I know. I noticed but I didn't want to make a fuss, because you were driving me to and from the restaurant and buying. And, of course, because in person I'm both charming and restrained.
Ogged's presentation-of-the-self on the Internet has always been so sensitive, so witty, so intelligent that I always wondered why the Ex was the Ex...
And on the subject of singing and dancing... The Biophysicist and I went to a Persian birthday party this weekend, which was complete with a live DJ, catering and about 75 people speaking Farsi. For a one year old. Ogged never mentioned that Persians have dancing boys. Sexy, sinuous dancing boys who get up on the dance floor and make Patrick Swayze look like a Quaker doing the hokey-pokey. Dark-eyed dancing boys with stamping feet and swaying hips and...
And, of course, there was cake. Four of them, actuaslly, one each for the letters in the birthday girl's name. And lots and lots of kabab-e koobideh, joojeh kabab and kashk-e baadenjaan and chelow and did I mention the dancing boys? Lovely, lovely dancing boys...
DE, those Iranians are not my Iranians. In fact, the next time you're at a gauche Iranian party in LA, try asking some of the older folks if they were employed by the Shah as torturers, or informants, or whether they merely served in the armed forces.
Ogged: No "older" folks, mostly computer geeks in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, Christian immigrants who fled after the Ministry of Islamic Guidance started persecuting Christians in the 90s. [Our host's uncle was executed.] They would have come to adulthood post-Shah. Gauche they may be, but oppressed they were; I imagine that the over-the-top celebration has much to do with that - 'hey, world, we survived!'
A link to a link, thanks. Are unfogged comments searchable?
I didn't think that the Persian insisters were particularly ass-holeish. Maybe they were afraid of being associated with Iran. My experience was mostly limited to Jews.
I suspect that some folk wish to distance themselves from the identification "Iranian" since Dubya made the country part of the Axis of Evil. Murricans tend to xenophobia in the best of times, and these aren't the best of times. Anyone remember the poor Sikh who was murdered in CA because he wore a turban? Hell, just after 9/11, my kid's high school told Muslim parents not to send their daughters to school in headscarves, as their safety couldn't be guaranteed.
A Belgian friend of mine reports getting hostile reactions because of his accent, as people seem unable to grasp that Belgium isn't France.
Given the relative insularity of most Americans, the Persia=Iran connection probably isn't readily made, and that offers some social protection.
Being famous in Canada is like being famous on the internet, right?
Posted by mike d | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:46 PM
I think that's right, but she's not in Canada, she's in L.A., so I'm legitimately famous, thanks.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:49 PM
You know, because we're not allowed to know anything about you, I imagine Oggedville is secretly Vancouver.
Posted by mike d | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:52 PM
Naturally, I can neither confirm nor deny.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:55 PM
You learned her national anthem? That's commitment.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:57 PM
I didn't say I got it right. But doesn't everyone know the first two lines anyway?
O Canada,
Our home and native land...
Or is this something only sports fans would know?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 5:59 PM
Were you at work when you did this?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:05 PM
No, in the car.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:07 PM
You shouldn't use your cell phone while you're driving, ogged.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:08 PM
I've used my cell phone while driving while you were in the car, b-dub, and you didn't complain then.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:10 PM
I imagine that ogged's secret location is actually chicago, and this not-chicago business is a clever ploy to throw us off the trail.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:15 PM
I know. I noticed but I didn't want to make a fuss, because you were driving me to and from the restaurant and buying. And, of course, because in person I'm both charming and restrained.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:23 PM
Also, since he was already endangering your life, you didn't want to add to his distraction.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:27 PM
Precisely. Precisely, ac.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:29 PM
Ogged's presentation-of-the-self on the Internet has always been so sensitive, so witty, so intelligent that I always wondered why the Ex was the Ex...
Now I know...
:-)
Posted by Brad DeLong | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:29 PM
sensitive
You misspelled "neurotic".
