Sarcasm. Need I really say more? It is a concept that I have found incredibly tricky to grasp, often resulting me as the butt of every joke. "Wow Laura, you're SO cool"... in most counties this would be received as a compliment - but there's something about the tone....the pirate-ish "ooh arrrgh!" about the person's manner that seems to suggest something more sinister....
I am curious. Please, someone enlighten me. Why is it so incredibly funny to put other's down using sarcasm and "wit"? That dry sense of humour which leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The cocked eyebrow with the wry smile as you are insulted over and over....yet if anything were to be said about it, you are merely a fool because "It's a JOKE". Shakespeare was wise, "many a truth are said in jest" or something of the sort.
Do I miss Bristol? The topic has been on my mind as of late, not too sure why really, but the more I remember the dirty, over-crowded town and the smarmy drunken men who follow you up and down Broadmead...I am more and more convinced that I would never wish to return. There is a whole breed of species. An inside language. An inner humour that is only shared among fellow "Brizzolians".
Don't get me wrong, some of the lovliest people are from Bristol. I lived around the area for years, my young and tender ages were spent in the place. Yet there seemed to be a large quantity of "oooh arrrrr"-ing going on. What, so we're all farmers are we?
Lush? Darling, that word was discarded along with the many other 90's sayings - at least, the rest of the world has done that. Wait, what is it now? "Gert" - well that was a word originally said a lot in the country fields in Midsomer Norton "wurd yu like to ride me gert big tra-er?" Now it has been adopted. It is "cool". Wow don't you love phases. It reminds me of my childhood when I went through a small phase of buying "hippie chick" pencil cases and calling everything "groovy". It'll pass. People grow up, but then a new generation of people arise and old popular words will rise from the grave...
No where is perfect. Every town, city, country and state have their quirks and inside knowledge of what is "cool" and what isn't. The thing I entirely disagree on is this obsession with sarcasm. With putting others down and sending out verbal abuse in the package of a smile.
Can we all not be a little more kinder? What have we really got to lose by saying something genuine? Must we really all lower our wit to the base techniques of sarcasm?
No, no. I don't miss Bristol. I would not want my son to be conditioned in the walls of a school whereby every boy must wear a pink tie and grow his hair long, prancing around like a pansy...
...mind you, I've seena a bit of that in Gloucester too. Man up lads!!
I dream a dream, of a place where the fields are not strewn with trash and air filled with aromas of sewage - I dream a dream of a nation of people who smile when they mean it, who laugh at humour and not each other. I dream of rainbows and buttercups and all things glorious and nice....
Is there a place like this??
Well, a hormonal pregnant woman can dream.
Yet despite all this, I can not help but feel a soft spot for Clifton. So many sweet memories with the girls at Clifton High. Oh how we laughed back then!
Just my two pennies. *Disclaimer* This post was not directed at any specific persons or place. (although Bristol is spoken about a lot I guess) I speak with mild humour and do not mean to offend any one on this nature. As noted above, I do love many people from Bristol, I am merely stating that the common humour developed in that area of the country is a little disturbing for me and hard to understand.....perhaps that was why I was bullied at school? lol.
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