Innocuous things that make you irrationally embarrassed

lol

I liked Hua Hsu's description in his memoir of his college self wearing an "audible amount of corduroy."

I think corduroy embarrassment must be a common experience for people of a certain age. I'm wondering how much of it is 80s kids who had parents stuck in the 70s.

My wife savagely (and rightly) mocked me for believing that the Talking Heads song "And She Was" included the lyric "and she could see an earmuff factory."

The lyric is, sadly, "she could see a nearby factory." Allegedly the factory that made Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink.

Until I read this post, I, too, thought it was "earmuff factory."

Which, tbf, is a better lyric.

I know, right?

my Dad convinced me that "Big Time" was actually called "Pig Time" which I believed until I was like 20 years old

I never really questioned it because my Dad isn't really a funny person. but he got me on that one.

acquaintances mildly laughing at something I've done i.e. "lol you're silly, Neanderthal".

if I know you well and we're good friends, or we've worked together for a long time, that's a completely different story, but if we're just meeting, it's off-putting to me and starts us on the wrong foot. I get embarrassed easy and makes me want to go back to my room and put on my headphones.

Off topic slightly, but I feel like those things also come down to ones' sense of humor and how it might, or might not, be received.

Price example for me - at my first job out of college, we had our first all company holiday gathering where I finally first met in person the 60% of our staff that worked at our other location. One guy gets introduced to me and says (god I still wish I was making this up), "hey, I actually saw you walking down street x (a very likely street for me to walking down, so nothing weird) the other day and though to myself, 'goddamn that is the ugliest motherfucker I have ever seen in my life'". Pretty much ruined the rest of the night for me, despite three people insisting that "it's just his sense of humor, don't be offended". Nope, sorry, I don't know you from Adam. Get the fuck out of here with that being the first words you've ever spoken to me. I still see his name pop up now and then in a professional context and I renew my wishes for nothing but bad things to happen to him. Two decades on and I still feel myself get angry when I see even his name.

wtf that is a toxic way to be introduced to someone.

I remember going to a theatre production at a black box, rather informal thing with a lot of friends performing so I didn't get dressed up as I would for like, Broadway, I wore a tank top.

I gave one of the actors I didn't know a compliment and he thanked me and then said he saw me wearing a tank top and thought how ridiculous it was someone would wear a tank top to a play.

we're really good friends now because we connected a few years later in a play we did together, but I recently brought that up as the first time we ever spoke to each other and he looked shocked and felt bad that he said that.

Progressive websites that have links to "Find Your U.S. Senators and Congressmen" where you're asked to insert your address.

If you don't know who your U.S. representative, that's pretty embarrassing but maybe excusable if you just moved to a gigantic metroplex.

But if you don't know who the two people are that represent the whole state, how are you even reading these words in the first place?

redistricting sometimes changes this, even if you don't move ... but, yeah, not knowing who the senators are?

Toys/books/general kid material that’s designed to get children into programming.

Actually probably not innocuous but I’m not sure where else this fits.

If that's actually what it's doing I don't mind it; it's more the games and things that slap on STEM and CODING on the box because they have to follow a rule or use the most basic bit of logic that annoy me.

when my lighter is the same color as my pack of cigarettes

i saw someone post pictures from an instagram-optimized bookstore that made me irrationally embarrassed. really, i feel irrationally embarrassed by any sort of irl business that is designed for people to take pictures for social media there.

haha oh man

Oh dear. At least they actually sell books. There's a whole chain of places (Selfie WRLD) where literally all they sell is the opportunity to take pictures of yourself with your own camera against various moderately compelling backgrounds. It's only $25 an hour!

Gift link: https://wapo.st/463hPn8

the poster for Taylor Swift's tour movie looks like her farting into a microphone and I can't unsee it.

Seeing this thread bumped and worrying it's about something I said or did

Ooh I've got a good one:

There's a barbershop in the shopping area of town that has the words "Men's Crêche" stuck in large letters on the front window

the poster for Taylor Swift's tour movie looks like her farting into a microphone and I can't unsee it.

― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Thursday, September 7, 2023 12:56 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wasn't that a Sarah Silverman bit?

I keep getting TikToks of impressionists doing celebrity impressions to the celebrity. Like “Paul Giamatti meets ‘Paul Giamatti’”

I haven’t actually watched any of them because the concept seems excruciating

Imagine someone doing an impression of you to you and having someone else film it while it’s happening

the poster for Taylor Swift's tour movie looks like her farting into a microphone and I can't unsee it.

God damn it LOL

I keep getting TikToks of impressionists doing celebrity impressions to the celebrity. Like “Paul Giamatti meets ‘Paul Giamatti’”

I haven’t actually watched any of them because the concept seems excruciating

― na (NA), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 01:11 (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was once at a formal conference dinner where part of the 'entertainment' was a guy who came round to the table and drew caricatures of guests. Some people were clearly uncomfortable with the way they were portrayed, but had to sit with the thing on the table until the end of the evening when they could leave and throw it away.

i have this habit of writing posts here, finishing them, seeing something I don't like in the first paragraph and fixing it, and forgetting to re-read the second paragraph to make sure the rewrites don't completely ruin the transition from one paragraph to another.

then requiring a follow-up post clearing up what I meant when I realize it now looks like gibberish

never apologize, that's my steez.

folks will say, pplains is so profound, half the time I don't even know what he's talking about. goes right over my head.

I say this all the time

In this modern age, I feel like I have to look at my phone while waiting for my to-go order/coffee drink or else I’ll look impatient.

omg me too