Wednesday 27 February 2008

Conversation

This is a real conversation that happened to me about 2/3 of the way through a dance that was going really, really well.

Leader (very dreamily, as though reciting poetry): Do not fight meeee ... I am older and stronger than you .... and I will always win.
Hedgehog (very, very quietly, right down the ear canal): Do not instruct me ... I am here to dance ... and I can fight back. [Thinks: what exactly are you accusing me of, and what makes you think it makes sense to issue physical threats to a woman who's dancing with you?]
Leader: Only joking.
Hedgehog : [Thinks: It's supposed to be funny to point out that you could phyiscally hurt me if you chose? Well, I'll cream you when it comes to brains, but I don't point that out as a 'joke'. Shut up and dance.]

The rest of the dance was even better than it started, if anything. He was really good. And I got lots more dances from everyone who was watching us. He just had really weird ideas about what it makes sense to say to a lady.

Bizarre.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You responded incorrectly for him... You were supposed to melt into his embrace and become totally submissive!

His "only joking" comment was to cover up his embarrasment at trying that line on someone he had misjudged...

At least you had a good evening of dancing by the sounds of it.

msHedgehog said...

You're surely right - and I am so not that person. And not that dancer, really. Put that way, the thing as a whole really is funny.

And I did have a very good evening, and would be happy to dance with all of them again.

Anonymous said...

A literally interpretative mind is a bind sometimes. Still, I couldn't have even pretended to be a doormat for this man!

tangobaby said...

Next time, do say "shut up and dance" and I bet it goes even better.

AlexTangoFuego said...

As I've said in some of my posts...men are pigs...even when we are at our best...

Unknown said...

It may also be that a joke backfired... Does he have a reputation for these things?

msHedgehog said...

I have no idea - this wasn't in my usual town, so I'd never seen him before and I'm very unlikely to see him again. And English was not his native language; so he may have been translating something that made more sense in the original.

Debbi said...

Hmmm... an attempt at a Jedi Mind trick on a follower... apparently he mistook himself for Darth Vadar.... I commend you for taking the high ground, I know a few people who most likely would have left him there on the floor with those words still hanging in the air.
Sometimes it amazes me what people think is funny/acceptable to say to other people - both on and off the dance floor!