Wouldn't it be, they say, boring if everyone thought like everyone else. Bored people - like children - say contentious things. The difference is that children say contentious things for a purpose. They try out opinions to see if they work properly in society. They are natural Socratic philosophers.
If they carry on doing this into their teens, they are called rebellious. If they carry on into their thirties and forties they are called mildly autistic.
I know a youngish man who says he would love to eat dolphin, and says he can see no difference between the intelligence of them and any other fish. I point out that dolphins are not fish. He doesn't care, he just wants the attention.
I used to give my estate agent Uncle apoplexy when I was sixteen, by saying that the world should be run on Marxist-Leninist principals. Of course, I didn't really think that, but I wanted to know why he really didn't think that either. I never properly found out - partly because he had never thought the whole thing through and partly because he couldn't speak for outrage.
It takes either bravery or stupidity to suggest something to people which goes against currently acceptable social thinking. Racists and bigots are usually both scared and stupid, plus they are too lazy to think.
I was in a fish restaurant in Florida when I noticed dolphin on the menu.
I asked the waitress if they really sold dolphin meat, or whether this was a joke. She explained that what they call 'dolphin' was an ordinary smallish fish in the U.S. We both laughed.
Also in Florida, I was sitting next to a group of white, Texan Firemen who were on holiday and drinking at an outside bar, and one of them turned to me and asked, "Do you like n****r jokes?"
Another said, "Course he doesn't. He's English."
Did the heading come from Let's eat grandma?
ReplyDeleteYes. English language mixed with geography and a bit of marine biology thrown in.
DeleteIn Waitrose in Brighton I thought I saw what looked like Swedish 'Sill' (fish) on the deli counter. I asked the man if it was 'Sill', and he almost fainted and said "We don't sell Seal in Waitrose". However much I tried I couldn't get him to accept that I wanted 'Sill'. I gave up.
ReplyDeleteI buy tinned Sill. sometimes. The fish counter bloke was probably winding you up.
DeleteI asked the same question about dolphin on the menu in a Florida restaurant. I am guessing servers get asked that a lot.
ReplyDeleteBy non-Americans maybe.
DeleteEven though the dolphin fish has nothing to do with the dolphin mammal, there is no way that I would eat it when shown on the menu that way. I have no trouble eating mahi-mahi though (which is a dolphin fish). Words matter.
ReplyDeleteI like that!
DeleteI go along with Weaver below.
DeleteA rose by any other name maybe?
ReplyDeleteFlorida is filled with colorful characters, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes, and most of them were not born there.
DeleteI think this is one of the most significant information for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd i’m glad reading your article.
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