How have you mistakenly offended people recently?

fwiw "i don't watch a lot of tv" is a bit less confrontational that "omg i don't even OWN a tv"

I have probably said "I don't own a TV" before (aiming for an "uh I'm kind of broke right now, sorry for not being up on normal people culture" rather than "I am a superior being", but possibly missing) because the problem with "I don't watch much TV" is that some people take this as a challenge for them to list TV shows that you absolutely must have been watching regularly, because - what? you aren't a real person if you don't watch Lost? or they want to out you as the kind of person who claims not to watch TV but actually has like 10 must-watch shows each season? Eh.

okay now I have an on topic story! this one person came to see my flat and she was like looking at the living room and said "oh brilliant, you don't have a TV, that's so refreshing." To which I sort of meekly said "well we do actually, see that 29 inch TV, right there, look at it, it's huge."

And she was like "oh well I meant like it's not the focal point of the house."

R, I was laughing at myself for forgetting the original purpose of the thread. Not criticizing you for posting yr story which, btw, was great.

lololol ronan

"sorry for not being up on normal people culture" rather than "I am a superior being"

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel when I tell people I don't watch tv.

"where i grew up, the television was 67 inches and we never watched it"

if it were a couple of inches bigger, it would be a really (alright not really) funny joke...

oh yeah erica I knew that, no offence taken!

Ronan your stories are literally killing me

I posted this on the Chicago thread, but a coworker mistakenly (I don't think she intended to call me a bitch but who knows) offended (not really, but it could have been offensive if I had been of a mind to be offended/cared about what this coworker thinks about me) me today in a conversation about first impressions when she said:

Coworker: I mean, somebody might think you are a real bitch, but then they get to know you, and it turns our you're really okay!
Me: ... Yeah, I get that a lot.

On topic, though: we have a TV but no cable but we watch TV on the internet all the time so I'm not sure if that makes me smug or awesome or a bitch until you get to know me or what.

At work recently, and I still can't tell if this was a genius evasive action, a coworker had been calling me "Rowan" all the time. He's super nice and a really good guy, and even though I've just started he's v friendly to everyone and stuff, which says a lot about him cos he's a presenter and usually there's an aloofness there.

Anyway I went out for drinks with my colleagues about ten days ago and he's v matey and after a few drinks everyone is cracking jokes etc and he says something and ends it with "Rowan" so I figure I'll make a joke of it and I'm like "you know my name is Ronan? Fuck's sake, Rowan???" and he's like "What? I know your name is Ronan, I just mean like, 'Rone' you know? It's just shorter!"

Felt really bad then though he wasn't offended really...as I say, was either a genius evasive action on his part or he's just that affable a dude that he's affectionately abbreviating your name after a few weeks (which is a possibility with this guy.)

Part of me was like he's obviously being all bro style, like "HEY RONE, MY OLD BUDDY" and I've ruined it

You should have said, "all my close mates use my entire given name, at all times; Ronan [middle name] F[last name]"

you had something special and you stamped on its pleading face repeatedly until it was dead but still the benign affability in its features was visible in the bloodied dirt

you're confusing this incident with my last relationship

who, me or LJ?

I just did the Philippe "Noooooo!" face

lj!

that is the saddest 2-post exchange i have ever seen fwiw and i want to cry and also give ronan a big hug

no i was just joking really rather than revealing true sadness

you know that changes nothing, right

leave rone alone

so rone-ry

http://nicknackpaddywhack.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/scooby-doo-magnet-c11747661.jpeg

rut ro

rere's a rhost!?!?!

Wow I'm gone for an hour getting in to work and the TV... er thread explodes.

I am not unafraid to say I dont watch TV because I think TV is shithouse *shrug*. I watch DVDs and things though. Its adverts I'm again'.

I think I offended my workmate yesterday (the one I posted about on the annoying coworkers thread) because when he snuck up behind me and just STOOD THERE for ages and then said "hello! Miss provisioning!" quite loudly, I paused, and then yelped "AAH DONT DO THAT".

...the fact I paused before I did it made it sound like a staged freakout though, which was a bit crap.

*applauds, leaves*

(just kidding.)

"I don't enjoy television, I only enjoy watching its shows in a slightly different storage format"

From now on I'm going to tell people I never watch television, I only watch shows I saved on my DVR

To be fair, Trayce's stance on TV is more or less identical to mine, except I watch live TV for sports.

i almost never watch live television either. Chiefly because I find it hard to watch the telly at the same time every week to see the shows I like, and other than a few shows I find television deeply boring. Only time it's at all passable is if you're broke and just chilling with your girl, Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares or whatever is fairly watchable in that situation.

