what's the deal with guys who insist on sitting with their legs spread far apart even when they're like sitting in coach on an airplane and there's fuck-all leg room in the row?

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so is their stuff really that massive or do they just want people to think so? and what is the proper etiquette for asking one of these offenders to um uh give you some more space?

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:10 (nineteen years ago) link

They do it on busses, too. I think they should be castrated. Seriously.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:13 (nineteen years ago) link

They want people to think so. Get a huge unwieldy cup of coffee and hold it shakily, as if you're about to spill it.

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:14 (nineteen years ago) link

You have to push back.

Actually, Nicole OTM. Just drop the coffee on their balls.

Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:14 (nineteen years ago) link

if you're a guy, you do the same thing, making inappropriate thigh-contact with them until they get the point (hopefully). i dunno what you do if you're a girl. ask them if they want to switch seats?

gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i was thinking about this yesterday when i was squashed on a bus. The proper etiquette is to reach over, unzip, pull it out and say "you need all that legroom for this?".

jed_ (jed), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:16 (nineteen years ago) link

If you're a girl, you do the same making sure you reveal your vaginal teeth. Watch their legs clamp closed smartly.

penelope_111, Monday, 14 June 2004 11:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Penelope OTM!

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:18 (nineteen years ago) link

heheheheeee

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Vaginal teeth :-S

Onimo (GerryNemo), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I will now fear my bus ride into work today.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Have sex w/them

Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I hate these people. I have actually kicked them before now.

Anna (Anna), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Not actually in the balls?

Best practice is to ask them when they're going to be done airing their little man, while waving the tip of your little finger.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:43 (nineteen years ago) link

You could just bring a bowling ball along and then drop it in the exact location.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:44 (nineteen years ago) link

i always think of Les Dawson dressed as an old woman and am then too giggly to care

stevem (blueski), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:45 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't sit with my legs together, sorry, but it's really uncomfortable. The alternative is to sit cross leggd, which is worse as people tut at you as ther brush past your shoes.

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:46 (nineteen years ago) link

you got your leg wacked by the steward's trolley en route to Bilbao on purpose you know ;)

stevem (blueski), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm w. Chris -- this thread is weird. Big Assumptions being made.

ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:56 (nineteen years ago) link

exactly Steve, if I sit on a plane with my legs together, I have to dislocate my kneecaps to fit them in! Same goes for the new planes too, and buses.

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:57 (nineteen years ago) link

d'oh, I meant the new trains

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:58 (nineteen years ago) link

i think if you have the seat to yourself, then leg stretchage is fine, but if someone comes and sits next to you, you should be polite and give them enough room.

also new york subway to thread, *every* bloke we saw had his legs at at least 90 degrees...

CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:58 (nineteen years ago) link

It's on the tube it bothers me most, especially if they have their arms spilling over both arm rests.

A sharp kick in the ankle on a crowded train can make the world a better place.

Anna (Anna), Monday, 14 June 2004 11:59 (nineteen years ago) link

It's big swinging dicks who decide that their "comfort" is more important than the ability (I would say comfort, but sometimes it's sheer physical mechanics) of other people to sit on the seat next to them. It's totally disregarding of other people's personal space, and it's just freaking rude.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I do bad things to peole who are rude/push in/be generally bad on the tube.

and I do sit like that though, baut am conscious not to have arm spillage (but usually I sit next to a partition anyway).

Hold on, I don't encroach on other people, yes that is rude, but you can still sit comfortably legs akimbo without doing this

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Right -- I avoid actually getting in ppl's way, but the tenor of the thread had nothing to do with discomfort, more w. 'oh it must be to do with insecurity' yadda.

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:05 (nineteen years ago) link

baut am conscious not to have arm spillage

This is why you are a nice man.

I sound like a headcase on this thread. Oh well.

Anna (Anna), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I think this really has little to do with your junk and much more todo with the way your calves are shaped. Sitting with my legs completely paralled gives me the world's WORST leg cramps, rendering it extraordinarily difficult to stand. So, you have a choice; occaissionally brushing against my leg as you set next to me or flinching in abject horror when I lurch to my feet and fall over, firmly planting my buttocks in your face.

