Most born and raised Utahans, for example, tend to get one of those frigid-looking smiles when they find out that I grew up in Spanish Fork. At that point, the conversation (and interest in my personal history) ends.
Labels can do that -- end conversations; squelch interest; produce inferiority complexes about one's hometown . . .. Listed below are a few labels that I have personally (and I like to think - undeservedly) received over the years.
1) "Girl Lovin' Her Leopard Print" - I wear glasses most of the time. My current frames are the "tortoise shell" style, which apparently some people confuse as "leopard print." At my last job, a lady walked in and told me about her "custom home decor" business. She turned to me at one point, "For example, I can tell by your glasses that you really love leopard print." I was speechless. The lady continued -- she could sew, shellac, paint, and reupholster anything I wanted in leopard print!
2) "Appreciator of All Things Hokey" - At some point whilst still getting acquainted with my mother-in-law, we had a conversation about movies. We actually had a pretty large base of commonly-liked movies. Where we parted ways, however, was the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." I happen to really love "N.D." More than just about any other high school movie I've seen, it embodied the awkwardness, randomness, and social hierarchy that I actually experienced in high school. Makes me laugh every time. However, despite my best thought-out defenses for the film, it received the label "hokey" from my m-i-l.
A year later, the same thing happened when I recommended she watch "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" That's right, it too was condemned as "hokey," as well as given the injunction that she only was able to sit through the first fifteen minutes of it. Let's not even get into The Beatles' "Help!" debacle of Christmas '11 . . . let's just say, I've learned to keep my comedy suggestions to myself. How do I not deserve this one, you may ask? All I can say is, quirkiness never was hokey-ness.
A year later, the same thing happened when I recommended she watch "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" That's right, it too was condemned as "hokey," as well as given the injunction that she only was able to sit through the first fifteen minutes of it. Let's not even get into The Beatles' "Help!" debacle of Christmas '11 . . . let's just say, I've learned to keep my comedy suggestions to myself. How do I not deserve this one, you may ask? All I can say is, quirkiness never was hokey-ness.
3) "Utah Mormon" - This label was especially baffling coming from a girl from Idaho. Are not Utah and Idaho Mormon cultures basically one and the same? Perhaps 20 years ago there was a difference but alas, the gap has closed. For proof, I refer you to the film "Napoleon Dynamite."
The list goes on and on. What labels have you found unjustly slapped on yourself?
The list goes on and on. What labels have you found unjustly slapped on yourself?
5 comments:
I have often been labeled a "sweet spirit." I don't know who thought that would be a compliment, but it is not very flattering. I just don't like talking to people I don't know. Austin likes to tell people that I am silent but deadly.
Hahaha! Gotta love how Austin defends his woman. Kudos, kudos. "Sweet Spirit" is indeed one of the most obnoxious of labels.
I'm often quite worried about the potential label(s) that would accompany my being from California. To prevent this from happening I am prompt to declare that I "never really fit the stereotype" and even the somewhat true fact that I "never had many friends". I probably do this needlessly since my personality should do most of the speaking, but Im pretty sure my M.I.L. Rationalizes some of our misunderstandings and differences by labeling me as a "Californian". Oh well.
@Betsy - I always take it as a compliment when people tell me that they never would have guessed that I was from Utah. That's why I get annoyed at conversations where the second sentence is "Where are you from?" Spanish Fork really is the conversation killer. I'll have to find a way around it now that I'm in a new area again. For the record, I've never found you or any of your family to fit the "Californian" label, at least as I know it.
I'm not sure what people have labelled me as but I am really happy that you posted something to your blog....
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