Responding what when someone calls you

[OAQfirst]

Right. So you're following where I'm going then.

He thinks that it's silly to get irked about spitting. He's grown up used to it. Flash forward and he will find himself in a situation where others are inpinging on his sensibilities. And they're thinking he's all uptight about something that "everyone does".

Oh, I follow. But even spit is nothing near the category of dog poo. People spit on people all the time. That's commonplace. And if we go back a few posts, where I wrote "Because it's common it's OK," this is an axe driven into my argument.

On the other hand, had I known that the examples used would be so extreme, I would have written that more gingerly. I'm talking about language. Words. Replies.

 

[DaveC426913]

Oh, I follow. But even spit is nothing near the category of dog poo.

Which is why I checked to ensure you knew what a slippery slope was. They are different only in degree - and a subjective one at that.

Spitting was once almost universally agreed to be a quite disgusting behaviour. Frankly, when you get right down to it, on a scale that ranges from perfect behaviour to perfect sociopathy, firing spittle and firing dog poo are actually right next to each other.

Are you yet getting that you will be in my shoes in a short few years? Manners will continue downhill. They will cross your threshold of sensibilities.

 

[OAQfirst]

Which is why I checked to ensure you knew what a slippery slope was.

Spitting was once almost universally agreed to be a quite disgusting behaviour. Frankly, when you get right down to it, on a scale that ranges from perfect behaviour to perfect sociopathy, firing spittle and firing dog poo are actually right next to each other. (Did you know that human saliva is highly unsanitary? Given the choice between the two, take dog poo over saliva.)

Are you yet getting that you will be in my shoes in a short few years? Manners will continue downhill. They will cross your threshold of sensibilities.

I take it you don't kiss very often? Now should I still take this seriously?

-Oh. I guess I should take your edit as a retraction about the poo and saliva?

 

[OAQfirst]

Which is why I checked to ensure you knew what a slippery slope was. They are different only in degree - and a subjective one at that.

Spitting was once almost universally agreed to be a quite disgusting behaviour. Frankly, when you get right down to it, on a scale that ranges from perfect behaviour to perfect sociopathy, firing spittle and firing dog poo are actually right next to each other.

Are you yet getting that you will be in my shoes in a short few years? Manners will continue downhill. They will cross your threshold of sensibilities.

If spit and poo are so evenly balanced on your teeter-totter, I guess. But I bet you'll have a hard time finding many who will get on both sides of that ride.

I'm sorry that you're so bothered by "What?", but I just don't share your pessimism about the downslide of manners in the future.

 

[DaveC426913]

I'm sorry that you're so bothered by "What?", but I just don't share your pessimism about the downslide of manners in the future.

Yep, and that's what I was saying to my parents 20 years ago!

 

[Jack21222]

firing spittle and firing dog poo are actually right next to each other.

Alright, I thought you were a reasonable person, but you can't tell the difference between "spitting into the grass" and "spitting in your direction."

I'll give you a hint... It's not a difference of degree, it's a difference of kind. It goes from an issue of "sensibilities" to an issue of "potential physical harm."

I'm a bit surprised that you're a bit fuzzy on the difference.

 

[OAQfirst]

He is a reasonable person.

 

[DaveC426913]

He is a reasonable person.

Why thank you. Likewise, it is quite refreshing to have a disagreement with someone without either side getting emotionally bent.

Alright, I thought you were a reasonable person, but you can't tell the difference between "spitting into the grass" and "spitting in your direction."

...into the grass? Luxury. I dream of these lunkheads spitting into the grass.

 

[Jack21222]

...into the grass? Luxury. I dream of these lunkheads spitting into the grass.

Or into the street, I guess. I spit from my car window on the freeway. If a trash can is nearby, I spit there. As I said, the alternative is to swallow it, which makes me ill.

He is a reasonable person.

I'm sure he is. He was using hyperbole, so I responded in kind.