(Having said that, I think my leg angle is about 40 degrees so you probably aren't talking about me.)

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Standing beats sitting anyway

Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Why is this even an issue????????? Of course these people are dicks. I have fairly long legs also!

Jon in R'lyeh (ex machina), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Nice heels, btw.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Pezza = otm

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:09 (nineteen years ago) link

occaissionally brushing against my leg as you set next to me or flinching in abject horror when I lurch to my feet and fall over, firmly planting my buttocks in your face.

Next week on Flirt With Dan Perry 101, we'll be concentrating on legal and criminal problems you may find affect you.

Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:10 (nineteen years ago) link

(Haha guess who got 4 hrs of sleep last night? Jeebus.)

TypoMonstah Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:11 (nineteen years ago) link

The Male Leg Spread is one of those human behaviours worthy of David Attenborough running commentary. It's also something that manages to annoy every woman on the planet.

Anna and I are both small compared to men like these and I think it's the oppressive physicality (Hark, sirrah! Put thine gusset away!) that causes the discomfort, plus there is no polite way to tell a stranger to close their legs. So phrases like 'I bet you think your bollocks are little lungs' do tend to pop up, along with HAS YOUR COCK BREATHED ITS LAST?

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:22 (nineteen years ago) link

It has never occurred to me that my nuts might be lungs.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:30 (nineteen years ago) link

But next time you're sitting around at home really stoned (*), listen. You can really hear them breathing.

* - I suspect Dan does not in fact do this very often if at all.

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Also they taught me in Riot Grrrl 101 that colonising space meant for others is just such a patriarchal thing to do and that's why society wants women small, thin, unobtrusive - so as not to be seen taking up space which men try to then own on a psychological/anthropological level whewn there is space to fight for.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:37 (nineteen years ago) link

*pats Suzy on head at her ability to grasp concepts

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Christ, Suzy, what you just posted there has just caused a massive burst of understanding in my brain. So this is A Certain Boy actually finds rubbish like empty boxes and broken electronics more important than ME ACTUALLY BEING ALLOWED TO HAVE A ROOM OF MY OWN.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Does this mean that my g/f having the spare room entirely to herself make a New Mang [no] ok thx bye.

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:42 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm not extrapolating to anyone else's situation. Something has just clicked in my brain about what is going wrong in *my* situation.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I see more women than men driving huge fucking SUVs, Excursions/H2s/Expeditions/et al. than men.

The colonize way more space than anyone airing out his junk.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:48 (nineteen years ago) link

OK, let's end this thread NOW.

Jon in R'lyeh (ex machina), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:49 (nineteen years ago) link

This is also a dud. Like a soccer mom needs an Excursion to haul groceries or take her kid to school. They're probably married to the ostentatious ball-airers.


x-post

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Kate, I don't think packrattage is the same thing at all otherwise I'd be in serious trouble on that front too.

*pats Chris on the head for understanding concept simplified because it was expedient to do so*

Milo: women be drivin' SUVs!

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:51 (nineteen years ago) link

No, it's not the packrattage that's the issue. It's the blatant refusal to share space. And packrattage is a control issue in and of itself.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Were Riot grrrrls the easiest sub culture to wind up ever by the way?

chris (chris), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Broken electronics are great though!!!!

WOLF EYES (ex machina), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Broken electronics are shite. The only purpose of experimental electronic artists in this world is for them to suck my toes. The end.

Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:55 (nineteen years ago) link

nutbreathing!!!

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybe airlines should consider supplying a belt at magazine/sick bag holder level that could be strapped around male/female splayers knees by a dominatrix-type cabin crew member?

penelope_111, Monday, 14 June 2004 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

It sucks when my short friends call shotgun and I'm like "Yo b, I got longass legs!"

ARL (Adrian Langston), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Kate! with broken electronics, dirty drone rock boys can get SICK DELAY.

I know people who use VCR parts as tape delay!

Jon in R'lyeh (ex machina), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Yesterday I was sitting cross-legged and some girl was like "isn't it crushing your balls to sit like that?"

Ha... I like the anonymity of "some girl." I'm assuming it wasn't a stranger who just happened upon you sitting cross-legged.

xpost Jon VCRs make really badass tape delays if you have the equipment to splice and two VCRs to mangle (so you can get another play head in there after the record head).

martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Are there plans for building tape delays from VCRs anywhere???

