[Artemisia] Been awfully quiet, pot needs stirring...

[HL Isabeau de Sevingy]

Hi all,

 

It's very quiet on this list lately. I know most of our folks are off at Pennic, but I think I'll share from another list I'm on and see what folks think about it.

 

So, in An Tir...

 

(always a great start to a story)

 

A woman endured several mean jabs from all sorts of people, finally fed up, she took her question to the Steps of the Cathedral (their Kingdom list) for comments.

 

Now, she hasn't played for a Very Long Time, but she has been around for several years. Long enough to at least recognize that this may not be acceptable behaviour out of a society which professes Courtesy and that that everyone is 'presumed to be minor nobility'. 

 

It seems that she has had several people walk up to her at events and say those six repugnant words "You must be a whore because..."

 

Then they'd go on to finish their sentence with 'you wear a green chemise, so you sleep with guys in the hay fields' or 'your bodice is laced from the top down, so the guys have easy access' or ' you wear a fox tail, so you must be advertising'. Any of the above, or any other lame excuse the idiot speaking could come up with. 

 

So, she asked the Steps... Is this right??

 

Well, many people had many things to say, including a man who once was in full cavalier (including swords and pistols) and had someone approach him and denounce him as someone who 'must be a male prostitute because' he had 'red and yellow feathers in his hat'. He notified them that they 'must be an idiot because', unarmed, he just insulted an armed man.

  

So anyhow, as flabbergasted folks offer to 'fix' this for her, someone took another tack. He sent this...

 

 

<<<And now.....Ian's list of humorous answers to the "You must be a whore...." atrocity.

1.) Why, yes! I was trained by your lady mother.

2.) Ah! And you must be an idiot.

3.) Well, both of us are easy, but at least I'm expensive.

4.) Funny, I heard the same thing about you.

5.)  No, I'm just called that by the "little" people.

6.) Why, were you looking to purchase my services? I'm not, but if I was, 

I'd be out of your price range

7.) No, I'm just FABULOUS; which some people mistake for being available.

8.) No need to be jealous of my garb, dear; I'm sure what you're wearing is 

just fine for people in your little village; where did you say you were from?  

(of course, if she's from a big city, and says so, you could reply, "Funny; 

living up there among so many people, you'd think you'd have learned better 

manners than calling someone a whore.")

9.)  My dear, your lack of breeding is showing.

10.)  We are not amused. (fans of Queen Victoria might like this one)

11.)  Perhaps it's time for you to eat, my dear; putting something good IN your 

mouth might keep something bad from coming OUT of it.

12.)  I notice we're also using period manners; yours appear to be 

12th Century guttersnipe.

13.)  You know, once upon a time, children were taught proper manners 

before they left the house; how sad that our society has seen such a decline.

14.)  Oh, dear, how long have you had Tourette's Syndrome?

15.)  I have a policy about avoiding rude people, so I'll leave; my apologies, 

I know you must have been looking forward to the catfight.>>>

 

 

So, what's the best way to deal with someone so clueless, that they'd walk up to 

someone they didn't know and inform them that they must be a whore because...?' 

Personally I'm be sorely tested not to launch into a round of 'you must be the 

village idiot because...'.

 

But, then again, I was bit by something really nasty last night and got no sleep from 

the itching, I still feel like someone pouring battery acid on my arm. So maybe

I might just be feeling a bit less tolerant today. *grin* Maybe what we should do is add to 

the witty comeback list, what do you all think?

 

Maybe something like...

16) Oh wow, is being rude your full time job? You're very good at it.

or 

17) Oh no, you're confused. You've got helpfulness and rudeness backwards, dear.

 

Any more ideas?

Isabeau

 

PS. on a more serious note. What precautions do we all take to prevent well-meaning 

newbies from learning and regurgitating this kind of garbage? I rememeber being fed the 

greensleeves nonsense when I was new, fortunately my first costuming book was a 

Janet Arnold that detailed a gorgeous gown with green silk sleeves.


		
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