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Are you trapped on tumblr right now?

Is there something you planned to do before you got trapped in the endless tumblr scroll?

Are you yelling at yourself to get up and do the thing, but you can’t, because you’re trapped in the endless tumblr scroll?

Consider this your save point.

Put tumblr down, stand up, stretch, and go do the thing you planned to do. Future you will be incredibly grateful.

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lmao

#dragon age #da2 #(i love you varric)

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me when one of my girlmutuals posts about how they got a little coffee beverage or took a nice walk or started a book they've been meaning to read for a while or otherwise found meaning and joy in simple pleasures

#flashing

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Deer and jackdaws.

The birds feed on ticks from the deer, and also assist in removing velvet from growing antlers.

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Unfortunately, Gilgamesh was too cool. He oppressed the people of Uruk, taking their lunch money and getting real friendly with all their moms. And so the people cried out to the gods for deliverance. "Save us," they said. "Gilgamesh is much bigger and hotter than us and we cannot stop him."

The gods heard their pleas and sent Bigfoot to kick Gilgamesh's ass. However, the gods overlooked one very important fact, which is that they were both bisexual.

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my dental hygienist loves me. i have no idea what i ever did to endear myself to her, or even frankly make myself memorable at all, but she’s always so excited to see me and gave me a free polish today just because she was running 10 minutes late.

#girl last time i went to my doctor i waited 45 minutes

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BREAKING: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are looking to arrange a political marriage between one of their middle infielders and a right-handed reliever from the San Diego Padres in order to unite the kingdoms and challenge the more powerful Los Angeles Dodgers on a field of war.

#baseball

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I think it was put 10 million years ago just for cats

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why are french people rude?

Ah well, the safest explanation when an entire country’s people are stereotyped as rude is that they have their own culture with different criteria for politeness than the ones you are used to. It’s probably easier for Americans to forget this than for the rest of the world, because they consume less foreign media than the rest of us (from literature in translation to foreign films) and are less exposed to aspects of foreign cultures that could inform them about different norms of politeness (online interactions happen in their own language and follow their own (anglo) social codes.) With this insular worldview it’s easy to take it for granted that American good manners are universal. They are not!

A very common gripe against American tourists in Paris is that they talk so loudly in public spaces, which is definitely rude here but I assume that in the US, people just have a different threshold for what constitutes ‘loud’ (I wonder if it is due to being used to having more space than Europeans). I also remember a discussion I had with one of my translation professors about the American concept of ‘active listening’ and how negatively it is perceived in France. It may be that in the US it is polite to make ‘listening noises’ at regular intervals while someone is speaking to you, ‘uh huh’, ‘right’, ‘yeah’, ‘really?’, and that you would perceive someone who just stands there silently as disinterested or thinking about something else. In France it is more polite to shut up and listen (with the occasional nod or ‘mmh’) and it’s rather seen as annoying and rude to make a bunch of useless noise while someone is speaking.

There are of course countless examples like that. The infamous rude waiters in Parisian cafés probably seem a lot more rude and cold to people who have a different food culture… People from other cultures might consider a waiter terrible at his job if he doesn’t frequently check on them to make sure they don’t wait for anything, but the idea that a meal is a pleasant experience rather than just a way to feed yourself (esp when eating out) means we like having time to chat and just enjoy our table for a while, so we don’t mind as much waiting to order or for the next course. French people would typically hate if an overzealous waiter took the initiative to bring the note once we’re done with our meal so we don’t have to wait for it, as it would be interpreted as “you’re done, now get out of my restaurant.”

The level of formality required to be seen as polite is quite high in France, which might contribute to French people being seen as rude by people with a more casual culture. To continue with waiters, even in casual cafés they will address clients with the formal you and conversely, and won’t pretend to be your friend (the fact that we don’t have the American tip culture also means they don’t feel the need to ingratiate themselves to you.) I remember being alarmed when a waitress in New York introduced herself and asked how I was doing. “She’s giving me her first name? What… am I supposed to with it? Use it?” It gave me some insight on why Americans might consider French waiters rude or sullen! It might also be more accepted outside of France to customise your dish—my brother worked as a waiter and often had to say “That won’t be possible” about alterations to a dish that he knew wouldn’t fly with the chef, to foreign tourists who were stunned and angry to hear that, and probably brought home a negative opinion of French waiters. In France where the sentiment in most restaurants is more “respect the chef’s skill” than “the customer is king”, people are more likely to be apologetic if they ask for alterations (beyond basic stuff) as you can quickly be seen as rude, even by the people you are eating with. 