Jon in R'lyeh (ex machina), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Any time! *stretches out, gets comfortable*

Air travel is horrible enough without clods like this making it worse. If you need the extra leg room then pay for a business class or better ticket

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link

On airplanes I am more bothered by the loudly-mouthbreathing smells-of-old-meat stinkers than any other kind of person.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

People with little kids who let them run around and kick seats and scream, etc. are the ones I want to be banished from air travel.

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Sorry about the OT interruption...

Are there plans for building tape delays from VCRs anywhere???

I dunno of any on the net. I suppose you could try googlin' about (tho my cursory glance at a search on "tape delay" AND "vcr" didn't find anything really). I made mine with three old VCRs (only one of which worked) and the guts from an old Boss CE-1 (cause I put a switched chorus effect on one of the delays). I originally built it to use with guitar, but I've since used it most recording vocals or just to make normal sounds into hard-to-recognize noise.

Mine's completely mechanical... like the longest delay I can get out of it is a function of how far away I can move the heads down the tape path.

Hm. Maybe I should start selling the random shit I build.

martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link

TS: Paying $400 more for a plane ticket vs Annoying brittle people

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:46 (nineteen years ago) link

You guys are humongous assholes. My sensibilities have been seriously offended by the motivation behind this thread. SOME GUYS HAPPEN TO HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH MEATY SUCCULENT THIGHS, BIG ASSES, AND YES...
LUNGS FOR SACKS WITH A NEED TO BREATHE.

Fr4ncis W4tlingt0n (Francis Watlington), Monday, 14 June 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

You must be this portly to ride the Redeye

stevem (blueski), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Bwahaha it's LEGZ AKIMBO:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/going_out/images/log270.jpg

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:14 (nineteen years ago) link

TS: Paying $400 more for a plane ticket vs Annoying brittle people

Pay the money, otherwise leave my personal space alone

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Ask to be seated next to a woman next time? I do try to stipulate 'no fat businessmen' when I fly and it works, especially if asking a camper steward.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I am torn sometimes between the feeling that everyone should be treated as equal on a plane and the feeling that people should be charged based on the amount of room they will take up.

Cause if you pay the same amount as the guy next to you, and then he takes up an extra inch of your already small seat, that doesn't really make sense. At least on the subway we're not talking about the same kind of fare to ride.

martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:28 (nineteen years ago) link

also, armrests between the window seat and the window: why? they just make it worse.

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link

They need somewhere to put that little button for tilting the seat back.

martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link

erm, so you'll have someplace to rest your arm?

ARL (Adrian Langston), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link

why the fuck do i need to "rest my arm"?

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:34 (nineteen years ago) link

"i just flew in from _______ and boy are my arms tired" joke to thread!

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link

without arm rests i'd go mad i think. and it's where your joypad is stashed innit.

stevem (blueski), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:36 (nineteen years ago) link

at the very least the armrest should be adjustable so i can put it up and have the two extra inches if senor lungballz is getting all up in my shit.

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:36 (nineteen years ago) link

don't even get me started on people who put their seats all the way back

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:38 (nineteen years ago) link

because where the fuck else would it go!!! would you rather it floated in limbo for a five-hour flight?? do you want to do that thing where your arm divots into your lap so it looks like you're reaching into your crotch for loose change/assorted bricabracs?? NO FUCKING WAY DO YOU WANT THAT!!

ARL (Adrian Langston), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:38 (nineteen years ago) link

grumble ingrates argle bargle

ARL (Adrian Langston), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:39 (nineteen years ago) link

I hate when you drop your table down to eat the disgusting flight food and as it vibrates the person in front of you looks around crankily. WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY THINK YOU'RE DOING, HAVING JUST DONE THE EXACT SAME THING THEMSELVES.

