Two Elderly Chinese Ladies Picking Carrots



Curly Sue wrote:

> I merely asked what the fact that the subject was an elderly black handicapped woman have to do
> with the story which was under the ranting topic of "customers are idiots" (or whatever).

because the "elderly black woman" was a customer... and an idiot... just like you...

~john!

--
What was it like to see - the face of your own stability - suddenly look away...
 
zxcvbob wrote:

> But I remember how long it took me to pick out just the right baby coconut, when I didn't have the
> slightest idea how to pick a good one.

You pick a coconut that's heavy for its size, and not the biggest coconut. The biggest young
coconuts have a thicker, harder meat. The smaller young coconuts are less mature, and are more
likely to have the desirable creamy custard-like meat. (Of course, if they're too young, the meat
will be too thin.)
 
Curly Sue wrote:
>
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 02:31:32 GMT, Mark Thorson <[email protected]>

> >They don't have carrots in China?
> >
> I have been told by one Chinese young lady that carrots are not used in Chinese cooking and
> therefore they are not liked very much.

I wish someone would tell my Chinese food place. Whenever they get the chance, they load up the food
with those carrot leaf shapes. Grrrr.

nancy
 
[email protected] (Curly Sue) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 02:31:32 GMT, Mark Thorson <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>zxcvbob wrote:
>>
>>> Now imagine you are at some ethnic market or another and are trying to pick out some weird kind
>>> of produce you're never seen before...
>>
>>They don't have carrots in China?
>>
> I have been told by one Chinese young lady that carrots are not used in Chinese cooking and
> therefore they are not liked very much.

However, they are used in Chinese restaurants, in place of what, my guess is lotus root.

We don't know *why* the ladies were buying carrots.

--
"The problem with the French is they have no word for entrepreneur."

attributed to George W. Bush by Tony Blair via Baroness Williams
 
On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 11:27:31 -0500,
Nancy Young <[email protected]>
had to open a new box of zerones to say:

>zxcvbob wrote:
>>
>> levelwave wrote:
>> > Mark Thorson wrote:
>> >
>> >> Today I was annoyed by two elderly Chinese ladies picking carrots. They were taking forever to
>> >> decide which ones they wanted.
>> >
>> >
>> >

>> > story?... Not that I care of course... but some ladies here (and I'm not mentioning any names -
>> > Curly Sue) obviously have a *major* problem with it...
>
>> It provides some details to the characters, and a context. It could have

>
>I read just recently that as people age, they become more oblivious to their surroundings. I
>believe it, the store I frequent is in front of senior citizen housing, so I get to shop with a lot
>of elderly people. They literally do not have a clue people are waiting for them to move. I'm not
>being mean, it's just a fact. nancy

I'm surprised the American Association of Carrot Growers hasn't weighed in on this thread... Surely
they feel slighted...

<! -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > zenit
 
Nancy Young <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> The original story reminded me of a time I wanted tomatoes. Well, this elderly man (there, I said
> it) was picking through the tomatoes with deep concentration. It was a stack of cartons of stem
> tomatoes. I waited. Waited. He actually starts unstacking the cartons, looking for that ONE
> special tomato. Fine, I'll go find garlic, maybe he'll be gone by the time I get back. He was gone
> all right, replaced by and elderly woman with similar dedication to get just the right tomato.
> Neither one had any clue I was standing there waiting.

---> The following comment is meant to be taken tongue-in-cheek <----

Not only is this thread redolent of anti-Asian sentiment, but it also reeks of ageism.

---> end of tongue-in-cheek comment <---

My mother as she got older refused to allow others, who waited behind her while she counted her
coins at the cash, to bully her into going faster. She pretended not to hear them. People would look
at me as though I could make her go faster and I would shrug and invite them to address her
directly. After all, she was the one they had problems with. She would often pretend not to
understand, if they spoke English, and would get snippy if they spoke French. Either way, it worked.
If they got really pushy, she would pull out her white cane :)

Going shopping with her was an expedition, much like going shopping with a two-year old, as she had
to do everything herself and it took forever. She hated it when my sister and I took her places in
her wheelchair because she felt she missed things, and preferred pushing her stroller slowly along
and stopping at regular intervals. In a small store, that could mean twenty minutes to half-an-hour
if you include getting in and out of the car and walking over from the parking spot. In a big
grocery store...well, you can do the math.

