they’re ok and dont need a hand up. people like it when you listen to them.
funny thing that…
Oh fer crying out loud.
I AGREE that NOTHING COULD BE DONE FOR THE LADY ON THE BUS.
This point is not under contention.
I AGREE that SLAPSTICK PHYSICAL COMEDY IS FUNNY.
With the caveat that Chevy Chase taking a pratfall is not the same as a real-life person falling by accident. Can you yuksters at least acknowledge that? Yeah, the Three Stooges are a comedy classic. But see how you like it when somebody REALLY sticks a finger in your eye or puts your head in a vise.
YES, I have occasionally found amusement in SIMILAR REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS.
The one that comes to mind is two guys I saw in college, strutting down the sidewalk being oh-so-kewl – until one of them slipped on the ice and did a bit of a shuffle to keep his balance, looking like a bit of an idiot in the process. He managed to stay upright, though. I think it was the juxtaposition of him trying to look cool followed by nearly landing on his ass that was funny.
I myself have taken some public falls that were probably spectacular to watch. One winter, in the span of about a week, I slipped twice on the ice, both times landing flat on my back and slamming my head on the sidewalk. I got the breath knocked out of me, and both times I had to lie there for a moment to get my wind back and assure myself that I wasn’t hurt. That was probably 15 years ago, and I can still tell you what I was wearing for one of those falls, I remember it that clearly. Even now, Mr. S and I remember it being very weird that I fell the same way twice in a week, but I wouldn’t say we laugh about it. No, I wasn’t hurt, but I could have been.
Another, from the little-kid perspective: When I was about 4, I fell from a railingless ledge to the bottom of a stairwell, about seven feet straight down. It was my own fault – I’d inched my little chair near the edge to be closer to light for my book, and I toppled over, chair and all. Amazingly, I got off with just a fat lip. But I could have broken my neck. There is a photo of me in my bath that night, smiling with my fat lip, to record the event. But I don’t recall anyone laughing, then or now.
BUT – can we agree that it’s not exactly the kindest thing to find amusement at others’ expense? Can we at least feel a little guilty for that first unthinking reaction? Are we so desperate for humor that we must laugh at little kids falling face-first into the mud, and defend ourselves by saying “everyone does it”?
Ah well. Apparently so. Pardon me for interrupting the LAFF RIOT. Hardy har har. Please carry on.