Anyway, as long as somebody isn't spitting in such a way that it's getting on you personally, I don't see how it's a big deal at all.

EDIT: I'll nitpick myself. It's not hyperbole, per se, but I don't know the correct term for it.

 

[OAQfirst]

I'm sure he is. He was using hyperbole, so I responded in kind.

??

Anyway, I also thank you Dave for your patience with me.

*blows out candle*

 

[Jack21222]

??

Anyway, I also thank you Dave for your patience with me.

*blows out candle*

Oh, that part wasn't sarcasm. I was literally saying I am sure he is a reasonable person. I didn't literally mean he wasn't reasonable, I was exaggerating for effect. *shrug*

It seemed he was exaggerating the "dog feces = spit" part, so I decided to join in on the exaggeration.

 

[DaveC426913]

It seemed he was exaggerating the "dog feces = spit" part,

But I'm not saying they're equal I'm saying there is an inexorable slide down the slippery slope of what's tolerated. Today, dog poo is disgusting. Just as a decade or two ago, no one spat.

(Personally, I blame high-profile baseball pros and their wads of 'baccy.)

 

[Jack21222]

Just as a decade or two ago, no one spat.

I was alive both a decade and two ago, and plenty of people spat. I'm 26 now, and my mother yelled at me when I was approximately 4 or 5 for spitting. She claimed I was just emulating the teenagers next door. Therefore, two decades ago, the teenagers living next to me spat.

Fast forward to a decade ago. I was 16. I wasn't the only person spitting in public. It was fairly commonplace then, especially among smokers or people with a cold. I don't smoke, but constant sinus infections and allergies will have a similar effect.

Perhaps you meant 3 decades ago, I wasn't alive then, so I can't really refute your claims if you just push it back one more decade.

 

[lisab]

I was alive both a decade and two ago, and plenty of people spat. I'm 26 now, and my mother yelled at me when I was approximately 4 or 5 for spitting. She claimed I was just emulating the teenagers next door. Therefore, two decades ago, the teenagers living next to me spat.

Fast forward to a decade ago. I was 16. I wasn't the only person spitting in public. It was fairly commonplace then, especially among smokers or people with a cold. I don't smoke, but constant sinus infections and allergies will have a similar effect.

Perhaps you meant 3 decades ago, I wasn't alive then, so I can't really refute your claims if you just push it back one more decade.

Believe me, all this spitting really is fairly new. But maybe you grew up in the epicenter of this spitting craze, and so were exposed to it from an early age.

Seriously, it's your bodily waste, you should not dispose of it within sight of others. And you don't have to swallow it, that's what tissues are for. Some extremely low class people blow out their nostrils in public...omg, that's so, so, so disgusting. And just <that> far away from spitting, really, when you think about it.

Suppose you went over to your neighbor's house to talk to them about something, and in the middle of the conversation, you turned and spit on their porch. Now that's not polite, is it? You're thinking, of course not (I hope). It's rude. And if it's rude to spit on someone's porch, why is it OK to spit in a park? On a sidewalk? Anywhere where you share space with the public?

 

[Huckleberry]

I see responding to being called by saying 'what' more like misusing who rather than whom in a sentence. I can understand if people don't appreciate it, but at least it won't make you ill or ruin your clothing. If throwing poo at each other is the custom of the day, then that's what it is. You might be able to convince people that it could make them sick. You could convince them that it will save them time and effort of cleaning their clothing. You can tell them that you don't appreciate it when they throw poo at you. I don't think anyone will be convinced that they should change their behaviour amongst their friends and peers because you don't approve of it personally.

There's a lot of straw in that poo. It suggests to me the belief that manners is equivalent to intelligence, and that without manners our ability to communicate is no better than a bunch of chimps who fling poo at each other because we are limited in our capacity for expression.

It's time for me to take a shower. I'm glad that custom is in fashion at the moment.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Believe me, all this spitting really is fairly new.

That's odd. I've never known a time when it wasn't happening. And apparently back in the olden days bodily fluids in the streets was pretty common. I've often even still seen people urinating in public.

