Story: I'm walking home from dinner and trying to decide whether I should go and see this guy I know and his band tonight.
Anyway, I walk past these people who are out on the town, one of whom is this lame-looking Yuppie-ish white guy in the official lame-looking Yuppie-ish white guy going-out uniform (black slacks, tucked-in black silky/shiny button-down shirt), and he's all puffed up like he's Big Man Out on the Town or something, and he says to me in his best I'm Tough voice, "What's up, bro."
What the fucking fuck? "Bro?" No one in my life has ever called me "bro" except for a long string of lame white guys like this one. Can any of you guys explain this to me?
This experience, for some reason, was almost as infuriating as the time I won the fifth grade spelling bee and the principal tried to do some kind of weird-ass jive-turkey handshake with me. I mean, I just won the spelling bee. Presumably I can deal with shaking hands in a normal fashion.
― the artist latterly known as nabisco is pissy today, you may have noticed, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― anthony, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Like, if an obviously non-surfing black person from Atlanta walked up to a bunch of surfers in California and said, "How's it hanging, dudes?," would you expect the surfers to think, "Wow, this person is one of us, man?"
― Nitsuh, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― di, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Ronan, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
If you see him again just say "greetings, Earthling."
― suzy, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
x0x0
― |\|0|2/|\4|\| |=4'/, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Anthony's situation seems pretty cut and dry insensitive, though I have gay male friends who like to be referred to as girl/she/her; they refer to me the same way, which, despite being straight, I'm perfectly fine with. That has more to do with the context, I spose.
― Andy, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
You have just defined one of the worst aspects of OC for me. Huntington Beach dorks who apparently listen exclusively to Limp Bizkit and Korn who either wear wifebeater T-shirts and hang around the Pier or go to UCI and end up in frats, and they always say 'brah'. GARG!
Sounds like you've dealt with a string of Fucking Assholes, Nitsuh -- I think Suzy called it pretty well, and it could just have something to do with manners one was taught as a kid. I was always told to say 'hi' -- or in my usual private wall-around-self way just to quietly walk along. If someone says 'good morning' or whatever I'll always respond in kind, though -- that's only right. :-)
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― matthew james, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Pennysong Hanle y, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
It is very easy for me to distinguish between a white kid that's grown up with black and Asian friends (see: Raggastani bits in White Teeth) and a white kid with zero contact with kids from different racial or class backgrounds. But I *can* spot a weave at 50 paces, which astonished my colleagues at the magazine: "White girls usually don't know Jack about extensions!"
― Kris, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― maryann, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
BTW, if I got called "sport", "champ" or "tiger", I'd totally love it, especially if it was in bed.
― Sean, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― DV, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Dan Perry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Arthur, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― suzy, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― duane, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
The thing that always got to me was how my ex-boyfriend got me using the term "Cats". I felt like such a turtle-necked beatnik. And not even a full turtleneck, a mock one.
― Mandee Wright, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Ally, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― maria, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Nick, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― R.S. II, Friday, 30 January 2004 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)
― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 30 January 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― hgkjlhkjh, Saturday, 31 January 2004 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lord Custos Orisis (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 31 January 2004 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lord Custos Orisis (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 31 January 2004 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 31 January 2004 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)
at the camp i went to in 1985 a group of boys formed "the bros." i wasn't asked to be in it and i felt very left out. the guys stuck stickers on their lockers that they'd written "Bro" on with a black felt-tip pen. eventually they let me in, i think out of pity as much as anything else. the guy i was closest with wrote "Bro" on a sticker and he put it on my locker, but i was disappointed because he had a different pen that day, so my sticker didn't look like everyone else's. this was the same guy that on a bus ride to the beach sat next to me and spyacked endlessly into an empty bread bag.
anyway nabisco I know tons of white guys that say "bro" to everybody, usually exactly the guy you describe except maybe w/khakis, or even hacky sack kings, or that long continuum between those poles. it's pretty stupid saying "bro" to a stranger though. that word is kind of reserved, not just for black people but for actual bros. you don't throw it around like "buddy" or "pal". haha the worst would be if he said "dawg" - hahaha oh dear. i had your same recoiling actually listening to "killin em softly" (dave chapelle) when he goes "my lawyers be white..." and it struck me wrong like "doth protest too much." that might have been the joke though. sometimes i lose track of which layer of irony people are at on comedy albums because you can't see ppl's expression.
