Where's Larry Kart?

[A Lark Ascending]

strongly held opinion

That is well-worn Organissimo-board-speak for 'unsubstantiated assertion'.

The strength tends to lie in the vigour (and sometimes the colourful language) with which the opinion is expressed rather than in how convincing the argument is.

[JSngry]

but really, Bev, I'm not telling you what to listen to. I'm telling you what I listen to - or what I DON'T listen to. There's a difference.

And I mention that too...but there's a major difference in the way we tell it. I always work on the assumption that there is a more than equal chance that they problem lies in my hearing, context or preconceptions rather than anything wrong with the music.

Jesus Christ man, grow a pair and take a stand! You can always admit to changing your mind if you do, but c'mon - anybody who's listened to as much music - and listened to it as seriously as many here have, yourself included, has nothing to apologize about for knowing what they like/don't like, and why.

And franklym, I know you have these type opinions but are reticent to express them as such, which I'm sure you have your reasons for, I guess. Ok, fair enough, but the way you like to piss on those who also have these strong opinions and who don't have qualms about expressing them...what's up with that? Espeicially going on and on about how other people pay attention to them or some such...really, what's up with that? You want some too? Well cool - grow a pair and take a stand! But about the music, not about other people who talk about it.

Supine deference awaits!

strongly held opinion

That is well-worn Organissimo-board-speak for 'unsubstantiated assertion'.

An I think it's a generally-understood English language term for strongly-felt unsubstantiated assertion, opinions being opinions after all...

[A Lark Ascending]

It would appear the Sixties never happened. Be a man! Belgians have a national character linked to the murkier parts of their past!

We're back to the world of 'Tull rule, Zeppelin are crap.' Opinions, strongly held.

Though I have to admit I'm still chuckling over the strongly held opinion that Belgian middle-aged people seem to like each other and that some Belgians partake in legitimate forms of enjoyment.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[JSngry]

Are you related to Walter Matthau by any chance?

[A Lark Ascending]

Are you related to Walter Matthau by any chance?

I assume he's another one of your baseball players? I'm anticipating a wave of analogies I cannot hope to comprehend. I don't even get cricket.

[ghost of miles]

Are you related to Walter Matthau by any chance?

I assume he's another one of your baseball players?

Only for a Hollywood moment!

[JSngry]

Are you related to Walter Matthau by any chance?

I don't even get cricket.

There's a line (excuse me, "queue") that winds around the block and back several times...

[AllenLowe]

the somewhat ironic thing, Bev, is that this started with your posting:

"What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit...the arrogance of the intellectual tourist"

which is really no less stern than the things that the "experts" post (and you were equally and sternly critical of me in that old thread) -

someone reading your post would think you just as strong-minded and righteously self-assured as we geniuses.

so, sometimes it depends on who is doing the expressing -

Edited May 3, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Quincy]

Today PMS Buddy warned it was that time of the month for my significant other. I didn't realize my sig other was organissimo.

Okay, now I've pissed off the 2-4 female members...

[Hot Ptah]

Stereotying of other areas of the world also takes place within the U.S. Kansas City residents get this sort of stereotyping all of the time. Here is only the most recent example in the local newspaper:

"KC visit shifts boutique owner’s views

By JOYCE SMITH

The Kansas City Star

New York fashionista Nikki Grant couldn’t fathom opening a shop in Kansas City, a place that conjured up images of cows and gingham-dressed Dorothy.

But God had other plans, she said.

First it was getting her out here. That happened when her pregnant sister, who lives in the Northland, requested a visit.

“I was walking on the Plaza and I was like ‘Wow!’ ” Grant said. “I saw 20 women with these fabulous outfits...."

But then when I was growing up in Wisconsin, we often heard that Chicago was a mean place, with rude people who would treat you badly if you visited there.

Then I visited Chicago and found out for myself.

[papsrus]

Where did Larry go?

