Re: Pesky Gender, another rant [was: First posting...

Quoth spope33@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Steve Pope) on Fri, 23 May 2008 04:21:12
+0000 (UTC):

>Vicki Rosenzweig  <vr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>This is one that one of my partners and I have discussed: zie is
>>sometimes grumpy about being interrupted by people who want
>>directions (whereas I tend to smile and provide the information),
>>but saves the serious grumpiness for random strangers and
>>casual acquaintances who cannot or will not understand that
>>a person happily reading a book while waiting for a bus, train,
>>or doctor's appointment is, in fact, already doing something,
>>something they are probably happier with than with random
>>conversation that starts with small talk in the hope of finding
>>a shared topic.
>
>Isn't there usually some sort of non-verbal interplay that must
>occur before most people will start taking to a random stranger
>on a train?  I don't seem to experience being interrupted by
>someone if I'm simply reading.  If I pause reading for a moment
>and look up at my surroundings then someone might start talking
>to me.

This partner is simply reading, from what zie has told me. It
occurred to me briefly that zie might have been looking up at
the sound of a train, but if so, that would be something that many
other people were also doing.

I don't know what the difference is between you and my partner
in this regard.
-- 
Vicki Rosenzweig | vr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Heat death or cold, in randomness or Cause,
It is not how it ends, but what it was." --John M. Ford