Also "jokers" who make comments about the flight crashing or go "oh god" JOKINGLY when anything makes an odd noise. They are not scary, they are not funny, and they deserve severe pain. ignorant twats.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:42 (nineteen years ago) link

because where the fuck else would it go!!! would you rather it floated in limbo for a five-hour flight?? do you want to do that thing where your arm divots into your lap so it looks like you're reaching into your crotch for loose change/assorted bricabracs?? NO FUCKING WAY DO YOU WANT THAT!!

um, i usually just end up folding my arms/hands towards my torso because there isn't enough elbow room anyway. it's really uncomfortable because i have FUCKOFF MASSIVE TITS OMG PHEAR MY ESTROGEN but i don't make that anyone else's problem.

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha I am buying ridiculously baggy pans, filling them with popcorn, and sitting next to ET on every flight he takes from here on out.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:53 (nineteen years ago) link

hahaha senor lungballz was wearing baggies as it turns out

stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't mind armrests that much, but often I'll be seated next to someone who sits like a linebacker with their elbows sticking out and as a result of the geometry they're elbowing me in the gut.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha I am buying ridiculously baggy pans, filling them with popcorn, and sitting next to ET on every flight he takes from here on out.

I'm pretty thin, so this isn't that big of a deal, but I will first strike on the armrests should you dare to invade my personal space.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 14 June 2004 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Also what's the deal with men who *show their ankles* -- a woman could NEVER get away with that!

Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 14 June 2004 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link

I will also wear gigantic comedy water wings.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 19:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I am torn sometimes between the feeling that everyone should be treated as equal on a plane and the feeling that people should be charged based on the amount of room they will take up

I am not torn between that any longer, since I take up about 2/3rds of the width of an airline seat and inevitably get the great "oh since your ass isn't taking up the entire seat and mine takes up more than one seat I'm just gonna start inching over a bit and makin' mahself comfortable" psychological experience (this is actually inexplicably WORSE on Amtrak, which has bigger seats so it makes no fucking sense at all that someone would need to take up all that space). The only problem is that this doesn't predict the occurance of the average sized man who wants to spread every part of his body out everywhere, but I have only once had a problem telling one of those dudes to please stop kicking my purse so I just don't really think about it much.

Allyzay, Monday, 14 June 2004 19:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I am going to have Expando-Cheeks(TM) installed so that as the elevation shanges and the cabin attempts to pressurize as compensation, my ass just gets bigger and bigger until it knocks my seatmates into the aisle. I will then point at them and laugh as I place my gigantic lungnuts on their seat, which I will have claimed as sovereign territory.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 19:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Have fun at the TSA checkpoint!

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 14 June 2004 19:11 (nineteen years ago) link

OH I WILL

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 19:12 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...
"lungnuts" - testicles which can walk on land?

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 06:35 (nineteen years ago) link

paging Amy K3lln3r.

hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 06:42 (nineteen years ago) link

man, fuck all the women upthread. You try sitting with your legs jammed in your face.

Now imagine your nipples are being crushed with a vice between your legs.


DIIOTODIS!

LSD ARISTOCAT (ex machina), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:30 (nineteen years ago) link

My God, sleep deprivation does odd things to me.

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:41 (nineteen years ago) link

dude JW I defended your kind.

Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Wednesday, 19 January 2005 03:05 (nineteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

Too bad Jefferson didn't add this to his list of indictments in the Declaration of Independence

Also this thread manages to completely ignore the real villains; the capitalist space hoarders who don't provide ppl enough room to sit comfortably on various forms of transport.

i am not a large person but i find the CTA seats (especially on the newer trains, which are awful) uncomfortably small. there have been instances where someone will attempt to sit down in the seat next to me and more or less sit directly on my leg.

clouds, Friday, 25 April 2014 20:06 (ten years ago) link

i have to sit like this to fit in the seat even on the airplanes that supposedly have more legroom than the norm

ciderpress, Friday, 25 April 2014 20:08 (ten years ago) link

I've had this "discussion" w/my gf. I cross my legs alot (which can be even worse space-wise and I avoid it on crowded transport) but is it cool if my knees are no wider apart than my shoulders? Sometimes the nads are sensitive and prone to pain. I don't want to be the db who imposes on someone else's space but can I get credit for a couple extra inches of knee space for appendages that womenfolk don't possess or is that bad? God knows I've had some bosoms (and God knows what other appendages) pressed into my back on crowded evening buses and I've made exceptions for things which aren't voluntary.


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