Theme
6:20pm July 24, 2014

I just got yelled at in the street.

slavicmustard:

youneedacat:

Which is not uncommon.

Unfortunately, due to language processing problems, I have no clue what the guy said.  So I am left guessing as to whether he was yelling at me for:

  • Being (read as) female
  • Being gender-ambiguous-looking
  • Disability of any of many kinds
  • Something about how I was dressed

I assume it was one of the above, but I can’t even close to figure out which.

If you can’t figure out what he said, it’s probably a bit presumptuous to assume he was being malicious about your person. He could have easily been telling you there was a car coming or something.

I know a malicious tone of voice (not to mention the sneer and the hand gestures, very visible because the guy was on a motorcycle) when I hear one, I’ve had years of experience of street harassment to become very aware of such things.  And cars don’t come onto sidewalks.  It’s probably a bit presumptious to assume that I can’t tell the difference between a friendly reminder and a menacing shout.

Notes:
  1. layly-rpg reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone
  2. clatterbane reblogged this from isabelknight
  3. madeofpatterns reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    I can actually usually understand both at once. I just can’t look at people’s faces while I’m doing it.
  4. something-i-dunno reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone
  5. withasmoothroundstone reblogged this from isabelknight and added:
    And also, people with receptive language problems often develop well-nigh-uncanny abilities to read vocal tone,...
  6. isabelknight reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    Yeah, after a while, it’s not that hard to recognize the difference between *garbled urgent warning* and *garbled noisy...
  7. arctic-hands reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    Well, to be fair slavicmustard, a car driving on the sidewalk IS something worth warning about.
  8. kennawheez reblogged this from fullyarticulatedgoldskeleton
  9. fullyarticulatedgoldskeleton reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    It’s baffling how people will get really defensive about a nondescript stranger’s honor and integrity being questioned
  10. slavicmustard reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    If you can’t figure out what he said, it’s probably a bit presumptuous to assume he was being malicious about your...
  11. flamethrowing-hurdy-gurdy said: If ever there was a time when you didn’t need to process someone’s words, this would be it, because he probably wasn’t saying anything worth listening to. Sorry this happened to you.
  12. pirozhok-s-kapustoj said: Ugh, that sucks. I also never get what people are yelling at me so I worry about that the rest of the day. :( Internet hugs? If wanted!