 

[DaveC426913]

I've often even still seen people urinating in public.

And is it then acceptable behavior?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

And is it then acceptable behavior?

I'm not arguing the acceptability. Only that there was a time when people didn't do these things.

We could go back to the matter of "What?" but I already decided we could argue that back and forth and be in the same place we are now. Its simply a matter of preference.

 

[BobG]

I've often even still seen people urinating in public.

And is it then acceptable behavior?

Depends on who wins - and the temperature, of course.

 

[SticksandStones]

Suppose you went over to your neighbor's house to talk to them about something, and in the middle of the conversation, you turned and spit on their porch. Now that's not polite, is it? You're thinking, of course not (I hope). It's rude. And if it's rude to spit on someone's porch, why is it OK to spit in a park? On a sidewalk? Anywhere where you share space with the public?

Nope, can't say I'd care. I wouldn't care if they spit on my porch either. The rain will wash it away, or it'll evaporate, or whatever. Either way I got better things to worry about.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Probably "What?" is short for "What's up?" which is what I always say in this situation. I try to convey by my tone of voice that I am genuinely interested in knowing what is up. I can't remember when I called out to someone and they responded "What?", but if they did, I obviously didn't get upset enough to remember it.

 

[Evo]

Nope, can't say I'd care. I wouldn't care if they spit on my porch either. The rain will wash it away, or it'll evaporate, or whatever. Either way I got better things to worry about.

Expectorating and deficating on areas which other people will walk and sit on and then carry that into their own homes where they are exposed to it is not only the epitome of rudeness, we're talking about spreading disease. Whether you personally approve of it is beside the point when it comes to impinging on other's rights. I can't believe anyone is defending this practice.

 

[DaveC426913]

Probably "What?" is short for "What's up?"

I insist that it is short for "What do you want?"

 

[DaveC426913]

Expectorating and deficating on areas which other people will walk and sit on and then carry that into their own homes where they are exposed to it is not only the epitome of rudeness, we're talking about spreading disease. Whether you personally approve of it is beside the point when it comes to impinging on other's rights. I can't believe anyone is defending this practice.

In his defense:
- as Huckleberry wittily said "There's a lot of straw in that poo." i.e. I've raised the stakes to spitting and poo in an attempt to illuminate the slippery slope of public manners. This was originally about saying 'what'.
- S&S is not defending it, he's merely saying he sets his "worry threshold" higher than spitting.

Still, I too find his indifference to someone spitting on his porch to be quite ... troubling. This starts down the road to other publicly-apathetic habits I see: littering, casual defacement or destruction of public property...

 

[jtbell]

Who's here?

No, he's on first.

 

[tiny-tim]

No, he's on first.

That took a long time!

111 posts and 11 days for someone with sufficient knowledge of the classics to be able to answer my question!

Who's on first? ​

 

[WhiteTim]

Probably "What?" is short for "What's up?" which is what I always say in this situation.

If there were a shorthand version of "What's up?", it would be "What's?", not "What?" People don't say "What is up?"; they say "What's up" with the contraction.

Nobody responds "What's?" They say "What?"

Like Dave, I also insist that "What?" is short for "What do you want?"

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

If there were a shorthand version of "What's up?", it would be "What's?", not "What?" People don't say "What is up?"; they say "What's up" with the contraction.

Nobody responds "What's?" They say "What?"

Like Dave, I also insist that "What?" is short for "What do you want?"

Just to be annoying I would like to point out that people do actually say "What up?" and I have heard the use of "Whut! Whuut!" ;-p

 

[Evo]

Just to be annoying I would like to point out that people do actually say "What up?" and I have heard the use of "Whut! Whuut!" ;-p

You know someone that says "what up"? Did you correct them?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

You know someone that says "what up"? Did you correct them?

Its far too common around here. If grammar were a topic of conversation though I would point it out in a heart beat. ;-)