Conference quark::mennotes

    
    I've seen men do this too.
    
    I think it's that there are rude *people* out there.
    Ones that don't think the "rules" apply to them.
    
    -Jody
    

	I think it's just Massachusetts!!

	(jus' a li'l joke)

There seems to be a general trend towards rudeness nowadays.  I think that
Ken's astonishment comes more from the long-held misperception that women
were "naturally polite".  They aren't, any more than men are.  I'll admit that
I am taken aback more by rudeness in women than in men, largely because I've
wanted to believe for so long that women "wouldn't do something like that".
But they do.

					Steve

    
    
    There is rude, and then there is assertive.  Assertiveness in
    women is often mislabeled as rude or ignorant.  Whereas, it
    truly isnt.  Rudeness has no gender.  I agree with the last
    reply that more folks seem to be ruder now than before.
    I believe that men who see assertive women are just not used
    to that because it has been something that we were not allowed
    to be for far too long.  I think this increase in rudeness
    has to do with the lack of attention to manners that parents
    are inflicting on thier kids.  When I was growing up I would
    not think of speaking back to an elder.  Whereas nowadays,
    the younger kids have no respect for anything it seems.
    It's little wonder though when you think about it.  They
    have watched the government lie over and over again.  Alot
    of them have watched their parents lie over and over again.
    And many have been unwittingly used as pawns in divorce cases.
    These kids were given the shaft and this is a reaction to it.  
    It's based in a lack of respect.

    I agree with Jody and Steve.  Unfortunately, there do seem to be a lot
    of rude acting people these days, but I've noticed it in both sexes.
    
    A couple of months ago I went to a show at Boston College with my
    daughter, and we attempted to take the campus bus back to her dorm on
    the Newton campus.  I say *attempted* because we never even made it
    onto the bus.  There was a large group of BC boys waiting for the bus,
    many of them big, tall, guys, and they all stampeded onto the bus,
    pushing smaller women and girls aside.  The bus was quickly full and we
    were forced to flag down a cab.  It was pretty scary since it was
    obvious that a small woman such as myself could easily have been
    trampled to death by these 18-19 yr. olds boys/men, who are all bright
    enough to be attending BC.  So, that's just a recent example of rude
    young *men* that I've witnessed recently.  It comes in both sexes. 
    Just be glad that most young women are not big enough to actually
    trample a 6'2", 250 lb. "nightmare" of a man!
    
    Lorna
    
    
    

    There are certainly rude people on both sides of the gender fence.
                                                                         
    I cannot tolerate rudeness.  If someone is rude, I will have a banshee
    fit and make them sorry as heck that they ever tried that with me. I'm
    sorry, but I treat everyone I meet with respect, courtesy, and
    politeness. I expect the same in return. 

    
    
    Basenoter
    
     Now now this is the year of the women :-) 
    
    David

    Re: .7
    
    No, that was last year.  They only get one.
    
    	Steve

    may be like someone before said it has to do with the northeast.

    i lived in many places in the world, and in the US lived in many
    states (about 7) and number of cities (about 11) all over the country, 
    and i have not seen more, what-cha-ma-call-it rough and unpleasant
    and not too polite people than around Boston and northeast in general. 
    in both sexes, not just women. i see it when i go to restaurants, 
    go to a gas station, school, where ever, i was told that this is
    just how people are in the northeast, it is not done in purpose,
    offcourse there are nice people around too, i just find more than not
    are not too friendly to say the least.

    i found the most pleasant and friendly people to be in the south
    (Georgia etc..)and north west (Washington etc..) and southern California 
    to some extent.

    when i lived in England, i also found the English women to be much more 
    friendly to talk to and easier to chat with and all. they seem to be less
    angry at men for some reason.
    
    this is just IMVHO offcourse.
    
    \nasser

    No its just women that are being rude these days. Men are just pulling 
    guns out and shooting each other when the want things their way.

    No more arguing.;)

    Jim

	"You know, in America last year, there were 27,000 murders with
	handguns.  In England, there were 52.

	"You know what that means?  It means in America, we're just not 
	gonna take any &%!# any more!!"


	- From a stand-up comedy routine I saw; sorry, I guess you 
	  had to be there.
	

    re:.0
    
    Drivers in Massachusetts are very free with the middle finger, the
    contorted facial gestures, arm waving and the fanatical hi-lo-hi-lo-hi
    flashing of the headlights trick.
    