And I remember reading on a website for learning English that the polite answer to “How are you?” is “I’m fine, thank you!” because it’s rude to burden someone you aren’t close to with your problems. In my corner of the French countryside the polite thing to do is to complain about some minor trouble, because saying everything is going great is perceived negatively, as boasting, and also as a standoffish reply that kind of shuts down the conversation, while grumbling about some problem everyone can relate to will keep it going. (French people love grumbling as a positive bonding activity!)

Basically, before you settle on the conclusion that people from a different place are collectively rude, consider that if you travel there and scrupulously follow your own culture’s social code of good manners, you might be completely unaware that you are being perceived as obnoxious, rude or unfriendly yourself simply because your behaviour clashes with what is expected by locals.

#formality as polite vs standoffish is a common one #having known @crystalzelda for many years now #and her having met my family a number of times #i was alarmed to hear her using ‘vous’ with my father when they spoke french #but obviously i knew she couldn’t just not do that #so i told my father ‘please please please tell her to just use ‘tu’ with you’ #and he was like ‘well…….she’s not wrong though’ #and with my english ‘no t-v distinction’ and dutch ‘eh it’s mostly whatever t-v distinction’ i was just fuming at that response #she is my friend!! she is beloved in-group!!! and you make her use ‘vous’??? #social jail for papa!!!! #(i don’t actually think my father would have been at all offended had she actually used ‘tu’ though) #the customs around accepting and refusing things that are offered are the ones that cause me the most anxiety though #they absolutely cannot be intuited #and even when you know that they’re something that differs significantly across cultures #the spike of ‘oh that’s wrong’ when someone ‘breaches’ yours is wild #and when you fuck up you can see it on people’s faces #but in pretty much every culture if someone has refused or accepted something you can’t backtrack on that #even if they were to come out and say ‘oh i’m so sorry was i meant to refuse/accept that?’ #like it’s an even greater social faux pas to point out the social nicety of it all #there’s something about giving and receiving things that’s just so…..to indicate something was offered only out of politeness #rather than genuinely seems like it would be mortifying across the board regardless of culture #(i’m sure someone will chime in here and say ‘actually there’s many cultures where that’s totally fine’) #so everyone is just stuck in this supremely awkward dance at that point #and my socially meh ass cannot handle the idea of having to second-guess people offering me things #(i suppose on some level even this is cultural #my socially meh ass was greatly assisted by dutch straightforwardness #no need to second guess them)

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#baseball #the rituals etc #i appreciate that every time the broadcast mentions there’s some kind of bug going around the team #the entire reddit game thread descends into ‘boys you gotta stop making out with each other in the clubhouse’ #love that energy #much more fun than whatever clusterfuck of negativity was going on today #like #come on guys #half the broadcast was canine audience members #how are you still complaining about our offence? #i feel like bo accepted sometime last week that TD has achieved a sleeve ad that is ununobtrusifiable #and therefore decided he may as well go in the opposite direction and make it a cohesive part of his accessorizing

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Fun Fact: Amtrak legally has priority over freight trains, the issue is there is no governing body to enforce this and because freight trains have gotten so long, they can't fit on the sidings made for Amtrak trains to pass them, leading to many delays on train travel

#shoutout to the hours i had to spend looking into international train priority legislation #it was not as straightforward as the lawyer’s wording suggested it would be #anyway #any time the go train is delayed during rush hour for freight train reasons i am filled with the desire to kill and maim

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HoF and Ali on the other side of the waking sea:

#dragon age #da2 #dao

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wet evening in April by Patrick Kavanagh

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Post-Seine Javert be like

#les miserables

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#monkeys & typewriters etc #luv u humanity

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#she’s a star and she knows it