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 31 January 2004 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 31 January 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 31 January 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 31 January 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 31 January 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 31 January 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 31 January 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 31 January 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 31 January 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)
priceless!!!
― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 31 January 2004 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)
"Ummm...what is 'The Rejected Working Title of This Nation's Saving Grace', Alex?"
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 1 February 2004 00:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 1 February 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 1 February 2004 02:07 (twenty-one years ago)
Anyway I find this thread very embarrassing in retrospect, I apologize and hope these clarifications help.
― nabiscothingy, Sunday, 1 February 2004 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)
As if every Californian is some sorta surf bum or somethin'.BAH!
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 1 February 2004 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Sunday, 1 February 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)
In what universe is this not the same thing????
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)
This thread has always been read as a serious complaint, and it's really not; geez, if people occasionally calling me "bro" was my biggest problem, I'd be a happy guy. It's just funny/annoying.
― nabiscothingy, Monday, 17 October 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)
"...I declined to give the guy five" = Hee!
― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)
― Mendoza Lineman (Carey), Monday, 17 October 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)
xpost Carey the fact that everyone thinks I'm Indian just makes stuff like this all the more bizarre and ridiculous! I mean, when you're trying to get all jive-turkey with Indian-looking guys in corduroy, something is probably weird in your concepts of race.
― nabiscothingy, Monday, 17 October 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 17 October 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)
I thought "bra" was a poorly appropriated Hawaiian/islander thing?
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Appropriated From Hawaiians (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)
― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)
I think I've always assumed that "G" derived from "gangsta."
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)
― gear (gear), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)
And just for the record, I'm very much sick of watching two year olds get taught a dozen different ways to "gimme five"--what's up with all those parents thinking it's cool to have their toddler look like a pro athlete who just scored a run?
― don weiner (don weiner), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)
― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)
yes, that's exactly what these people do. Including the "whassup?"
― don weiner (don weiner), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)
― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)
― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)
white men are odd
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 11 June 2008 13:57 (seventeen years ago)
Oh man I remember this one.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 11 June 2008 13:59 (seventeen years ago)
I never did the Roth IRA thing.
― HI DERE, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:55 (seventeen years ago)
white people are annoying
― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:56 (seventeen years ago)
is that racist
sorry white guys
The wounds will heal. Eventually.
― HI DERE, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:01 (seventeen years ago)
what a terrible thing to say.
― Surmounter, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:02 (seventeen years ago)
Surmounter, this will probably seem like a douchey thing to say, but I'm really just curious -- as a Middle Easterner, what do you mark on forms when asked to identify your race?
― jaymc, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:18 (seventeen years ago)
"200, 400"
― HI DERE, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:20 (seventeen years ago)
-- HI DERE, Thursday, June 26, 2008 4:55 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
you SHOULD have, though!
― Eisbaer, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:20 (seventeen years ago)
i.e., send a $5K check to the DAN PERRY FUND.
― Eisbaer, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:21 (seventeen years ago)
I think you should just respond with a term white people call each other. Or just whitey <<---Its what I do. Incidentally, what DO white people call each other as a term of endearment or affection?
― VeronaInTheClub, Friday, 27 June 2008 02:08 (seventeen years ago)
'hey cunt'
― electricsound, Friday, 27 June 2008 02:12 (seventeen years ago)
'owzit scumbag'
― moley, Friday, 27 June 2008 02:17 (seventeen years ago)
I had a black guy call me 'bro' recently and it alleviated some of the nabisco inspired guilt I had acquired from referring to black guys as 'dudes'.
― bnw, Friday, 27 June 2008 02:26 (seventeen years ago)
in 2 Fast 2 Furious one of the guys calls another guy "breh"
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 27 June 2008 02:53 (seventeen years ago)