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...she used the word "Style."

Briscoeteque

One of the Regulars
Messages
224
Location
Lewiston, Maine
I don't mind being called a gangster, if this tall, pale, skinny Jewish fella can look as intimidating as Lepke, I'll take it!

I also started telling people to call me 'Bugsy', there's too many Bens to compete with, and I'd rather be 'Bugsy' than 'Suit Ben'.
 

mysterygal

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,667
Location
Washington
I could see how it would be taken as an insult though (saying you look like a gangster) which I'm glad you guys mentioned that. We'll just keep the compliments to 'wow, great hat, you look great!' :)
 

johnnycanuck

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,008
Location
Alberta
Gangster is better then "Hay Dundee".
I have always found wearing a hat to be a good ice breaker. Not just with women but in almost any social situation. It also seems to make me more approachable. Gets a conversation started. Anyone else notice that or is it just me.
Johnny
 
Briscoeteque said:
I also started telling people to call me 'Bugsy', there's too many Bens to compete with, and I'd rather be 'Bugsy' than 'Suit Ben'.

You do know that Bugsy is vernacular for crazy right? [huh] :p That is the reason why Bugsy Seagal didn't like being called Bugsy. If you like it though go for it I guess. [huh]
My favorite retort to some fool was set up perfectly. The guy was wearing a wife beater when he made his mobster comment. So I asked him if he beat his wife. :p

Regards,

J
 

Magus

Practically Family
Messages
655
Location
Southern California
jake_fink said:
The gangster comment bugs me. It's not a compliment it's sarcasm, a dis, plain and simple. When people say it what they mean is you look like a movie gangster, which is about as "nice" a compliment as being told you look like a cowboy or a wookie.

While I agree with you in general...I also have to account for the source. If a young hip urbanite says I look "gangsta" I take that as complement every time.


M
 

RedPop4

One Too Many
Messages
1,353
Location
Metropolitan New Orleans
jamespowers said:
You do know that Bugsy is vernacular for crazy right? [huh] :p That is the reason why Bugsy Seagal didn't like being called Bugsy. If you like it though go for it I guess. [huh]
My favorite retort to some fool was set up perfectly. The guy was wearing a wife beater when he made his mobster comment. So I asked him if he beat his wife. :p

Regards,

J
:eek:fftopic: Back to baseball history, John J. McGraw, the longtime manager of the New York Giants from 1900 or 1901 until nearly 1930, was called Mugsy, sometimes. But according to some of his players, NEVER to his face or in his presence. It was a name he hated, and according to one of them "if he ever heard you say it, he wasn't your friend anymore."
 

Briscoeteque

One of the Regulars
Messages
224
Location
Lewiston, Maine
jamespowers said:
You do know that Bugsy is vernacular for crazy right? [huh] :p That is the reason why Bugsy Seagal didn't like being called Bugsy. If you like it though go for it I guess. [huh]
My favorite retort to some fool was set up perfectly. The guy was wearing a wife beater when he made his mobster comment. So I asked him if he beat his wife. :p

Regards,

J

Right, crazy as a bed-bug, which is why Siegel hated to be reminded of his humble roots. Martin Goldstein took it as a compliment. Anyhow, he may have been a sociopath, but Benny Siegel had style.

Way I look at it, if a college student is spending more money on dry cleaning and tailoring than on anything else (execpt textbooks :eusa_doh:), he can't be totally right in the head. I've got more suits than shirts.
 
Messages
10,941
Location
My mother's basement
Maybe I'm growing a bit hard of hearing (at times it's a blessing), but I very, very rarely hear any of the "gangster" comments in regard to my lids. And I have never, to my knowledge, been likened to Indiana Jones.
About all we can say for sure about such comments is that they are unoriginal. Beyond that, well, maybe they are made sarcastically and maybe they aren't. I imagine that we've all made trite observations about another person's "unusual" attire (or collectible car or luxuriant mustache or whatever it is that makes him stand out in the crowd) and meant no harm whatsoever by it. Just making conversation, albeit rather clumsily.
Back when I drove old British sports cars I grew accustomed to the spontaneous parking-lot conversations the cars provoked. And I long ago got used to people making observations about my hats. It seems to happen several times a week. The comments are almost entirely favorable. A guy at the home-improvement store yesterday asked where he could get a Panama hat like the one I was wearing. Cashiers and bank tellers often say things like, "Nice hat; my grandpa used to wear one just like it." (Yup, it at times does remind me that I'm old enough to be the teller's father, if not her grandfather. But wotthehell, she means me no harm.)
We CHOOSE to wear hats. And while we have no control over the response our lids may provoke in others, at least our hat-wearing is voluntary. If we don't like the comments, or if we are so thin-skinned that we let them annoy us, we can always choose not to wear hats. What I find considerably more ill-mannered is the ribbing some folks dish out for things over which their targets have no control. It still stuns me that the first comment some folks make to a person in a power wheelchair is something like, "Does that thing burn rubber?" Har de har har har. It's obvious, ain't it, that what the "comedian" sees is the wheelchair, not the person. The jokester doesn't see himself as a boor, but then, he's so self-absorbed that it renders him oblivious to how others feel. Come to think of it, that's pretty darned close to the definition of "boor."
 

221b

Familiar Face
Messages
76
Location
Southern California
Hope out there

Ive heard "Capone" and "Godfather", but Ive never been called Indy yet. Everyone at church loves the hat ( I take it off inside). No one there has called me names yet, just compliments! My wife loves it too. I encourage people to get one when they compliment me at church. Most people my age (late 20's) have already started buying and wearing suits there. Maybe Im setting the example? A lady at the store ( 30 something ) told me she loved the hat, and she wished more men would wear them.
 

RedPop4

One Too Many
Messages
1,353
Location
Metropolitan New Orleans
MrsRedPop tells me I'm getting too old, and that at nearly 40 I shouldn't be wearing fedoras yet. Whatever.

I like the "my grandfather wore a hat like that" type of compliment. If they're willing to say that, then it means we've brought a happy memory to someone of a person for whom they had love. That's ALWAYS a good thing.
 

Jake Sullivan

One of the Regulars
Messages
167
Location
Central Illinois
I work in an Emergency Room and the docs like the fedora look. I get a lot of ribbing but all in good fun, and lots of questions about it. I am more than happy to reply about my purchase info...I guess am a fedora Store advocate
great service and info here. Glad to participate!
 

matei

One Too Many
Messages
1,022
Location
England
Baron Kurtz said:
He calls me Mr. Clean, as you may have noticed.

Isn't Mr. Clean a bald fella who wears a white t-shirt? Surely I think you are anything but bald! :p

main_board_image.jpg
 

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