The Dumbest Comment I Ever Heard

[The Good]

My first fedora-insult today! Some lit'lun's on bicycles yelled out to me "What's with the tophat!" I felt like yelling back to them that it's a fedora, but figured why should I need to explain myself to the likes of them. It ruffled my feathers a bit, but I was on break. So I walked on. Such ignorance in the younger kids today.

Cheers,
flute

Now that's one I never got before. What rude kids, too bad about their ignorance. To me, a fedora doesn't even resemble a top hat, but I can kind of understand a tall crowned, short brimmed one being mistaken as such. As for me, with today being Easter, I'm going to maybe bring along my Federation IV to the family party. Comments and reactions may be inevitable.

 

[Fedora Jay]

I got my first gangster comment today. While grocery shopping I was wearing a brown Dobbs Twenty, a camel overcoat, brown slacks and a polo shirt. A lady in the produce section asked me mockingly "Are you in the mafia?" I didn't know what to say so I just said "No..." Does anyone have a good comeback for that sort of question/comment?

Adjust your tie (or pretend to adjust a tie if you're not wearing one), and reply, "I'm a respectable business man!" in a bad Italian accent. That's my plan for that comment.

My first fedora-insult today! Some lit'lun's on bicycles yelled out to me "What's with the tophat!" I felt like yelling back to them that it's a fedora, but figured why should I need to explain myself to the likes of them. It ruffled my feathers a bit, but I was on break. So I walked on. Such ignorance in the younger kids today.

I think I would've either played the Indy card and said something like, "It's a fedora, haven't you ever seen Indiana Jones?", or told him "It's called 'style', look it up sometime."

I wear a Utilikilt a lot, so I get a bunch of comments about that. I've gotten used to make snappy comebacks. Nothing like when a gal asks what's on under it and I say, "Good girls don't ask, and bad girls find out for themselves!". I'm sure now that I have a hat I intend to wear a lot, I'll start getting comments about it, too.

 

[Mikey P]

I got my first gangster comment today. While grocery shopping I was wearing a brown Dobbs Twenty, a camel overcoat, brown slacks and a polo shirt. A lady in the produce section asked me mockingly "Are you in the mafia?" I didn't know what to say so I just said "No..." Does anyone have a good comeback for that sort of question/comment?

"No, IRS. What did you say your name was?"

 

[Aureliano]

"No, IRS. What did you say your name was?"

I get the mafia one all the time. I usually answer " well, I make people offers they cannot refuse" some get the Corleone reference, others look at me just puzzled.

 

[The Good]

Now that's one I never got before. What rude kids, too bad about their ignorance. To me, a fedora doesn't even resemble a top hat, but I can kind of understand a tall crowned, short brimmed one being mistaken as such. As for me, with today being Easter, I'm going to maybe bring along my Federation IV to the family party. Comments and reactions may be inevitable.

OK, to follow up on this post, I actually have indeed brought along my Akubra Federation IV fedora to the Easter party. Heh, I was almost expecting this actually, but as I grabbed my fedora and marched out the door, my younger brother starts to comment and say "Why are you bringing the hat?" Then my middle brother, after hearing that, told my dad that I was bringing my fedora, as if he thought pops here was about to do something about it. Well, he didn't say a word to me, and I didn't really hear anything they said other than my brother's comment. Off to a rough start (very irrational behavior, I must say), we get there, and I'm actually almost immediately complimented on it by my aunt! She said that she was trying to get one of her sons (of whom will remain nameless here for personal reasons) to get into wearing nicer hats. She bought him a trilby, short-brimmed fedora. I asked to see it, and it was actually a black, wool-felt with a white ribbon or band. It actually looked pretty nice too. Well, we ended up going hiking today in the fields and hills near the house, and the Fed IV served me well. I'll tell you, it was cold, yet I could feel the sun on my face once I took off the hat. If not for the fedora, I would have got a sunburn, and some of the relatives and cousins thought it was nice too. Now that was refreshing, in the face of all the backlash I get often.