[A Lark Ascending]

the somewhat ironic thing, Bev, is that this started with your posting:

"What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit...the arrogance of the intellectual tourist"

which is really no less stern than the things that the "experts" post (and you were equally and sternly critical of me in that old thread) -

someone reading your post would think you just as strong-minded and righteously self-assured as we geniuses.

so, sometimes it depends on who is doing the expressing -

Well, I'd argue that it started in that strange post the seemed to mix banalities with an imperious rush to judgement about the Belgian character and its links to an imperial past. You don't hurl that sort of thing out and expect it to be deferred to. However great your mind, you are going to get challenged.

There are very few posters I lock horns with here.

Probably about five!

Edited May 3, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Hmmm, go to Belgium and drink the mass produced Duvel? This does not compute.

La Rulles -- perfection bottled.

[JSngry]

the somewhat ironic thing, Bev, is that this started with your posting:

"What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit...the arrogance of the intellectual tourist"

which is really no less stern than the things that the "experts" post (and you were equally and sternly critical of me in that old thread) -

someone reading your post would think you just as strong-minded and righteously self-assured as we geniuses.

so, sometimes it depends on who is doing the expressing -

Well, I'd argue that it started in that strange post the seemed to mix banalities with an imperious rush to judgement about the Belgian character and its links to an imperial past. You don't hurl that sort of thing out and expect it to be deferred to. However great your mind, you are going to get challenged.

There are very few posters I lock horns with here.

Probably about five!

And you appear to really enjoy doing so!

[A Lark Ascending]

And you appear to really enjoy doing so!

That I will admit to.

I grew up in airmens' quarters where we weren't allowed to take short cuts through the officers' quarters. And arrived at university (thank you, the post-war Welfare State) utterly astonished to be there only to meet Hooray Henry's who just assumed it was their right.

You're just easy targets for the good old-fashioned resentments of the British class system.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[JSngry]

And you appear to really enjoy doing so!

That I will admit to.

I grew up in airmens' quarters where we weren't allowed to take short cuts through the officers' quarters. And arrived at university (thank you, the post-war Welfare State) utterly astonished to be there only to meet Hooray Henry's who just assumed it was their right.

You're just easy targets for the good old-fashioned resentments of the British class system.

Oh so it is a "British" thing then, eh? (you do remember that one, don't you?)

I knew it!

Well, carry on then. I feel it only my duty to facilitate your self-esstemm issues. It's the least I can do!

And no, no need to say "thank you", that would just set back the progress. Jsut knowing that I'm helping you overcome is thanks enough for me.

Hell, if you need to feel superior about something, just look at that typing....

[A Lark Ascending]

Where did Larry go?

Hopefully he popped back to Belgium to take a closer look.

[AllenLowe]

just don't forget who won the War of Independence.

and don't forget how we forgave you guys after you bombed Pearl Harbor-

[JSngry]

Well, carry on then. I feel it only my duty to facilitate your self-esstemm issues. It's the least I can do!

And no, no need to say "thank you", that would just set back the progress. Jsut knowing that I'm helping you overcome is thanks enough for me.

Ok, that part was a little too snarky.

My bad.

[Larry Kart]

Though I have to admit I'm still chuckling over the strongly held opinion that Belgian middle-aged people seem to like each other and that some Belgians partake in legitimate forms of enjoyment.

Do I have to spell out that both of those reactions/assertions/opinions, rapid-fire as they were, were based on my comparative sense of how people behave in good-sized chunks of other societies with which I'm quite familiar, including my own? Sad though it may be, neither of the sorts of behavior I noticed or thought I noticed in Hasselt seems to be common where I live.

[A Lark Ascending]

just don't forget who won the War of Independence.

and don't forget how we forgave you guys after you bombed Pearl Harbor-

Just remember who burnt the White House in 1812.

Oh, and we finally paid off our WWII debts a few years back.

Anyway, Pearl Harbor was tiny compared with the way you've invaded us with burger joints, baseball caps and coffee served in indecipherable measurements (I recall when you could order a small coffee...now you have to order a Grande which means small).

Well, carry on then. I feel it only my duty to facilitate your self-esstemm issues. It's the least I can do!

And no, no need to say "thank you", that would just set back the progress. Jsut knowing that I'm helping you overcome is thanks enough for me.

