Yes, I did rather notice the same thing, strangely enough. :)dr.d wrote:don't worry about it , I have noticed that most of the men here like it when Shell calls them "boy" ........and I also have noticed that there are a few women here that want Shell to call them names toofroodly2005 wrote:And for some reason I don't quite understand, I'm liking it when you call me "boy". That's a bit of a puzzle.
Mental dialog with froodly & id:
Hunh. The little lizard is scared. Haven't seen that since the last trip to Cleveland.froodly: Hey, id! C'mere a sec. Got somebody to show you. *id scampers back into the thread*
id: Whazzat? Hey, who's th' big dude up there? *claws start to come out*
froodly: *swats id with another, slightly less gentle dope slap* Claws in. This is dr.d. Now, I don't know him very well, but Miss Shell has a high opinion of him, so we both better be polite.
id: How polite? *slitted eyes look at froodly* You holdin' out on me again? You're not tellin' me somethin'...
froodly: *rolls eyes* I'm always not telling you something. *sigh* But, yeah. Remember how I told you about the consequences of being stupid with Banquo and Miss Della?
id: Cleveland...
froodly: Yeah, Cleveland. Right. Now here's the thing: Miss Shell can fry you to a puff of greasy black smoke with Those Eyebrows, but dr.d is one notch above that in terms of power. So don't be stupid here. Be very, very not-stupid.
id: He'd kick me to Cleveland?
froodly: *looks at dr.d* No, probably just eat you, I expect.
id: *eyes wide* Minimum Safe Distance?
froodly: At least 3 paragraphs.
*id scampers down-post, hoping to reach the Minimum Safe Distance of 3 paragraphs without being eaten*
*turns back to dr.d*
So, about the "boy" thing: I initially had kind of a hard time watching people use that language. Of course, there's the racist past of the word, at least in the US. Also, it's kind of an insult to refer to someone that way to assert social dominance. While some people like to use humiliation in play, I very much do not.
But then I noticed something: Miss Shell would call someone "boy", and proceed to have a completely wonderful interaction. Hmm. That was kind of peculiar, but really, really interesting. So when she first called me "boy", well... it kind of raised my anti-authoritarian hackles. But it turned out to be, apparently, a social signalling mechanism: a benevolent person is about to take charge, prod me into doing something that will be wonderful in itself, and push me toward being a happier person. I didn't get that at the cognitive level until, but emotionally it sank in pretty deep. So now, it sort of means: "pay attention, because something good is about to happen". A complete sea-change, at least when Miss Shell says it.
I belatedly realized Miss Shell had totally rearranged the emotional furniture in my head. Without me realizing it at the time. Totally slipped past my considerable emotional defenses. It would be about Richter 4 on the freaksome scale, if she weren't so trustworthy.
Mental dialog with froodly & id:
*Having reached Minimum Safe Distance of 3 paragraphs outside the blast radius, id peeks his eyes up onto the thread and waves at dr.d very, very carefully. There is duct tape wrapped about the tips of the 4 digits of each paw.*
froodly: Uhhh... lil' dude... Duct tape?
id: *eyes front, carefully facing froodly* Just makin' it perfectly clear th' claws are in. *loud voice, directed nowhere in particular* In fact, they're in th' shop right now, gettin' worked on by th' clawsmith. No claws here 'til Monday. *looks sidways at dr.d*
froodly: *sigh* Well, at least you're erring on the side of safety. That's progress, I guess.







