Ok, it has been far too long since I have posted an update. I actually had a reader send me a note about it. So, for those of you who do follow this blog site, I apologize for my absence. I had planned after the first of the year to be more regular, but changing roles at work have caused me to be heavily focused there. Thank you for those who do still follow along, I am humbled by your presence.
So, I have been noticing something of late. Well, that is not exactly true. What I have been noticing has been around forever really. It has gone by different names, some flattering, most not so much so. My favorite older version was “Dandy”. Today, it’s “Dude”.
Now I am not talking “Dude” the adjective. As in, “Dude, did you see that!”
Or the explanative, “Dude, seriously!?”
Or the question, “Dude?”
Or the greeting, “Duuuude.”
No, I am talking about the descriptive, “Look at that Dude!” or “Yea, he’s a Dude”.
This form of Dude goes more back to the original, as in Dandy. It’s a look. It can even be part of a look. Like in, “Dude’s got Dude hair”, “Dude shirt”, “Dude jeans” or “Dude shades”.
This has been popularized in many of the reality shows of which I cannot name without some possible copy wright or other infringement.
My problem is not that there is not a place for this. There has always been an age when one can, in some way, acceptably pull of the Dude look. Mostly you can probably do this in your mid to late twenties through your early thirties. Once you get to thirty five, you need to have your look down … and the Dude look isn’t it!
My problem is with how many guys who are far too old trying to pull this off.
If you are beyond 35 and have a pair of jeans with a large cross stitched on the back pocket – sell them.
If you are beyond 35 and you have a shirt (typically white shirt with black stitching, or black shirt with white stitching) with same said cross stitched diagonally across the back, or over one shoulder, or at an odd angle somewhere else – sell it.
If you are beyond 35 and you are still using gel to spike the front of your hair or making it into a ridgeback – get a haircut like a real man and let your woman use hair products.
Yea, I know, I am old and getting set in my ways. My jeans are made by Wrangler (typically) and most of my shirts have a Harley logo on them. But, I mean, really. Dude, seriously!
Now, on that Harley shirt note. If the Dudes out there want to point back and say, “Yea, well, it’s not like that Harley t-shirt stretched across yawls’ bellies is a fashion statement”. Ok, I have to admit you got us on that one.
In fact I will get on that band wagon. I mean, it’s bad. They call it “pot belly” for a reason. Listen, guys. Stop! Go on a diet. Set the beer down, push away from the table. You are risking heart disease and diabetes, and God knows you have not seen your belt buckle in ages! It’s not a prop for that gut.
And to the Dudes out there, find a new style. That one is … just … bad.
(to my wife and the English teachers out there, forgive my misuse of the terms above – I know, technically, Dude should be a noun. But its not!)
Meh
Posted: 13th April 2013 by Rod Stallings in Commentary, HumorI have turned on comments again so your feedback is appreciated; let me know what you think of the new layout. There will be a delay on comments as I still have to weed out all the Bot spam mail from the actual responses. So give it a try.
Looking through all of the Word Press templates, I found that I was a bit “Meh” about most of them. I wanted something new and a bit edgy, but I may have gone overboard. This template may be too “street-punk” for my style.
To be honest, I have gotten a bit “Meh” about a lot of what I come across on the interwebs.
I was in a leadership class and was asked the following question;
Research has found that continual or habitual use of the internet has caused a reduction in average attention span. This situation has resulted in an average attention span reduction to;
I picked one minute. The correct answer is 9 seconds!
9 Seconds. If this is you, it has put your attention span equal to that of a Gold Fish.
If a site does not immediately catch and hold our attention, we cannot be expected to actually take the time to see if there is actual content available. It’s all about flash and immediate gratification. God forbid we actually have to take the time to delve into a something to gain … wait … knowledge. Or maybe, if we really internalize some of what we read, maybe, just maybe, true wisdom.
I think that is why the term “Meh” has gained popularity; because it’s just too exhausting to say something like “whatever”. I mean, really, that’s like three syllables.
I am exhausted just thinking “whatever”. No, wait, not exhausted. It just gave me tired-head.
But then, I am over it already due to my reduced attention span.
Of course it’s only guys like me who write that, any longer, actually spell things out. Stringing sentences together into something that we hope is both intelligible and possibly even interesting.
I m3an, rlly. U dnt evn hve 2 spnd a lot of tme wth all th rqerd ltrs ny moar.
…and if you text much at all, you read that last line without skipping a beat. Of course this is not new news, because;
“Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.”
Our brain is an amazing thing. It simply rearranges the letters and fills in the gaps. This is obviously why we now have a secondary language that has emerged from the world of text.
However, you all have such short attention spans that you can’t seem to focus on the importance of … oh, I don’t know … driving maybe, to put your phone down and watch what is going on around you instead of texting.
Let me clue you into a fact. While our brain is an amazing device, what it is attached to is not all that amazing. If you think you are multitasking, there is scientific evidence that you are not. No! What you are doing is TRYING to do two things at once. And while the brain is a stupendous machine and can commutate massive volumes of data input. The nub that is wrapped around it can effectively focus on ONE thing at a time. You might do a lot of things end to end, but you can really only do one thing effectively at a time.
So, next time you are cruising along texting “Meh” to your friend about his/her latest amazing Twitter update. Consider that your head just disengaged from the world around you. My advice to fixing all of this;
PUT THE FREAKIN PHONE DOWN!