    On the drive home last week, there was this one, middle-aged woman
    sitting in the left lane, I was the first car in line behind her.
    A break opened up, I went right, passed her, then back left.  As I
    passed her, I could see she was having come kind of pseudo-epileptic
    fit with her hands waving left and right and up and down and what
    have you, then, once I passed, the headlights started flashing hibeam-
    lobeam-hibeam-lobeam.
    
    Then I watched.  There must've been 5 more cars that passed her, while
    she simply refused to move into the middle lane.  They all got the flashing
    headlights.  I wonder if they got the flailing arms, too?
    
    I had to shake my head in amazement.  This happens only in Massachusetts.

I think American women have really blown this equality business way OTT. It's
fine to get equal pay, it's fine to have the vote, it's fine to have equal
job opportunity. I'm for all that. But who wants to go home to somebody who's
been wielding a pick-axe all day. No thankyou.

Have you seen some of these women body builders. Urgh. Who wants to go get in
bed with somebody who looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger under the covers. No
thankyou. And having a women rip your head-off because you opened a door, or 
the waiter/ress puts the check 2 centimetres to the left of center. You poor
b......s.

Look at Bubba, he's even asked himself the question 'should I or should I 
not hit a women'. Boy, you guys are in a sorry state.

All the real women, please stand up.
 

    I hear it once said that the essence of "good manners" was to tolerate
    those with "bad manners".
    
    As for rudeness, I, too, have experienced some rather rude behaviour
    coming from women in their twenties. Flipping the bird, shouting the
    F-word at me, shopping (which my wife chuckles at and says that women
    shopping at a bargain sale are like hungry sharks in a feeding frenzy).
    
    Just a note to the Mass Drivers:  The far left lane (once known as the
    passing lane on freeways) is now classified as just another lane (so I
    am told).
    
    Paul
    

Guys, what's 'Flipping the Bird' ?

- Paul.

    .15
    The international jesture of f**k (intercourse) yourself. It is also
    called the Italian salute, it is also called many other slang gestures.
    Many of our youth take each others lives over such a stupid justure.
    And many folks are driven off the road because of this jesture. 

    I too have experienced this rude awakening. And there again stands the
    new woman/wymin of the 90's. And surely there will be as Susane Colen
    will point out, "back slide". For if your precieved as being sweet an
    inocent and you prove yourself otherwise. Then it won't take long
    before the awaking takes place and you find yourself woundering why it
    happened to yourselves. 

>Guys, what's 'Flipping the Bird' ?
>
    
    See figure 1.

Oh, that's rather rude isn't it.

In Germany, it's illegal to make any gestures at another driver. What happens
is that the offended driver takes your plate number and reports you to the
police. You are then sent the fine by post.

If you contest the issue, it goes to court and the offended driver appears
to give testimony. If you loose, which most people do, you end up paying the
fine and court fees plus the offended drivers fees too.

It's really effective. Since driving for five years in Germany I've never been
given the 'flipping the bird' or whatever. 

- Paul.

P.S. Thanks for putting me straight with 'Flipping the Bird'.

    
       It's just general rudeness that's on the rise.  Women today now
    experience the same day-to-day frustrations as men do.
    
    ( i.e. ....sh*t !!!  I'm late for work, the boss is gonna be pissed,
    and this jerk ahead of me is going 50 in the left lane !!!!!!!!
    get the f**k out of my way !!!!!!   AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!   )
    
        Rudeness is DEFINATELY not gender specific.
    
    Jack
    

    Some people in general are just rude.
    
    While shopping last weekend, I was waiting for a parking space to open
    up.  I had my left directional on waiting for the person to pull out. 
    Right after they pulled out, before I could even start to turn my car
    into the parking space, another car came around the corner from the
    opposite direction and pulled right into the space!  It was a family...
    husband and wife in front, and a couple small children in back.  I was
    fuming!!
    
    I waited for them to get out of the car, my signal still on, and
    informed them that I was waiting to park in that space, and they took
    it from me.  The wife looked at me and said, "Yeah, right!"  I was so
    angry, and instinct just had me shouting obscenities at them regardless
    of whether or not it was right or wrong.  They acted so self-righteous,
    and know what they did, because it took them a minute or two to get out
    of the car knowing I was waiting there to confront them.
    
