Musing on undies (not what you're thinking)

[Nighthawk]

So here's the situation-

the Colorado Railroad Museum had what they call a "steamup" on Saturday. I always go to their steamups, given the fact that I love narrow gauge steam engines. This weekend was, of course, Easter-themed, so it was a child friendly event. I wore a bright red pair of boxers with a black caboose on the but with a caption that said "Cute caboose!" I was approached by a gentleman who told me "You should really wear underwear with that (referring to my kilt.) I saw a lot more of you than I wanted." I was really baffled, so I got to thinking- is the The Question really just a question- curiosity? Is it maybe more of a social obsession? Are we that taken with each others genitals that we see them, even when we really can't? It was a strange thing, so it got me to thinking about the whole underwear issue. And the annoying thing is, it's not the first time. The first time this happened to me was at my nephew's soccer game. So really, I'm starting to think the whole underwear issue is a genuine social problem. Anyone else ever have this happen? Or am I just lucky?

***EDIT*** The guy at the museum was obviously trying to be as polite about the situation as possible, and was not being your typical butthole.

[AKScott]

I would chalk that one up to puritan repression. Everybody has hangups, sounds like you met someone who could make Porsche payments for their therapist.

Was this someone who potentially lived through the entire decade of the 1960s without ever getting laid?

[KiltShot]

"The Question" and the pursuit of the answer is the typical social perversion you can expect from a Textile. Let it go and think of it no further, it is an emotional reaction not rational thinking.

[Nighthawk]

"The Question" and the pursuit of the answer is the typical social perversion you can expect from a Textile. Let it go and think of it no further, it is an emotional reaction not rational thinking.

You talk about me dwelling... I posted a thread on the Iron Maiden board about musical introspection. This is not something I'm dwelling on. It just got me to thinking, to wondering if others have had this same or a similar experience. (By the way, in that other thread, I compared Maiden to Albannach, Lady Gaga, and the Wicked Tinkers. Imagine the confusion... )

[Bugbear]

You talk about me dwelling... I posted a thread on the Iron Maiden board about musical introspection. This is not something I'm dwelling on. It just got me to thinking, to wondering if others have had this same or a similar experience. (By the way, in that other thread, I compared Maiden to Albannach, Lady Gaga, and the Wicked Tinkers. Imagine the confusion... )

Up the Irons!!!

And shake your "cute caboose," Hawk.

[CDNSushi]

Different cultures have different sensibilities. Living out here where I do, many Asians lack that Judeo-Christian sense of ethics, especially when it comes to our naughty bits and how they are viewed, portrayed, and so on.

Japan, being the land of eternal dichotomies, this is very interesting. On one hand, "bits" in Japan are treated SO casually, we think nothing of going to a public bath where you'll have literally a hundred other men walking around completely naked... In a Prefecture near me, they have an annual Penis Festival where humungous, carved wooden phalli (we're talking tree-size here -- it takes a team of 18 men to hoist it) are paraded ceremoniously through streets in a parade (and that's just a small part of the festival -- it's really quite worthwhile seeing the whole thing (double-entendre not intended))...

But anyway, on the OTHER end, dirty magazines and movies in Japan are STRICTLY forbidden from showing aforementioned "bits." Period. Top-half nudity is fine, but anything below the waist is blacked out or pixelated by law.

Although large cities here have a thriving (and legal) sex industry that includes prostitution (the laws are VERY specific as to how and where this may take place) but just like in the West, it is highly stigmatized and shameful... And yet, men reading dirty books/comics on the train or subway are commonplace and accepted.

Anyway, my point is... Consider all the craziness and double-standards in a non-Christian and culturally homogenous country like Japan... Now, in the West, it's nowhere NEAR as homogenous... It's really no wonder that this kind of hodge-podge of double-standards and confusion makes our heads spin. Even in our own household, I grew up with European parents who would think absolutely nothing of reading a daily newspaper containing a photo of a naked pinup girl, or parading around the house in their underwear or letting their kids see them nude in the shower or bath... And my wife comes from a strict, traditionally Mennonite home where ANY of those things would be considered extremely sinful and absolutely despicable.

Mileage will vary. And I can certainly understand how it isn't above some people to simply LIE and say that they saw more than they cared to see, even if it weren't true -- just to push their own viewpoint...

[Spartan Tartan]

Wait. Did you say that someone said they saw "more of you than they cared to see" and thereby suggested that you were NOT wearing underwear...when in fact YOU WERE?

That blows me away. I would have had to fight the urge to say something and suggest that he take a closer look at my "cute caboose".

[artificer]

If memory serves, Ron had a very similar experience once.

I blame it on "wishful thinking" on the part of the complainer. Obviously suffering from repressed desires, if you ask me.

ith:

[Riverkilt]

Aye, on more than one occasion I've been accused of exposing myself when kilted when both times I was wearing black underwear and exposure was impossible.

The first time was a lady in a resturant who couldn't have seen a thing even if I wasn't wearing underwear. She sent a poor teenage waiter over to "tell me" then left.

The other was an after the fact rumor....she says you could be seen back when...

Wishful thinking? Having to make other people "wrong." Who knows.

Its yet to happen face to face. I think if it does I'll just lift my kilt, show the undies and say, "Bull****."

If you want to test the nerve of human beings, don a kilt and wander about a while.

[thescot]

Wait. Did you say that someone said they saw "more of you than they cared to see" and thereby suggested that you were NOT wearing underwear...when in fact YOU WERE?

That blows me away. I would have had to fight the urge to say something and suggest that he take a closer look at my "cute caboose".

OH, heck, why not just give in to the urge. I would have had to inform him of my very low opinion of him and his breeding, and then I just might have upped the kilt and strongly suggested that he kiss it where the sun rarely shines--right on the cute caboose.

Rude and obnoxious people should be treated in like manner. The real point here is that he obviously did not see anything out of the way; he was only being obnoxious. A very real fault of mine is that I do not suffer fools gladly, especially when they choose to assault me.

But then, I usually find that verbal sparring with someone like that is akin to picking a fight with a crippled child.