Ok, that part was a little too snarky.

My bad.

Hit me hard...reminded me of those awful sacred heart post cards they used to sell in the Catholic churches I attended as a kid - source of another neurosis!

Though I have to admit I'm still chuckling over the strongly held opinion that Belgian middle-aged people seem to like each other and that some Belgians partake in legitimate forms of enjoyment.

Do I have to spell out that both of those reactions/assertions/opinions, rapid-fire as they were, were based on my comparative sense of how people behave in good-sized chunks of other societies with which I'm quite familiar, including my own? Sad though it may be, neither of the sorts of behavior I noticed or thought I noticed in Hasselt seems to be common where I live.

What illegitimate forms of entertainment do people indulge in where you live? I suspect they were going on a street or two away in Belgium.

[papsrus]

Anyway, Pearl Harbor was tiny compared with the way you've invaded us with burger joints, baseball caps and coffee served in indecipherable measurements (I recall when you could order a small coffee...now you have to order a Grande which means small).

Don't succumb to this Starbucks-speak nonsense. Order "small" in a firm, authoritative tone while staring them straight in the eye. They always back down.

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyway, Pearl Harbor was tiny compared with the way you've invaded us with burger joints, baseball caps and coffee served in indecipherable measurements (I recall when you could order a small coffee...now you have to order a Grande which means small).

Don't succumb to this Starbucks-speak nonsense. Order "small" in a firm, authoritative tone while staring them straight in the eye. They always back down.

Oh, I do! "A medium black coffee please", rather than "an Americano"!

On the plus side, even the Starbucks type places over here are able to make tea.

Not the case when I visited New York. Put tepid water in a cup. Dunk a teabag. What? Might have been appropriate in Boston in the 1770s but today....

My stereotyping there can be backed with extensive scientific evidence. Americans might be able to build an atomic bomb and put a man on the moon but they can't make tea.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[Larry Kart]

[

Though I have to admit I'm still chuckling over the strongly held opinion that Belgian middle-aged people seem to like each other and that some Belgians partake in legitimate forms of enjoyment.

Do I have to spell out that both of those reactions/assertions/opinions, rapid-fire as they were, were based on my comparative sense of how people behave in good-sized chunks of other societies with which I'm quite familiar, including my own? Sad though it may be, neither of the sorts of behavior I noticed or thought I noticed in Hasselt seems to be common where I live.

What illegitimate forms of entertainment do people indulge in where you live? I suspect they were going on a street or two away in Belgium.

OK -- I finally see the problem, or part of it. When I said "legitimately," you took it to mean "as opposed to illegitimately," while I meant that the people I saw in Hasselt seemed to be genuinely (or actually or really) enjoying life and each other. I just don't see the sort of shared enjoyment of life that I thought I saw in Hasselt going very often where I live. It's not that what I think I see around here are "illegitimate" forms of enjoyment but rather less enjoyment of life across the board. I'm not making a judgment about "proper" ways of enjoying life; I'm just saying that the people I saw in Hasselt seemed to be having a good time being themselves.

[A Lark Ascending]

OK -- I finally see the problem, or part of it. When I said "legitimately," you took it to mean "as opposed to illegitimately," while I meant that the people I saw in Hasselt seemed to be genuinely (or actually or really) enjoying life and each other. I just don't see the sort of shared enjoyment of life that I thought I saw in Hasselt going very often where I live. It's not that what I think I see around here are "illegitimate" forms of enjoyment but rather less enjoyment of life across the board. I'm not making a judgment about "proper" ways of enjoying life; I'm just saying that the people I saw in Hasselt seemed to be having a good time being themselves.

All rather strange - my general experience of people in public is of fun being had. In the recreation spaces in the school where I teach, in the streets, cafes, pubs at the weekend I don't sense any strain or effort in the enjoyment.

Is it really so tense in the USA?

I think people know how and when to turn off here in Europe wherever you are. Different in the workplace.

If you want relaxed try Italy or Spain in the night-time - whereas in the UK the night is given over to rather boisterous behaviour by lubricated youngsters, southern Europe really seems to know how to pull all the family in.