Things that are deemed polite, but I find a bit rude

x-post well if a tree falls in the forest etc

Is this a British thing? What manner of jackets are you talking about?

I will not budge on the burping issue, I think it's important to say "excuse me" or acknowledge the burp. it's a social device to prevent embarassment for either party by deflating the situation.

"Be careful of making the mistake of buttoning the bottom button of a jacket or vest. Bottom buttons were not designed to be buttoned ever since King Edward VII set a fashion trend by his inability to fully close his vest around his kingly girth." (from here)

I don't know what Christmas is like in all your houses. Do you all go up to your rooms and open your presents then go downsatairs and eat your Christmas chips in silence?

I had no idea about the jacket thing. Maybe that's why I always look like a tosser when I wear one.

If you want your notice to be polite, just be polite in the body of the notice. I'll be the judge of whether I think your notice is polite or not, thank you.

for about 2 minutes everyone thought it was alright and then these noxioufumes began to disperse. everywhere. i could hardly stomach a morsel...

Stand up when someone enters the room

Open car door for a lady

Remove mine jacket and place it, devoid of regard for the material quality, atop a puddle so that mine beau can pass whilst retaining dryness of elegant and if i may say slightly fragrant footsies

good call, i'm going with polite for the warning but rude for leaving such a horrid festering odour at all

Yes, people ought to learn to release less smellier shits.

This is, of course, more important during winter in Toronto, when footwear will track in all manner of slush/mud/salt/grit/etc. Don't start on me with the 'why not get a doormat' business, as they do very little in these circumstances - especially with many guests. All the wiping in the world won't stop the inevitable import of yuckiness onto my floor.

I had this one friend who justified keeping his shoes on by claiming that the natural oil and sweat from his feet was far more damaging to floors and carpets than dirt (relevant only during warm, sockless months obv). I cried bullshit.

I don't like it when people come round to my house and I give them tea and when they're leaving they rinse their cup under the tap and put it on the draining board. Do they think that's how I wash up? What kind of a minger do they take me for?

Especially the first one. Imagine a couple of good-at-English punk rock kids sitting in a mall. Guard comes up and says 'I'm going to have to ask you not to loiter here'. Kids (one of whom may have been me) say the following just to be little stymies:

'So when are you GOING to ask us?'
'You don't HAVE to do anything except fix that VPL.'
'Actually they pay us to sit here. Who? THEM, like I said.'

I always take my shoes off first thing when I get home and don't put them on unless I have to. I take them off at work too (OH NO THE HORROR), but put them back on if I leave my desk. I'll take them off at someone's house if they ask me to, but usually I leave 'em on.

I think saying 'excuse me' when you burp/fart/give birth/whatever is polite - but I think that's more because I can't say "godDAMN I had kefta for lunch and my burps smell like ASS and now you have to SMELL IT HAHA YOU FUCKER."

Obviously this is not the case Christmas morning, but in my family we really only give presents to the kids anymore, so it's not much of an issue.

doggie el: bless you has nothing to do with god. i sure dont believe in god. why would you hide sneezes? i mean cover your mouth, sure, turn your head, yes, but hide them? who cares? more than that, have you not learnt how to stifle them yet?

and a handkerchief?? youre happy to carry around a ton of snot in your pocket all day and then run it through the rest of your clothes in the wash but 'bless you' is offensive? come on. COME ON!!

listen, everyone knows that when you sneeze your soul opens up to attack from passing demons. a quick 'bless you' seals it up and saves you from some kind of linda blair episode.

oh, and multiple sneezers dont get a bless you from me. i hope the demons get their soul, annoying fuckers.

also annoying and not worthy of a bless you - girls who sneeze cute.

OTM. Drives me nuts.

Multiple sneezers get a "bless you" for the first sneeze, but after that my standard response is "ONLY ONE PER CUSTOMER THANK YOU."

and a handkerchief?? youre happy to carry around a ton of snot in your pocket all day and then run it through the rest of your clothes in the wash but 'bless you' is offensive? come on. COME ON!!

Errr... think you'll find that "bless you" has everything to do with god - or is there some other type of blessing that has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. I mean "bless you" is short for "god bless you" after all, non?

I don't "hide" sneezes, but I sure don't like to shove them in people's faces. As you say, there's a certain amount of discretion required when sneezing. I knew someone who appeared to have never been told to put their hand in front of their mouth and when they sneezed, well - you didn't wanna be there. The beef I have with "bless you-ers" is that they are actively drawing attention that I happen to have gub pouring from my upper orifices and I find that incredibly rude.

stifling a sneeze is very bad for your sinuses as well may i add

I mean, I'm happy to hand out clean woolen socks for keeping feet warm.
-- Laurel (sininspac...), August 21st, 2005 5:27 PM.

This is the cutest thing ever and permanently endears me to anyone who does it for me. (Slippers = bonus points. Sock-slippers = true love.)

maybe you only hang around w/ arseholes, though, vintage latin, who are deliberately making you look stupid by noting you've sneezed. bastards

crossposts

Maybe I shld just say "wahey!".

OTM OTM OTM. ALSO SEE DRIVERS PROCEEDING STRAIGHT THROUGH BUSY INTERSECTIONS TRYING TO "WAVE THROUGH" LEFT-TURNING VEHICLES APPROACHING FROM THE OTHER WAY. NO THANK YOU, KINDLY SOUTHERN DRIVER!

With multiple sneezers I will bless them the first two times, then on the third sneeze I'll say "now you're just taking the piss". This works well with people I don't know.

It's just polite.

So. FUCK! YOU! :-P

I get annoyed when people driving cars disregard the rules of right-of-way to be courteous - even if it's to me. What they consider courtesy can disrupt the flow of traffic, or just cause unexpected situations for other drivers, which means accidents. Don't stop and wave me in front of your car if I'm getting ready to jaywalk. I appreciate you trying to be nice and shit, but if I was in the car behind you, I would be enraged.

OTM. What's even more annoying is when you're waiting to cross a fairly busy road but there is a car coming and you can't be sure whether you'll get across in time. So you wait. And wait. And then you realise that the motherfucking driver is SLOWING DOWN. Except he's slowing down so slowly that you can't be sure. So you wait and wait. Eventually he gets quite close to you and stops and waves you across. Fuck's sake. What a waste of time.

i cant satnd making calls at work and saying "hi there X" then they say "oh hi hows it going" then i have to say "not bad" every fuckin time and then i feel bad for just launching into "i was phoning about this bus station or whatever" rathert than asking them how they are but really i just want to say "hi Bob, do you know whats happening to bus stop 4768923?" or whatever. it makes me feel worse when other people in the office on the phone are like "yeah im ok, trying to hjweofuihwefuiohweiof" or small talk shit then i feel like a fucking robot, but y'know, im at work, im interested in howe my friends are doing, not some engineer dude or construction guy. i mean, i just want a fact from them, not to go down the pub with them.

Bless you.

-- Mr Jones (lesbaxter300...) (webmail), February 11th, 2006 2:13 AM. (Mr Jones) (later) (link)

Chrsit, I thought that little photo of me was it's own image. Sorry.

-- Mr Jones (lesbaxter300...) (webmail), February 11th, 2006 2:14 AM. (Mr Jones) (later) (link)

i love this thread title so much. and i agree with everything in the OP