 

[jamespowers]

OK, to follow up on this post, I actually have indeed brought along my Akubra Federation IV fedora to the Easter party. Heh, I was almost expecting this actually, but as I grabbed my fedora and marched out the door, my younger brother starts to comment and say "Why are you bringing the hat?" Then my middle brother, after hearing that, told my dad that I was bringing my fedora, as if he thought pops here was about to do something about it. Well, he didn't say a word to me, and I didn't really hear anything they said other than my brother's comment. Off to a rough start (very irrational behavior, I must say), we get there, and I'm actually almost immediately complimented on it by my aunt! She said that she was trying to get one of her sons (of whom will remain nameless here for personal reasons) to get into wearing nicer hats. She bought him a trilby, short-brimmed fedora. I asked to see it, and it was actually a black, wool-felt with a white ribbon or band. It actually looked pretty nice too. Well, we ended up going hiking today in the fields and hills near the house, and the Fed IV served me well. I'll tell you, it was cold, yet I could feel the sun on my face once I took off the hat. If not for the fedora, I would have got a sunburn, and some of the relatives and cousins thought it was nice too. Now that was refreshing, in the face of all the backlash I get often.

You are making some headway there. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Chainsaw]

Mafioso, he's in the russian mob, "you look like a pimp". None of which is remotely true. When did they change the game from swords and Crowns, to guns and Fedoras?

I think they stopped making gentlemen in 1981'

 

[Tango Yankee]

I think they stopped making gentlemen in 1981'

It's not that they stopped making gentlemen, it's that a long time ago they stopped mass producing them! Apparently someone in Marketing decided that they were obsolete.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Yeps]

It's not that they stopped making gentlemen, it's that a long time ago they stopped mass producing them! Apparently someone in Marketing decided that they were obsolete.

Cheers,
Tom

We only come bespoke now.

edit:but vintage is still better.

 

[jamespowers]

We only come bespoke now.

edit:but vintage is still better.

Better than made to measure I suppose. lol lol lol

 

[Diamondback]

Beats all hell out of being Obsolete Before Operational, as I am... (The last days of the Cold War was the WRONG time to have accelerated-maturity and an education focused on Nuclear Strategy!)

 

[Tango Yankee]

Beats all hell out of being Obsolete Before Operational, as I am... (The last days of the Cold War was the WRONG time to have accelerated-maturity and an education focused on Nuclear Strategy!)

I was a Cold War Warrior myself, for the first 10 years of my career. Spent my first five at HQ SAC as computer operator on a system that was used to plot ballistic missile trajectories, among other things. The best part would have been all of the different places you could be stationed in Europe that are now closed. While later in my career I missed the stability and peace of the Cold War it really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. We sure didn't have a clue as to what was to follow once the wall came down, did we?

Regards,
Tom

 

[Drew B]

Hey J B,

You've probably heard it from almost everybody here and it sounds like you're on the right track anyway but my advice is 'be your own man'. Don't worry about what anyone says to you about it - I don't even bother trying to explain it to anyone anymore - they might say 'why do you wear such wierd clothes'. I have found the best response is 'I like to'. It's simple and exudes confidence.

Sorry if this has already been said - I haven't really been following the thread.

Also wouldn't mind apologising to anyone offended by the twat comment - it is indeed just Pommy/Aussie slang, nothing grotesque.

Cheers,
Drew.

 

[ScionPI2005]

OK, to follow up on this post, I actually have indeed brought along my Akubra Federation IV fedora to the Easter party. Heh, I was almost expecting this actually, but as I grabbed my fedora and marched out the door, my younger brother starts to comment and say "Why are you bringing the hat?" Then my middle brother, after hearing that, told my dad that I was bringing my fedora, as if he thought pops here was about to do something about it. Well, he didn't say a word to me, and I didn't really hear anything they said other than my brother's comment. Off to a rough start (very irrational behavior, I must say), we get there, and I'm actually almost immediately complimented on it by my aunt! She said that she was trying to get one of her sons (of whom will remain nameless here for personal reasons) to get into wearing nicer hats. She bought him a trilby, short-brimmed fedora. I asked to see it, and it was actually a black, wool-felt with a white ribbon or band. It actually looked pretty nice too. Well, we ended up going hiking today in the fields and hills near the house, and the Fed IV served me well. I'll tell you, it was cold, yet I could feel the sun on my face once I took off the hat. If not for the fedora, I would have got a sunburn, and some of the relatives and cousins thought it was nice too. Now that was refreshing, in the face of all the backlash I get often.

That definitely sounds like progress there. It seems you have some allies among your extended family. Keep on keeping on.