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:34 PM
Standpipe is unbanned.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:41 PM
I had no idea Brad hated the Canadian national anthem so much.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:53 PM
Maybe it's not so much the anthem he hates (it is, after all, superior to our own), but Canadia itself.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 6:58 PM
Who could hate Candia? Maybe he's on a diet?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 7:02 PM
I've always thought these lines oh-so-appropriate for a modern national anthem:
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
Loosely:
Let an impure blood
Water our fields.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 7:07 PM
It's a good thing the proper etiquette during the playing of the national anthem states that
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:01 PM
Who could hate Candia?
Maybe he hates Candida.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:04 PM
And on the subject of singing and dancing... The Biophysicist and I went to a Persian birthday party this weekend, which was complete with a live DJ, catering and about 75 people speaking Farsi. For a one year old. Ogged never mentioned that Persians have dancing boys. Sexy, sinuous dancing boys who get up on the dance floor and make Patrick Swayze look like a Quaker doing the hokey-pokey. Dark-eyed dancing boys with stamping feet and swaying hips and...
And, of course, there was cake. Four of them, actuaslly, one each for the letters in the birthday girl's name. And lots and lots of kabab-e koobideh, joojeh kabab and kashk-e baadenjaan and chelow and did I mention the dancing boys? Lovely, lovely dancing boys...
Posted by DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:08 PM
If Candida Clauseri, a contestant on Canadian idol, has been to Candia, then this truly is the best of all possible worlds.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:11 PM
Who could hate Candia?
Especially this nice little town.
Posted by DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:14 PM
DE, those Iranians are not my Iranians. In fact, the next time you're at a gauche Iranian party in LA, try asking some of the older folks if they were employed by the Shah as torturers, or informants, or whether they merely served in the armed forces.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:16 PM
To offend them, or because one of the alternates is likely the case?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:18 PM
Both.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:19 PM
Ogged, advice this like that is why you'll never be able to replace Mrs. Manners.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:20 PM
Ogged: No "older" folks, mostly computer geeks in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, Christian immigrants who fled after the Ministry of Islamic Guidance started persecuting Christians in the 90s. [Our host's uncle was executed.] They would have come to adulthood post-Shah. Gauche they may be, but oppressed they were; I imagine that the over-the-top celebration has much to do with that - 'hey, world, we survived!'
Posted by DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:40 PM
You could start a column called Miss Mannered.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:41 PM
Miss!
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:41 PM
Are you sure they were Christians? They could in fact have been Quakers, and that could have been their version of the hokey-pokey.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:44 PM
Oh, the infidels. That's different. (Though executed uncles are the new "my family was rich back in the home country....")
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:46 PM
Should one refer to people from Iran as Iranian or is Persian more appropriate? The Jews I've met prefer to be called Persians.
Posted by Abby | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:50 PM
Abby, here's a link with a link.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 8:56 PM
A link to a link, thanks. Are unfogged comments searchable?
I didn't think that the Persian insisters were particularly ass-holeish. Maybe they were afraid of being associated with Iran. My experience was mostly limited to Jews.
Posted by Abby | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 9:11 PM
Everything is searchable, Abby.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 9:13 PM
EVEN YOUR BRANE
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 9:15 PM
Wrong post, Ben. The branes are in this thread.
Posted by tom | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 9:40 PM
Happy, tom?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-28-05 9:47 PM
any time a theoretical physics joke can span multiple comment threads, I'm beaming.
Posted by tom | Link to this comment | 06-29-05 9:17 AM
Wolfson, you using that as a theoretical physics joke or a kibology joke? Or is there even a difference?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-29-05 9:25 AM
Neither?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-29-05 9:27 AM
I suspect that some folk wish to distance themselves from the identification "Iranian" since Dubya made the country part of the Axis of Evil. Murricans tend to xenophobia in the best of times, and these aren't the best of times. Anyone remember the poor Sikh who was murdered in CA because he wore a turban? Hell, just after 9/11, my kid's high school told Muslim parents not to send their daughters to school in headscarves, as their safety couldn't be guaranteed.
A Belgian friend of mine reports getting hostile reactions because of his accent, as people seem unable to grasp that Belgium isn't France.
Given the relative insularity of most Americans, the Persia=Iran connection probably isn't readily made, and that offers some social protection.
Posted by DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 06-29-05 1:14 PM