    It's too bad their children had to witness such a scene, and even
    sadder that they are learning from their parents' bad examples.
    

    re .19, I don't understand this German law about making rude hand
    gestures.  Doesn't one have to *prove* that another person made rude
    hand gestures?   The way you state it, it seems like somebody could
    just, at a whim, claim that some other person made rude hand gestures,
    whether they had or not, and cause the other person to be fined.  It
    really doesn't seem fair to me.   
    
    Lorna
    

I can understand your concern. The fines tend to be in the 100 to 500 DM range
depending on how rude you were or the traffic offense. Most people would know
that they'd been rude and risking more costs against the possibility that the 
other person could prove it is a pretty good deterrent.

The offended driver must appear in court and testify if you contest the issue. 
If a passenger or other witness is available, from either side, all the better.

The courts are pretty good at catching bad cases and throwing them out. If 
defendent and prosecutor know each other one could argue it's a grudge case.
The courts might throw it out. The offended driver might be asked to describe 
your car for example to prove he/she did see you. 

I can only say it works - probably not 100% of the time, but then which law 
does work 100% of the time.

    Ken, I belive your seeing the 'equalization of the sexes'.  Since there
    are no longer roles which are particularly appropriate for women rather
    than men why be suprised when women act more like men (aggressive)
    which you perceive as rude because historically women have not been
    as aggressive as men tend to be.  
    
    I do think that as society becomes more amorphous and depersonalized
    people tend to loose the traditional values which used to be more
    evident.  The vanillization does come at a price, and what your seeing
    is, I believe, part of that price.  It doesn't HAVE to be, but seems
    to be.
    
    
    Jeff

    
    re .21
    
         
           I also get suprised about how rude/dumb some people are about
      cutting in front of you just cause they are in a car.   They wouldn't
      cut me off if I was walking down the street or they'd be on the
      ground "oh excuse me, I didn't see you cut in front of me, let me
      help you up!".  As for taking your space and then being belligerant 
      about it, once at a concert I saw a girl holding a parking space by
      standing in it, so that her friend could go and get the car and move
      it closer, some guy comes by and tells her to move and she says she
      has the space, so this guy proceeds to drive on her at about 1/2 mile
      an hour and literally pushes her to the back of the space, then he
      and his buddies get out laughing and swear at her, and walk away.
    
      Very stupid leaving your new car there,  she proceed to key the whole
      car all the way around for about 5 minutes.  Paybacks are a bitch!!
    
      But I would never do something like that to a jerk, not me.
    
      /art

    
    if its any consolation, many of us young'un's grow out of it. Including
    us young women.
    
    We've been taught by our mothers that you can catch more flies with
    honey than vinegar. but we are also looking at where our mothers are
    and where WE want to be... and we're not sure which of mom's lectures
    to hold onto.
    
    I've paid for my rudeness/aggressiveness enough times now that I'm
    beginning to feel that its not worth it. Once was a night when I went
    out with "the guys"... and I found out that "the guys" had been
    tempering their behavior for me. These guys were totally rude and
    obnoxious. They were doing "guy" things. The WORST guy things. And I
    couldn't hang. All of a sudden, equality wasn't worth it...
    
    And then there was this week, haggling with car salesmen. I was a
    bitch. That's the only word I have for it. And yes, I got the deal of
    the century. But I probably will also have an ulcer for life.
    
    I'm not as rude as I used to be. I no longer try to out-boy the boys. I
    don't grab my crotch. I don't swear in every other sentence. Now its
    just every 10th sentence... 
    
    But I had to learn. 
    
    I know that most of you aren't going to feel sorry for today's women,
    but the fact is, we're getting a lot of confusing messages. There is
    the 50's model of women. And the 50's model of men. And in the '90's
    there aren't really set models for women or men. So, you have to take
    what you've been taught and merge them 'til you're comfortable. And
    yes, women have to do this more than men. Men have an equally hard task
    of ADJUSTING to each woman's choice.
    
    It was a lot easier, in some ways, when things were clear cut.
    Nowadays, part of maturing is determining the role you will play in
    society. And no, you usually do NOT have the hang of it by 20-25 years
    of age.

    If you did something like cutting someone off when waiting for a
    parking space in Washington DC metropolitan area, or cut someone off on
    the highway, you seriously risk getting blown away by some young punk. 
    I quake in fear when I drive around here, and I'm a Mass. driver with a
    lot of b*lls ...
    