 

[Diamondback]

Tom, I'm not lamenting the end of an era (the Soviet Union is something the world's better off without, although I trust Putin and his boy Medvedev about as far as I can throw an ICBM--"by hand", not "with the button"!), just saying that sometimes outliving your era gets problematic, and doubly so when it happens while you're at a point where you're young enough to have a full life ahead of you but old enough to make retooling yourself for a new role "difficult"... What do you do when you've followed a long road with no signs, only to be confronted with a Dead End?

But that's heading fftopic: ... and there are far worse things out there, anyway.

 

[The Good]

Well, me and my younger brother went out for a walk today around the neighborhood. I was wearing my Panama, and as an older lady walked by, I doffed it (tipped my hat) and said hello. My younger brother greeted her as he walked by too, but less than a minute after that encounter, he told me not to do that, and that I shouldn't bring the "sun hat," as he sometimes calls my straw, instead just bringing a baseball cap.

I don't have much against baseball caps (they're not very useful for sun protection, I believe), but I've never in my life regularly worn them going out. I tried to explain to him that tipping one's hat to ladies is polite, but he just saw it as an outdated thing that belonged to one hundred years ago. He actually even told me that he's more comfortable being around me wearing my Federation IV than my Panama, as he thinks it looks like a gardening hat a lady would wear. I told him that he should be more tolerant of my hat-wearing, but he said he was against it. Now that was a load of ignorance. :eusa_doh:

I'm wondering how long it takes for my siblings to be more accepting of my attire (which has largely been included in my lifestyle, if I say so myself). I've been dressing largely the same for almost two years, yet I've just started picking up on brimmed hat-wearing for over half a year now. It is as if every day is something of a culture-clash between me and my brothers, sometimes the rest of the family as well. I think it's obvious by now, they see me as being too old-fashioned, dressy (as in too formal or over-dressed) or outdated. As for me, I like it, and I'm going to stick with the way I have been doing things.

 

[fluteplayer07]

Stick to your guns, Sir. Don't let them bring you down.

 

[cptjeff]

Well, me and my younger brother went out for a walk today around the neighborhood. I was wearing my Panama, and as an older lady walked by, I doffed it (tipped my hat) and said hello. My younger brother greeted her as he walked by too, but less than a minute after that encounter, he told me not to do that, and that I shouldn't bring the "sun hat," as he sometimes calls my straw, instead just bringing a baseball cap.

I don't have much against baseball caps (they're not very useful for sun protection, I believe), but I've never in my life regularly worn them going out. I tried to explain to him that tipping one's hat to ladies is polite, but he just saw it as an outdated thing that belonged to one hundred years ago. He actually even told me that he's more comfortable being around me wearing my Federation IV than my Panama, as he thinks it looks like a gardening hat a lady would wear. I told him that he should be more tolerant of my hat-wearing, but he said he was against it. Now that was a load of ignorance. :eusa_doh:

I'm wondering how long it takes for my siblings to be more accepting of my attire (which has largely been included in my lifestyle, if I say so myself). I've been dressing largely the same for almost two years, yet I've just started picking up on brimmed hat-wearing for over half a year now. It is as if every day is something of a culture-clash between me and my brothers, sometimes the rest of the family as well. I think it's obvious by now, they see me as being too old-fashioned, dressy (as in too formal or over-dressed) or outdated. As for me, I like it, and I'm going to stick with the way I have been doing things.

Sounds like it's time for the nuclear option.

 

[scottyrocks]

JB, not for nothing, but I think your sibling(s) need a smack upside the head.

 

[Dean]

JB - you need to lighten up a bit fella. Given the age of your brothers, they are likely to give you grief even if you dress exactly the same as them - they will look for any chink in the armour. Ask anyone with brothers on here, its what brothers do, its in thier chemistry. In effect, you are doing the same back to them.

Also, judging by your age and lengthy (over) analysing of the 'problem', it sounds like you are at an age where you are still trying to express some independance. Re-read your messages in 10 years and you will probably cringe.

Just to look a one point - hand on heart - did you tip your hat to the lady because it's polite, or because you want to be different? (or both?). It is outdated, but not necessarily wrong. An open smile and a hello is now far more suitable, as, in the encounter you describe, it is intended to place the other person at ease - that is the whole point. One can't cherry pick civilities, not least those from a particular 20th century period, and expect everyone to understand....polite behaviour may appear to be limited today, but it didn't begin, reach a zenith or end with the Golden Era.

You shouldn't change anything, but perhaps chill out. Give them a week seeing that you are comfortable in your skin and they will find something else about you to rip.....