Sunday, June 07, 2009

Jews, wooers, and shoes

-A commenter to Nicholas Kristof's latest column asks, "Why should real Americans be like Asians or Jews?" I didn't realize there was still unselfconscious use of the adjective "real" in reference to some Americans and not others, but we have, perhaps, the anonymity of the Internet to thank. (And since when do "real Americans" know how to play ice hockey? Doesn't the commenter mean real Canadians?)

-Goodness. The featured NYT wedding this week resulted from the woman proposing to the man. Alert the presses! (Although I guess technically, the presses have been alerted.) How did it all happen?

"She said she thought that it was undignified to drop hints to get him to propose, and she doubted that he would volunteer to be legally bridled. So she decided it was time for some rule-breaking of her own, and it was Ms. Emerson who got down on one knee as they hiked in the Catskills last April."

Hmm. On the one hand, good for her. On the other, it's worth pointing out that even here, the assumption is first that the man will propose, and only once that's ruled out as a possibility does the woman take the initiative, as a last resort.

-For some reason, probably the corrupting influence of fashion blogs, I've become fixated on the idea of 'nude'-colored shoes. These, for instance. Yes? No?

10 comments:

Not-a- Generic-User-ID said...

Its worth keeping in mind that people who post on anonymous internet comment forums generally are not real people.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

Good point - it's hard to be a real American if you're a disembodied voice on the Internet.

Miss Self-Important said...

Cheaper than nude-colored shoes = bare feet.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

MSI,

Agreed.

PG said...

Re: nude shoes, for the money, I'd get more of those Hollywould flats -- the quality seems good so far. Something about an elastic strap on $58 shoes is off-putting to me.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

There's also a no-elastic version - the elastic apparently costs $6, because those are $52. The elastic... works to keep the shoes on, but is, agreed, unfortunate.

Matt said...

You should see if you can find "nude" color versions of those weird shoes that have toes and conform closely to your feet. This sort of thing:
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

Then people will think you are barefoot and have some really weird large looking feet.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

That might be what gets me a seat on the subway!

Anonymous said...

That "nude" isn't the color of my feet. JM

Maureen said...

For a second I thought the commenter in the first link was serious. Well played, George.