A brother and a sister, for better or for worse

[venta]

On Saturday night, ChrisC and I were strolling across the North Circular on the way to the cinema. Not that we were a danger to traffic, we used a pelican crossing and everything. As a car which had stopped at the lights pulled away, the passenger wound down the window, leaned out and yelled at us "Are you two twins?"

Now, I can understand the question. Superficially, we look quite similar: similar height, similar hair-colour, and we both have long hair[*]. We have - occasionally - been mistaken for each other by people who know us well (though admittedly at a distance, or in photographs, and not recently).

What baffled me was that the shouter clearly intended it to be a cutting and deadly insult. As it was, it left us both faintly amused with a side order of "eh?"

Of course, it is possible that our fashionably-tousled teenager has embarked on a policy of yelling weird things out of windows with the aim of causing confusion and cognitive dissonance all over London (I'd certainly find that much more fun than hurling abuse at people).

[*] We also wear nearly-identical, independently-chosen glasses. Though mine were in my bag at the time, rather than on my face, so not directly relevant. On the rare occasions I leave mine lying around somewhere in our flat, whole seconds of hilarity ensue.

What's the strangest thing anyone's ever shouted at you?

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

While waiting to be served in a pub, someone once remarked to me, "It's a good job I know the Prince of Wales!"

I'm assuming this was the beginning of a chatup line that would be gone with, "It's a pub down the road, let's go there instead!" but I was just so boggled by it that I didn't wait to hear the punchline.

[ebee.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a girlguider, kentwellie and university council bod I'm not even sure where to begin. Other humans= teh weird. Once called "better in bed than Satan" by a nutty baptist when staffing witchfest. I remain hopeful this is true.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

a policy of yelling weird things out of windows with the aim of causing confusion and cognitive dissonance

Me and some mates used to do this when we were teenagers. Over-educated sixth-formers who'd recently discovered Monty Python. It didn't really work: sometimes we got bafflement, but more reliably we got told to sod off in no uncertain terms. Which was fair enough, so we did.

[venta.livejournal.com]

:)

I'm a great collector of overheard snatches of conversations - the sort where someone walks past and you feel like you want to turn round and follow them to find out the context.

When at university, some friends of mine decided that they were going to deliberately spout nonsense whenever people walked past them to create this effect.

Unfortunately, the first pair of people they passed beat them to it, by saying something along the lines of "Shall we stop off at home and masturbate first?"

At which point they decided they were outclassed and gave up :)

[metame.livejournal.com]

I was accused of being "an animatronic" once.
It wasn't an insult, they genuinely believed it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, you are quite implausible ;)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

In the days when I used to sport a trenchcoat and trilby (I only stopped because they got so scruffy) I got lots of things shouted at me, including 'Inspector Gadget!' and 'Where's your violin case?'. These were more pleasing than not.

Not verbal, but I was cycling in Oxford once and had a sandwich thrown at me from a passing car.

[brrm.livejournal.com]

I've had lemonade thrown at me when I was cycling. Find someone who's had a chocolate bar or packet of crisps thrown at them and we've got ourselves a lunch!

Also had "Oi neo!" shouted at me when wearing long swooshy leather coat circa 1998. Probably pointless to say that neo's coat was fabric; I think only Morpheus wore a leather trenchcoat?

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I had the equivalent thing happen in Reading, it was a McDonalds milkshake. Strawberry I think, but I was too cold to stop and check the flavour of the semi-frozen goo on my legs.

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

"Lezzers!" Shouted at female me and male quantumboo.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

What are lezzers anyway? Does anyone really know? ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do know a few straight-but-long-haired couples that's happened to.

ChrisC and I have only encountered the polite alternative, where someone in a restaurant says "So, ladies, are you ready to or... Oops."

[lnr]

Oh I should have read all the comments before adding my own - Mike and I have had this too. It doesn't help that he's long-haired and also very slight and quite short.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

People don't seem to shout entertaining things at me. I feel left out now.

(Oh, and your post title comes from one of the songs on Covanant's Northern Lights album; I think it's Call The Ships To Port. Do I get a point? :) )

[venta.livejournal.com]

It is indeed Call the Ships to Port, you win one kudo :)

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

People don't seem to shout entertaining things at me.
Me neither. Not that I'm actually complaining about it.

[marjory.livejournal.com]

So you and Chris C are kind of a gothy version of Howard & Hilda from Ever Decreasing Circles? There are far worse things to be!