    PS:  I wish the left lane were reserved for only passing and high
    speeds like in Europe.  I never experience problems over there and
    also, if you flick the headlights to get someone to move over -- they
    respond.  Here, if someone does that, you had best settle in for a
    slower ride, since most people in DC then slow down to a crawl to tick
    you off even further.
    
    
    Tammi
    (Washington, DC)
    

    Flipping the bird, as you so quaintly put it, has almost got me killed
    here in L.A. a couple of times, so I don't indulge that here in the
    land of drive-by shootings. It isn't worth the stress, and it isn't
    worth the aggravation, and traffic is just traffic. 
    
    I've had people get mad at me in traffic for something they THOUGHT I
    did, and it is simply a misunderstanding, BUT there is no way to
    explain that to them, (and it also happens to me in reverse). I don't
    lose it now until the fourth or fifth time I'm cut off in the same
    commute. Then I become an extremely aggressive driver, but I don't
    start yelling at others.
    
    The best antidote to bad traffic is knowing the back routes, and having
    a great music collection, and a good cassette player. I often enjoy 
    commuting, blasting the music real loud %^).
    
    I think rudeness is a natural by-product of big city living, and the
    relative anonymity people feel, plus the additional pressures and
    frictions that occur with so many people in such a small area. Even
    here though, kindness returns kindness.
    
    And, I have not noticed women being ruder than men.
    
    If I'm in a rude mood, why, I just note in Soapbox for a while. That
    generally takes care of it.
    
    

    	Another observation........I've also noticed that men are saying
    the word F**K less than ever. Talking to a couple of men here, they say
    they watch their language for fear of reprisal. Odd thing is, women are
    using more and more. It's as if they are attempting to use the word
    more for equalization than for effect. Although I tend to hear it alot
    for effect. 
    	Part of the reason may be that I work in a manufacturing
    environment more than an administrative one. Some of the women here
    bring themselves to work on Harley's once the weather breaks and they
    are hard working bunch. 
    	On the other hand, the women in the office areas use pretty nasty
    language too and often use it in mixed company and sometimes in
    meetings. In a recent meeting, three women seemed almost to get into a
    swearing one upwomanship.
    	I don't know if this is considered rude by all, but I don't really
    see alot of this as being independent. I see it as a means to exert a
    pressure back against men in an environment that will not response of
    like kind. If a man swears at a woman, it'd considered harassment. If a
    woman swears at man, it's an expression of anger against years of
    oppression....excuse me? 
    	Another example of an incident occurred in the cafeteria the other
    day: Two 30ish women were standing in line talking while I was making a
    sandwich. A third came by and they all were saying "Hi" "How are ya"
    etc and smiling and laughing. The third left and one of the two who
    were standing in line said, "What a F*****G little C***!" To which the
    other said "She such a B***H." Rude? I was shocked, because if I had
    been the one to say those two lines of prose......I'd be unemployed.
    
    Ken  

I don't want to bore anybody and I sure don't want anybody to think I'm a prude
but I really hate it when a women uses the word F..K or C..T or some such. I've
only experienced it in America - so far.

Can one of you guys advise me on this ?

I was downtown Los Gatos last September, in a nice restaurant with friends. An
attractive woman caught my eye and I looked over. At that instant she looked up
and our eyes met. She then screwed her face up, put her finger to her forhead,
and rolled her hand (like a half screwing action). Clearly an insult but it 
passed me by. I smiled politely and turned away.

Does that have some kinda secret code or meaning ?

- Paul.

 

    Paul,

    when i first moved to America about 10 years ago after finishing school 
    in the UK the first swear finger at me was by a woman too ! i could not 
    believe my own eyes, it was in southern California filling my gas and i went
    through over, but i guess the car behind wanted to cross too , any
    way, as i was driven away i looked to the side and the women in the other
    car did the finger thing to me, i was blabagastic, but she was a
    really cute woman, so i did not get upset too much, i think if it was
    from a dude i would have gotten very angry and banged his head or
    something, but it was kind'a strange coming from a woman i thought at the 
    time, i only thought guys do these things.

    in the UK i dont know any women who swear her finger at me , at least 
    i did not see it.

    hope this helps.
    
    \bye
    \nasser

    hey, she didn't shoot you, be happy!
    
    

    Why is so offensive for a woman to "give you the finger'?
    
