Keep It to Yourself, Please. . .

Ha, ha. Funny, funny. What are you, eight years old? There's really no need for adults to discuss our very personal physical issues, whatever those might be, with anyone other than our physicians.

Prevailing wisdom used to suggest that one refrain from the discussion of things like politics, sex, and religion in polite company. Given our current era of, apparently, everyone feeling the need to overshare the most unpleasant details of their lives, I'll add another item to that list. Physical issues. Ick!

Some of us do not want to, and don't need to know, about your lactose or gluten intolerance, your Celiac Disease, Diverticulitis, Spastic Colon, or whatever else garlic, fruit, legumes, or just too much beer might cause your intestines to do. For God's sake, keep it to yourself! No one wants to hear about that. Really. As my extended Southern-tinged, North Carolina family used to say if it ever came up, which was not all that often, "Nice people don't talk about things like that." And there is something to that.

Presumably, guys, we all want to be thought of as nice people and pleasant company by both the old and new acquaintances in both our personal and professional lives. So, if you are of a like mind, let's resist the trend and urge to share absolutely every last detail of our lives with virtually everyone, especially the physical ones. It's crass. If your doctor asks, sure. Spill your guts. Squeal like a stuck pig. Sing like a canary. Tell him or her all about it. Otherwise, let's find something else to talk about instead. You aren't a primary school-age kid anymore, so let's stop acting like it. And it's not like there are not plenty of other things under the sun that might provide more appropriate and more interesting adult conversational material.

"Like what?" you might inquire. For starters, open up a newspaper like the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, or the London Times for example. The Sunday editions are particularly good if national and international news aren't your thing, although an average guy looking to kick up his style a few notches ought to cultivate some knowledge in those areas too. Just some food for thought on this lovely, chilly and bright Sunday afternoon.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Comments

Up North Style. . .

Bad Dad makes a friend. YMP and Bad Dad on the shores of Lake Michigan. Or was that Crystal Lake? The Grand Duchess takes a selfie in her kayak. How NOT to impress the girls sunning themselves along the river. YMP and Bad Dad kayaking on the Platte River headed toward Loon Lake. J ust back from a week in Northern Michigan in a charming and spacious house on the banks of the Betsie River outside of Thompsonville. A largely pleasant seven days despite some challenging episodes with the Young Master, who has picked up some very questionable habits and language from his friends in the 8th Grade during the school year just ended. But otherwise, we enjoyed ourselves and contemplated remaining for a few days longer since the house was available. In the end, we decided to return home as planned originally since neither my wife, nor I wanted to spend the remaining days chained to our computers in Zoom meetings from our vacation destination. I actually managed to leave the laptop and ip

Mid-June Thursday Style. . .

A nother pretty typical variation on the theme for late spring, summer, and very early fall. I'm a huge fan of Madras and have several such shirts in the seasonal rotation. Lightweight, exceedingly comfortable, and even dressy when pressed and tucked in, which is the usual way of things here at Totleigh in the Wold. Now, if I had my druthers, I'd still rather be skiing the trails in the upper half of "The Mitten" (of Michigan), in the Upper Peninsula, or Ontario. But summers ain't so bad either, and I'd look pretty funny walking around in cross-country ski attire during June. -- Heinz-Ulrich

A Lazy Saturday at the End of June. . .

A sleepy first half of the weekend here at Totleigh. Warmer and quite humid ahead of an approaching cool front here in Mid-Michigan. Perfect for yet another pair of chino shorts an a seersucker shirt -- tucked in of course -- with the usual leather deck shoes and ribbon belt. Otherwise, not much accomplished beyond a page or so of writing and monkeying around with audio settings for an upcoming podcast episode. However, I was not completely useless yesterday! I made a huge fruit salad for dinner, which the Grand Duchess and I enjoyed a short while later at the table on the back porch. The Young Master, as is his wont on Saturday evenings, took his dinner on a tray in the TV room upstairs where he whiled away a couple of hours on Flight Simulator, flying some sort of commercial airliner to some destination across the Atlantic or Pacific. I would have loved that sort of technology at about nine or 10 way back during the late 1970s, aka The Stone Age. As it is, my sister and

Classic Style

Search This Blog