I go through phases of getting yelled at a lot, but the weirdest?

I suppose that came from a woman in Göttingen who decided I was a witch (she told me so in great detail at the bus stop once) and used to yell SATAN! and WHORE OF SATAN! at me when she saw me, which was pretty regularly. Then I got the internet at home and stopped needing to go out for my bizarre abuse...

Next oddest also happened in Göttingen when a woman yelled at me, "You aren't in Turkey NOW!" which I kind of knew already, but I thanked her cordially anyway. I guess that woman-who-thought-I-am-a-witch was having a day off.

XD

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wow... that's some quite impressive weirdness. Presumably all your intriguing Göttingen abuse was also in German...

I'm not sure I understand the full extent of your question, having never seen Ever Decreasing Circles. After a little light googling, though, I'm going to go with a 'no' :)

[ruanae.livejournal.com]

Hmm I've had various things shouted at me, including the standard "Oi Goth" and other such witty banter. I once had a cabbage thrown at me from a van, fortunately it missed. (I've also had stones, sweets, spit etc and been set on fire but that's par for the course) When I was waiting for the bus to college someone shouted "Get a job" which was confusing as I was waiting at a bus station, which i didn't think was an indicator of being unemployed...

Actually the weirdest question was when I was on holiday, when a woman came up to me and my brother and asked if we were part of some religious group as we had long hair! When we said no her next question was "Do you work in IT then?". Was by offensive, just odd

[venta.livejournal.com]

and been set on fire

Er... no, I think it's worth asking about that one.

What !?!?

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

Weirdist comment David and I had thrown at us was "You shop at Marks and Spencers". We were in Sainsburys at the time.
I still have no idea what that was about and how it was supposed to be insulting!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Presumably accusing someone of shopping at M&S is tantmount to accusing them of being a solid bastion of boring, middle-class, middle-of-the-roadness. Which some people may find insulting.

Not quite sure why it made sense to level it at you and David, though!

(And anyway, surely "you shop at Sainsbury's" would mean pretty much the same thing!?)

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

At one point in Camden with a group of friends, we had a drunk bellow at us: "Fucking goths! Fucking witches! Fucking Welsh bastards!"

On another occasion in a pub Winchester we encountered a rather strange woman who appeared to take great offence at a friend's septum piercing (to the point of demanding that the bar staff should tell him to leave - apparently she was well known to them, and they subsequently apologised to us about it), and then cornered me on the way back from the bar and demanded "Are you from Glastonbury, or are you with the National Front?".

[venta.livejournal.com]

"Are you from Glastonbury, or are you with the National Front?"

Wow. That is impressively odd. And it just made me laugh out loud.

Though it does sound like the sort of question to which there should be a fantastically witty answer.

No idea what that answer might be, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Wandering around Kingston Upon Thames about 14 years ago one evening a small group of 3 'youths' crossed my path to shout "Gothboy!" at me. I like to think that I was so insulted at being called a goth that I was stunned into silence. Truth be told I couldn't think of anything witty I could have replied with.

Years afterwards I still find myself wondering whether it was the done thing for the local kids in the evening to go around shouting out everything they saw. "A Mother and two kids!", "The number 23 to Dorking!", "The great crested greeb!", "Sainsburys!" etc etc.

[grahamb.livejournal.com]

Argh, didn't notice I wasn't logged in...

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

I've had "put on some f***ing makeup!" when getting off a bus in leeds.

People also confuse me and dr_bob from time to time- it's the waterproof jackets and ponytails thing.

Due to my *cough* generous assets, not been mis-gendered in person Since i was 11 and had a dodgy hedgehog haircut. But the number of times i get "Sir"'d on telephone cold calls is huge.

[hjalfi.livejournal.com]

Strange person on street: Have you seen the führer?

Me: Huh?

SPOS: Adolf Hitler, man. Have you seen him? He's supposed to be here today.

Me: Hasn't he been dead for years?

SPOS: He's rising from the dead, man! Today's the day the führer rises from the dead!

Me: ...

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

"OH Borat"

Which rather throw me as I'd of said I look like a lot of things. None of them Borat.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You weren't wearing a mankini at the time, were you?

[stegzy.livejournal.com]

As an impressionable 10 year old I was victim of a drive by shouting. "The Andromedans are coming!" they shouted. I am now 36, I'm still waiting for said Andromedans to come.

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Careful... they're watching you...