--
"The problem with the French is they have no word for entrepreneur."

attributed to George W. Bush by Tony Blair via Baroness Williams
 
Becca wrote:
>
> Sheryl Rosen wrote:
>
> > I don't really choose carrots, they come in bags of 1, 2 or 5 lbs around here.
>
> In my corner of Texas, you can no longer buy a handful of okra. Now, the okra comes in plastic
> square boxes. I can not buy 6 okra pods I now have to buy a whole pound of it. All of the stores
> made this chang at the same time - all of them.
>
> I am rebelling. No more okra for me. I will buy the frozen stuff until I can get to a
> farmer's market.
>
> Becca

Grow your own. :) It does well here and is quite a prolific crop!

Or, try some of the small Mexian markets. They still sell okra in loose bins....

K.
--
>^,,^< Cats-haven Hobby Farm >^,,^< [email protected] >^,,^<

"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

Custom handcrafts, Sterling silver beaded jewelry http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-
cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=katra
 
in article [email protected], levelwave at
[email protected] wrote on 12/7/03 2:28 PM:

> Sheryl Rosen wrote:
>
>> He's telling a story. We weren't there, he was. He is describing the scene. A good story teller
>> provides details so that you can visualize it the way he witnessed it. Ever read Hemingway?
>> Faulkner? It takes them 3 paragraphs to describe the evening air. But when you finish reading
>> those 3 paragraphs, you can almost SMELL it, they described it so vividly.
>>
>> By providing the detail that they were elderly, chinese ladies, you immediately get a visual in
>> your mind. If he had just said "two people", the story wouldn't have been as interesting to read.
>
>
> Thank you Sheryl. You just proved my point. Now where were you when I was getting flamed for this
> *exact* same thing? ;)
>
> A few months ago I started my story with "An elderly black lady in a wheel chair" to "describe the
> scene" just as Mark did... and I got Flamed pretty bad... I guess it's OK to mention their race if
> it's Chinese and not Black... too funny...
>
> ~john!
>
>
>
People are far too sensitive about these things. I was having a conversation with a black woman I
have known since 1982. She asked me to describe someone I had talked to. She knew several of the
people there, and wanted to know who helped me....2 were black, one was white. All were men. I had
spoken with one of the black men...didn't get his name. Both the white man and one of the black men
were bald. One of the black men was darker skinned than the other. So here's the thing...I couldn't
say "the bald guy helped me", because there were two of them. I had to tell her it was one of the
two black men. But I was uncomfortable saying he was black. I didn't want her to think I fixated on
that. But the fact is, because I didn't want to seem fixated on it, I WAS fixated on it! There was
no way for me to describe this man to her without getting into a detailed description of the color
of this man's skin!

So, I finally asked her the question that's always burned in my mind: With such an obvious point of
distinction, the color of a person's skin or the shape of their eyes, is it ok to use that as part
of their description? I mean, it's a fact: "He is black, but lighter skinned..." "She looks
Asian..." I mean, you use someone's hair color as a descriptor because it's plain and obvious,
right? Her answer was "Of course it is!"

So, from then on, I always just describe people as they are. Guess what? They know they are black.
They know they are fat. They know they are short, they know they are tall. Whatever they are, that's
what they are. However they look, that's how they look. It's obvious to everyone, and it's ok to
mention if you are trying to describe them.

Of course, context is everything. If you say he's a "filthy, stinking .....(fill in the blank)"
well, that's not socially acceptable, that's mean.
 
On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:33:03 -0500, levelwave <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Curly Sue wrote:
>
>> I merely asked what the fact that the subject was an elderly black handicapped woman have to do
>> with the story which was under the ranting topic of "customers are idiots" (or whatever).
>
>
>because the "elderly black woman" was a customer... and an idiot... just like you...
>
>~john!
>

Awww, your world is populated by idiots who seem to keep damaging your ego, as you so frequently
draw attention to. But if you didn't have those self-inflicted wounds to nurture forever, what would
you do with your time?

