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RantMen Hitting on Us in Public
Had the most annoying experience today and I normally don't like to take my problems on the internet, but I am so annoyed. So, I'm at the laundromat today and I go outside to get dryer sheets. When I get to the car, there's a man parked in his car and he says something to me. I assumed he was asking for directions (I'm used to people asking me for directions in my neighborhood,) so I responded back. He, then, asks for my name and I ask "why?" Alarm bells go off in my head immediately after he asked that, why does this 40-something year old man want to know my name? His answer was "so I can get your number." I say nope, went straight back into the laundromat without said item. He left after I went back in, WTF. I did not expect to be hit on at 7am-ish, in my pajamas. Luckily, an older-50-60s-man said to let him know if anybody was bothering me if he was at the laundromat after he overheard me talking about it.
Why would this man think I was gullible enough to give him my number? And why would I be interested in somebody who accosts women in parking lots and hits on them? I was shellshocked. This laundromat is close to a lot of hotels and a truck stop, so I'm concerned this was a human trafficking situation; there actually is a trafficking problem in this area due to the interstate. There are at least 2 hotels on the same street, maybe a third. The truck stop is, at the most, 5 minutes away.
I'm proud of myself for not giving him my name and standing up to him! I was taught to always be nice to men and to let them down gently. Well, screw that, I'm not gonna end up dead in a ditch someday-not if I can help it, anyways. I'm glad that he didn't stick around; I was afraid the whole time that he came back and would bother me again.
As if.
Back in the day I used to just default to "they" for everyone. I can't be the only one.
I know that most users on here have an issue with the universal "they" in some cases, which is understandable if you're referring to someone directly by their name or even including a picture and that they're clearly male/female, and yet, you use "they" to describe them frequently without a she/he thrown in, I completely understand that and it's ridiculous. But I use these pronouns frequently for generalizing statements or for anonymity..
I used it 3 times in this post. (not including quotations)
My kids do this and I think it’s because of Rick Riordan books and/or kids’ tv. We’ve been pretty supervisory but there are things that slip through, and if I clamp down harder, it will just make them rebel more when they’re older.
It’s starting to become standard usage. It drives me bananas. Like, the local news uses “they” when discussing a local politician who is not gender special in any way and I’ve heard it in commercials.
It’s so terrible because it makes language unclear. If you’re talking about Mary Smith, local female politician and you just toss in a “they” when listeners heard her speak and you also have been using “she” it just causes confusion.
I hate speakers using "they/them" for any damn reason, but it does make me feel good to think that someday TIMs would all be called "they" just like everyone else. No gender special pronoun feefees. hehe
Lol exactly. There is a 99.9% chance that this was totally accidental
lmao at this one comment