Although I can get away with saying that without sounding like a pseud because I usually add "i play xbox all the time and watch live football".

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares

See this is exactly the kind of thing I watch and love. It's entertaining. I am not ashamed.

i actually definitely shouldn't have used that as an example of a random tv show because yeah it is pretty awesome!

"i've fucking eaten here!"

Isn't part of what people are trying to say when they say "I don't watch TV" that they're explicitly not one of those people who comes home from work and just zones out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and Two and a Half Men? If they watch shows on DVD instead, it's seen as more purposeful somehow (couples talk about "working our way through The Wire" like it's a project), not just a mind-numbing exercise.

x-post Damn right it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcPUAW6u5ME&feature=channel_page

Yeah, shit like Masterchef is ok, even great, when it happens to be on, but I don't really ever go out of my way to see live TV (Blur at Glastonbury was more or less the first time this year I did). It's a personal thing; I just don't feel much of it enriches me or engages me particularly well, and the good shit you can generally get on DVD. The only thing I reckon I'm really missing out on is good nature documentary (can that be a generic noun?) and there's a fuckload of great natural footage on the internet. I mean, I DID enjoy The Apprentice a coupla years back, and there are other things I'd probably enjoy now, but I'm not really fussed by completely avoiding them. It's a time/priority thing.

That said, my only vocalised problem with TV is with the adverts, and I have absolutely nothing against people who do watch plenty of television. Besides, they're the ones who'll basically tell me what to later see on DVD...

Basically, if a *really* promising new sitcom touches down any time soon, I'll watch it live.

Jaymc is OTM fwiw and The Wire is definitely on my hitlist (having only seen the first 4 eps of series 1)

Isn't part of what people are trying to say when they say "I don't watch TV" that they're explicitly not one of those people who comes home from work and just zones out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and Two and a Half Men? If they watch shows on DVD instead, it's seen as more purposeful somehow (couples talk about "working our way through The Wire" like it's a project), not just a mind-numbing exercise.

Yeah, I think so but I guess I just don't see how it's really all that different. You can watch TV and still be an intelligent and productive person. It's ok ppl - don't feel guilty etc. You can also not watch TV if that's your thing. Bottom line is who cares? I just don't want to have to hear it from ppl who obv have a *thing* about how awesome they are because they don't watch TV or only watch certain shows on certain formats. They're not move intelligent they're just usually a hell of a lot more pretentious.

btw I am zoning out on the couch in my underwear watching some awesome Two and a Half Men action right now.

w/ cheetos

Isn't part of what people are trying to say when they say "I don't watch TV" that they're explicitly not one of those people who comes home from work and just zones out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and Two and a Half Men? If they watch shows on DVD instead, it's seen as more purposeful somehow (couples talk about "working our way through The Wire" like it's a project), not just a mind-numbing exercise.

I kind of agree with this except for the mind-numbing part. My problem is less that the consumption of television programmes is passive, mind-numbing and doesn't involve engagement on the viewers part; it's more that it's a very scattershot and haphazard way to consume material, and people generally don't do anything similar with other media. I.e. I don't know anyone who just randomly buys books and reads them without any idea of what they are, nor do I know anyone who goes to the cinema and walks into a screening of a film they've never heard of, yet people will sit for hours randomly flicking through channels and watching anything that looks half-interesting. If it wasn't such a commonplace habit it surely would be thought of as strange.

" I.e. I don't know anyone who just randomly buys books and reads them without any idea of what they are, nor do I know anyone who goes to the cinema and walks into a screening of a film they've never heard of"

public library encourages this behavior w/ books and DVDs with their themed "check these out!" displays, and I think they are successful.

i only watch shows when they air, never on dvd or tivo or whatever. can't think of a snooty line for that other than "i'm lazy"

"yet people will sit for hours randomly flicking through channels and watching anything that looks half-interesting."

Internet. Every day.

yup

i have bookmarks, i very seldom look at websites that i don't use habitually except for of course links from the websites I do read. I don't click links that I don't think look interesting.

Yeah neither do I much I must admit, I only go to about 4 sites regularly apart from things I do for work :/ I'm a bit... stuck in my rut.