    For my generation (40+) this gesture is an extremely vile, and
    offensive message.  I have seen men taken to fighting for this gesture.
    When a male does it to me, I feel this rage well up in.  It is as the
    gesture conveys a message such as:
    
    	"This finger is for you buddy and I hope it lets you now that I 
         consider you, your life, your hopes and dreams, your existence
         totally worthless. As a matter of fact, if I could I would wish
         you and everthing connected with you out of existence"
    
    In effect, the gesture becomes a symbol of one person's total disregard
    for your worth as a human, a supreme de-humanizing, de-valuing gesture.
    
    When a woman does it, I first feel that same rage, but then feel pity
    that she would stoop so low. Ultimately the gesture abases the user.
    
    By the way in my understanding of folklore the middle finger has some
    rather seedy sexual connotations.  At least it did when I was in
    college (somewhere in the Renaissance).  Thus its use conveys such
    repugnant, sexual messages.
    
    

    
    agreed, giving the finger is uncouth and cowardly.
    
    if the offence is that bad, cussing them out the window
    is appropriate (look for NRA stickers first).
    

    re:.16
    
    The Italian salute?  Around here Italians don't flip the bird, we have
    too many alternate gestures to signal with.

.26>  We've been taught by our mothers that you can catch more flies with
.26>  honey than vinegar.
    
    You can catch even more with manure.

    RE: .33

>    	"This finger is for you buddy and I hope it lets you now that I 
>        consider you, your life, your hopes and dreams, your existence
>        totally worthless. As a matter of fact, if I could I would wish
>        you and everthing connected with you out of existence"

    When someone does it to me I think of it as him saying:

	"I am an ignorant slob and while I am rather displeased with you right
	now, I don't have the necessary language skills to express my
	dissatisfaction in words."

    One thing about harsh language and obscene gestures is that they are easy
    to use, and so they tend to be overused, and they lose a lot of the
    intended effect.

    Also, if someone gives you the finger, that doesn't mean they truly hate
    you, it just means they're po'd; if somebody truly wanted you to vanish
    from existence, hopefully they could say something more damaging and
    insulting than "f___ you."

    - Jim

    In heavy traffic, one does not have time for more elaborate discussions
    of the other driver's indiscretions.
    
    

    There sure is a lot of finger-pointing in here.
    
    You're a sorry lot.
    
    
    
    :)

    Years of driving 30,000 miles per year have taught me that the most
    effective response to the middle finger is to form the right hand into
    a semi-closed vertical fist, then raise the arm up and down in the
    approximate vicinity of your lap, while giving the driver a "I couldn't
    care less what you think" look.

    A friend of mine gets even with everyone that gives him the finger.
    
    He blows the offender a kiss.  You should see the puzzled look on the
    face of the person whom the kiss was intended. :-0  
    
    AB
    

    You've all got it wrong. Auto rudeness has more correlation to brand of
    car than the sex of the driver.
    
    For six years I've commuted from Boston to DECurbia (Nashua or Rt.
    495). The undisputed road-idiot award goes to drivers of SAABs (extra
    credit for SAAB Turbos).  These cars are apparently not equipped with
    turn signals, a fairly egregious oversight since their drivers insist
    not only on travelling well outside of the normal speed of the
    surrounding traffic, but consider any safety zone between 2 cars as
    their personal passing zone. When they are not weaving wildly into and
    out of any space 2 inches longer than their car, they are tailgating
    mercilessly, flashing lights at you even if you are passing cars, but
    not at speed sufficient to satisfy them.
    
    Fortunately, as a whole they are not particularly skillful drivers
    (equating skill only with speed), and apparently not particularly
    bright ($30K +  for a car? c'mon...), so with a little planning they
    can be thwarted in an apparently innocent manner for anywhere up to a
    mile or so, in moderate traffic.  Yes, yes, I know that that is not a
    nice thing to do, and that their resulting apoplexy may have other
    repercussions for all of us who must share the road with them. But I
    can't help myself.
    
    Kit

Re: .42

I'll keep your comments in mind while I drive my $16K Saab.  Are you sure
you didn't mean BMW instead? :-) 

As for lack of turn signals, that seems to be a defect of many domestic cars!

I read an amusing item in one of the advice columns lately, where someone
wrote in to say that their father would report that he must be a good driver
because everyone was using their hands to show that he was "Number 1"!

