Monday, August 2, 2010

quicko: oxymoron

Australian gentleman.

Discuss.

Posted by KIM at 5:35 PM


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Don’t mind if I do.

The term “gentleman” is a stupid one, as to embody it one need be neither gentle nor necessarily that manly. For all I see, a gentleman is basically a man who fulfils the expectations that “society” makes of him. I place “society” in inverted commas because it turns out that if you talk about this to anyone who isn’t a member of the British aristocracy or under the sort of delusions that come from watching too many filmic adaptations of Jane Austen novels, the old fashioned values of “society"(that is, offering your seat, opening doors and not saying what you mean) became irrelevant about halfway through the last century at the latest, about the same time as women gained societal equality with men. And even if you do live in the twenty first century, who or what the hell is “society” to be making expectations of anyone?

As for Australian men, we’re well renowned for not giving two figs (there are other expressions for it) about what anyone expects of us, least of all the British and double least of all Americans. It does tend to earn us the unashamedly manipulative label of “ungentlemanly” (usually applied by a woman who has just failed to get what she wants) but frankly I’d rather that than endow the aforementioned “society” with any sort of authority, influence or, indeed, significance. They can go tell someone else how they should be behaving.

If you would really prefer a duplicitous self conscious cardboard cut out whose chief virtues are that he can open doors all by himself and that he believes the questionable - not to mention flat out sexist - assertion that women are too weak to stand up on a bus then I’m afraid you’re looking on the wrong continent.

And if you want help carrying something, just ask.

Love from Garry.

August 2, 2010 at 10:06 PM
KIM said...

So, then, the short answer is "yes" ...?

I thought so.

Love from Kim.

August 2, 2010 at 11:52 PM
KIM said...

So I have a great story. Tonight I was walking in very high heels next to a male Australian (far be it from me to call him a gentleman), rather desperately trying to catch a bus. Although I missed it at one stop, he helpfully suggested we truck it through a shortcut he knew to catch it at its next stop. We accordingly trucked and, as we were getting close, I mentioned that if he were a gentleman he'd run ahead and flag down the bus and I would then make it. He insisted he knew what bus engines sounded like and that there wasn't one ... whereupon the bus immediately pulled up and he suddenly decided to run for it, and then missed it. After which time he ran down the street after it, with me after him, until we'd lost it completely and had to walk back to where we'd started. Whereupon he caved and drove me home.

August 6, 2010 at 12:38 AM

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