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
 
On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 09:57:24 -0500, Nancy Young
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Curly Sue wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 02:31:32 GMT, Mark Thorson <[email protected]>
>
>> >They don't have carrots in China?
>> >
>> I have been told by one Chinese young lady that carrots are not used in Chinese cooking and
>> therefore they are not liked very much.
>
>I wish someone would tell my Chinese food place. Whenever they get the chance, they load up the
>food with those carrot leaf shapes. Grrrr.
>
>nancy

They probably say the same thing about parsley on American plates!

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
 
Nancy Young wrote:

> I wish someone would tell my Chinese food place. Whenever they get the chance, they load up the
> food with those carrot leaf shapes. Grrrr.

Maybe that's what those ladies were talking about.

"Hmmm... this one would make a good gingko leaf."

"Can't you just see this one carved into a swan?"
 
Sheryl Rosen <[email protected]> wrote in
news:BBF8EFCA.3FE77%[email protected]:

> If you say he's a "filthy, stinking .....(fill in the blank)" well, that's not socially
> acceptable, that's mean.

Unless you're describing a troll :)

--
"The problem with the French is they have no word for entrepreneur."

attributed to George W. Bush by Tony Blair via Baroness Williams
 
Sheryl Rosen wrote:

> I was having a conversation with a black woman I have known since 1982. She asked me to
> describe someone I had talked to. She knew several of the people there, and wanted to know who
> helped me....2 were black, one was white. All were men. I had spoken with one of the black
> men...didn't get his name. Both the white man and one of the black men were bald. One of the
> black men was darker skinned than the other. So here's the thing...I couldn't say "the bald guy
> helped me", because there were two of them. I had to tell her it was one of the two black men.
> But I was uncomfortable saying he was black. I didn't want her to think I fixated on that. But
> the fact is, because I didn't want to seem fixated on it, I WAS fixated on it! There was no way
> for me to describe this man to her without getting into a detailed description of the color of
> this man's skin!

(laugh) Same thing happened to me once, someone came asking for my boss, I said, she's at the end of
this aisle. Which one. She's the one wearing the light gray suit and the yellow blouse. Where.
(sigh) Then, in a really irritated voice she snapped, you mean the black woman? why didn't you just
say so? and stormed off.

nancy
 
Curly Sue wrote:

> Awww, your world is populated by idiots

Nah. Only two... and one I haven't heard from since she rolled out the door... guess that
leaves one...

~john!

--
What was it like to see - the face of your own stability - suddenly look away...
 
Curly Sue wrote:
>
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 09:57:24 -0500, Nancy Young

> >Curly Sue wrote:

> >> I have been told by one Chinese young lady that carrots are not used in Chinese cooking and
> >> therefore they are not liked very much.
> >
> >I wish someone would tell my Chinese food place. Whenever they get the chance, they load up the
> >food with those carrot leaf shapes. Grrrr.
> >
> >nancy
>
> They probably say the same thing about parsley on American plates!

Yeah, but if I wanted beef and broccoli and carrots, I wouldn't have ordered beef and broccoli. They
use it as cheap filler.

nancy
 
On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 17:16:59 -0500, Levelwave©
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Curly Sue wrote:
>
>> Awww, your world is populated by idiots
>
>Nah. Only two... and one I haven't heard from since she rolled out the door... guess that
>leaves one...

Heh heh- you said it!

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
 
Curly Sue wrote:

> Heh heh- you said it!

Ok... you got me on that one (depending on how you read it)... but just this once :)

~john!

--
Say hello to the rug's topography...It holds quite a lot of interest with your face down on it...
 
"Gregory Morrow" writes:

>Those old Chinese gals can get *real* pushy in the food markets (as can Koreans)....

Bigot.

---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =--- ---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =--- Sheldon
```````````` "Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
 
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