					Steve

    re .43
    
    Leave us BMW drivers alone.  Must be someone else...

    re .42
    
    
    I LUV IT!!!!!
    
    
    That's exactly the opinion of my whole family and I!
    

    	I find it more in domestic cars myself. But I'm not so sure it is
    	rudeness exactly, because it may equally be from 'being asleep at 
    	the wheel' in their comfortable boat. CRUISE control set at 53 mph, 
    	they can relax, sit back and fall asleep now...

    						..in the passing lane.
    
        Argh!
	
	-Erik

    "What's the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?"
    
    "Why, with a BMW, the pricks are on the inside."
    
    

    What's the difference between a violin and a viola?
    
    A viola burns longer.

    Definitely Not funny when it happened, but a related RUDE story..
    
    My brother in-law (Dan) drives up to Hudson NH every day to work, along
    rte. 3a.  Well one day three weeks ago, as he's trucking up by Sams,
    someone (NH Plates/male) cuts him off, Danny, just blows it off,  A
    1/4 mile down the road, guy cuts him off again, Dan, Mildly irrated,
    again, blows it off, sort of, (o.k. o.k. he. flips him off...)  1/4
    mile down the road, the guy goes to cut him off a third time.
    
    Dan says "Nope" and guns the gas pedal,,,  the dog fight begins,,,
    
    Dan wins!!!!  The guy Conceeds...
    
    Danny looks over his left shoulder, stares the guy in the face and
    making eye contact. (literally) sticks his tounge out... "Nah-Nah" 
    (you have to know Dan, he's quite capable of doing this...)
    
    Anyway, He has met the enemy and the enemy is his, so he turns his 
    attention back to the task at hand, (like driving,,,) only to find 
    a line of cars waiting out a red light...... about 20 yards infront
    of him.  As he drills the brake pedal through his fire wall,,,,,,
    
    	Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecccccccccccccch!
    
    He then says to me, "If I only would a had ten more feet..."
    
    Not really funny, but the visualization,,, I almost died laughing
    
    He says - a few minutes later,,,  "No I know why the guy gave up."
    
    No one was hurt, minor damage to the car he hit, his car, a little
    banged up.  Could have been REAL serious if he dind't have 20 or 
    so yards to stop in...  I do shudder thinking about that..
    
    As far as Rude Women go, there's just as many Rude men...  It
    knows no gender....  
    
    /ray

    I just finished driving to New York City, somewhere in Conn.  Heavy
    traffic.  Driver (sex unkown) flashing lights for me to move over.  I
    had no place to do so, but the idiot was still flashin.  Finally when
    traffic breaks, I do so.  He passes then pulls in front of me.  A
    challenge! I flash my lights.  He/she brakes hard.  We almost hit.
    
    Lesson:  Let the idiots pass you by! And wish them a pleasant day.
    
    Old Driving Maxim:  Don't let another driver force you to do something
    you wouldn't normally do.
    

Fancy that; I had a similar experience this weekend.  Last night, my
sweetie and I were returning on SR 101 from the wine country.  Traffic 
in the right lane was heavy, moving at 55-58 mph; traffic in the left
lane wasn't quite so heavy, moving at 65-68 mph, limited by the slowest 
people in the lane; nobody had time to nip out into the right lane and
get by.  So, I was stuck behind two other cars at around 65.  Some guy
in a mercedes roars up behind me and perches a foot or two off my bumper.
Well, I ignored him for a while; once, during a break in the right hand
traffic, he pulled over, but ran out of room before he'd even pulled up
even with me.  So he roars in on my bumper again.  That goes on for some
5 miles...I'm still stuck behind the same two cars, but I'm starting to
realize there's something seriously demented about a nut who can't take
his time in that kind of traffic.  So, during a slight gap in the right
hand traffic, I pulled over, let him by; then pulled in behind him, at 
my normal following distance.  Good thing.  Less than two miles later,
while he's perched on the car in front of him, traffic in our lane slows,
I still don't know why.  A screech of brakes, one of his tires locks, his 
heavy mercedes slews all over the lane and then off into the grassy median, 
as I easily change into the right lane gap I've had my eye on...smoked his 
tire, probably wrecked his alignment, maybe he had more serious damage.  
He earned it.  I used the gap to clear the two slowpokes in the left lane 
and enjoyed my continued accident-free travels...

