DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**Seesspoxy** · 05-27-2011, 09:36 AM

I don't said it was from a colony. I said it was a colonial proverb, like a proverb with a colonial connotations. I don't agree with those kind a proverb.

I can't attest to the use of the proverb you cited, but I have come across examples of people in colonies, especially when foreigners were flooding in to populate the area, making use of generalisations and stereotypes to deal with groups of people who were alien to them.

For example, supposedly a rule of thumb existed in 19th century America that a German did twice the work of an Irishman and an Irishman did twice the work of a Negro. Or something along those lines, I know it went German > Irishman > Negro. It wouldn't have held true in every case, an exceptionally indolent German or an exceptionally industrious Black man would have shown up every so often, but to colonials and people in a multi-cultural area of any kind stereotypes are useful.

---------- Post added 2011-05-27 at 02:39 ----------

I like to keep the mood light-hearted and prefer not to have any tension.

Same here. I can't stand people who make situations unecessarily awkward. I have a friend who is constantly on edge, everything is a competition to him and he takes offence very easily. It can get quite tense after a prolonged period of time in each other's company, a missplaced word and he'll silently explode.

Although I also find subject changers very annoying, when you're in a social situation and two people are teetering on the edge of an argument the worst thing in the world is the asshole who steers the conversation to a less volatile topic. Well....I am a bit of a shit stirrer when the mood takes me.

05-27-2011, 09:36 AM	#17
Seesspoxy Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 528 Senior Member	I don't said it was from a colony. I said it was a colonial proverb, like a proverb with a colonial connotations. I don't agree with those kind a proverb. I can't attest to the use of the proverb you cited, but I have come across examples of people in colonies, especially when foreigners were flooding in to populate the area, making use of generalisations and stereotypes to deal with groups of people who were alien to them. For example, supposedly a rule of thumb existed in 19th century America that a German did twice the work of an Irishman and an Irishman did twice the work of a Negro. Or something along those lines, I know it went German > Irishman > Negro. It wouldn't have held true in every case, an exceptionally indolent German or an exceptionally industrious Black man would have shown up every so often, but to colonials and people in a multi-cultural area of any kind stereotypes are useful. ---------- Post added 2011-05-27 at 02:39 ---------- I like to keep the mood light-hearted and prefer not to have any tension. Same here. I can't stand people who make situations unecessarily awkward. I have a friend who is constantly on edge, everything is a competition to him and he takes offence very easily. It can get quite tense after a prolonged period of time in each other's company, a missplaced word and he'll silently explode. Although I also find subject changers very annoying, when you're in a social situation and two people are teetering on the edge of an argument the worst thing in the world is the asshole who steers the conversation to a less volatile topic. Well....I am a bit of a shit stirrer when the mood takes me.
	Quote