DougO

       I think people will repeat the behaviors that they get away with.
       If you observe rude people (I don't think it's just women although
       it may seem that way because this type of behavior in women seems to
       stick out more than men) you will find that they will do whatever
       they can get away with.

       I'm a skier.  Last year at Breckenridge I was standing in the lift
       line with a man from the UK.  He was telling me about a small group
       of European men that were crashing the lift lines.  He told me that
       in Europe it was quite common but had never seen it here in the
       States.  We heard a commotion and turned around to see these guys
       bulling their way through the line again.  Someone yelled "Binding
       Check!" and people started releasing the guys bindings.  Then people
       started picking up the loose skis and tossing them into the trees.
       I saw these guys a few times later that day.  They didn't try
       crashing the lift lines.

       I've driven in the Boston area and it does seem to be a lot more
       tense than here in Colorado although we do have incidents where
       people shoot at people, drive each other off the road, etc.  you're
       more likely to see someone here stop at the bottom of an off ramp
       than flip you off unless of course that you have a 'Celebrate
       Diversity' bumper sticker.

       Patrick

.49> He then says to me, "If I only would a had ten more feet..."
    
    Or ABS, or remembered to pump the brakes, not lay on 'em.

    
    re: .51
    
    What a shame of that car, why didn't he just give it to me!
    would have been a much better solution......
    
    In Europe I've had the experience of the same kind, however there is
    a slight difference if driving in Germany, since sadly there are still 
    Germans that start to act weird when they see your Dutch license-plate!
    
    I waited quite long to be able to get a free spot to park my car.
    I parked my car in a reasonable crowded area. A "Fatso" was waiting in
    his car because his wife had to do some shopping and seemed angry of me
    taking the spot. (DO you recognise this situation?) He parked his car
    behind my car. When we came back (a few minutes) he didn't want to move
    his car and acted as if he couldn't hear us. When luckily I same a
    police-car close by. I waved at the policecar and when the "Fatso"
    saw that they responded he started his car and left immediatly and we
    had a good laugh about it.
    
    I had a female driver (listen to this, I didn't believe it myself!)
    who also thought she needed to pass (as if I can get out the car, lift
    it and sqeeze it between the others while driving) so I went to the 
    right lane when the oppertunity was there. She drove in front of me
    and pushed her brakes completely. About 4 cars including me had to 
    melt rubber to avoid an accident. I'm sure the rest wanted to get 
    back at hewr as bad as I did. We drove on and one of the speedy
    consalis types past us "and her" and decided to get even....
    Well guess what...she crashed right into him as if she didn't know
    where the brakes were! :-) We stopped and waited until the police came
    to make sure they got the story which would probably result in loosing
    her drivers-license. I personally think they should in such cases.
    Life is to precious to risk other peoples lives like that.
    
    Mork from Ork
    
    

    I didn't mean to start a note on bad drivers.  So returning the topic
    to rudness I will ask the following:
    
    How do you feel when women use the F word or swear using reference to
    male gentalia?
    
    Paul

    No different to when men use it.  Why should there be a difference?
    
    -dick

    
    Hi Paul,
    
    Fine, You get used to it! The world is changing, so are the woman ;-)
     
    

    If you can do it, you should be allowed to say it!  ;^)
    
    LKB

    	It seems to be universal: the world's becoming an angrier place. In
    part, it's due to those we meet wearing their anger on their sleeves.
    On the other hand, we, as part of the world, have become more sensitive
    to the situation and respond accordingly. We all tend to accept the
    prevalent thought that we're victims, and being victims, we're
    powerless, so we respond with anger, rudeness, and agression. 
    	Of course, that's a simplistic view, but it's fairly close to some
    of the reasons for all the crabby folks we see these days.
    	So, what can we do to remedy the situation?
    
    		1. Lighten up a little.
    		2. Have a floating *Surprise Day*, an arbitrarily selected
    day when any individual may take a baseball bat to anyone who's rude,
    without fear of legal reprisal. (Just kidding, I suppose.)
    		3. ... add your thoughts here ...

    Just read this string.  The incident in .0 paragraph 3 is referred to
    in legalese as assault, a criminal offense.  I don't give a hoot what
    sex the offenders were or under whose roof the incident took place.

    Digital likely categorizes this type of offense as harassment, again,
    likely without regard as to sex of the offender.  I view such behavior
    personally as crude, unprofessional, and unacceptable.