In my early 20's, I was eating dinner at a Perkin's restaurant with one of my roommates. His ethnicity included Native American, Scottish, African, Hispanic and a bunch of others, but appearance-wise? He usually got lumped into "black" by people who lump. His introduction to another friend of mine, straight-up…

I have too many stories to chose from effectively. Whichever I choose makes the dozens of others seem overlooked.

I went through something very similar pre-FB (yep, that old) and it wasn't until years later that I found out that my "platonic friend Ex" had used me to keep the girl off-balance and insecure throughout their whole relationship.

What kind of sick, sadistic parents give their child the name "the public" without even capitalizing it?
Wait... Maybe she's a rapper who idolizes e.e. cummings?
Whatever the case, I'm glad you can "assure (us) not" about this experience of hers!

I've told all of those closest to me "if I haven't introduced you to someone by name in the first 2 sentences? It's because I have no idea what this person's name is." My brain doesn't ever hold the right information. I can tell you where we met, what kind dog he has, who her favorite celebrity is, and something they…

The first time I found out he was the son of Tom Hanks all I could think is "are you sure? Maybe the hospital accidentally switched him at birth." Somewhere out there, there's a family just like him with a talented, polite, warm, funny, engaging son who everyone else looks at and says "doesn't he remind you more of…

The only person who would think this name was "fun" is someone who has never been raped.
But my thoughts went the same line yours did... "this beer must taste horrible and make you ashamed that you were stupid enough to trust the brewery."

Too many people here reading the out-takes and not the article. In her world? Women hide indoors all day and scamper off to the field at night to deficate when men can't see them. The concept that a woman might be out at any time, let alone with someone she isn't married to is foreign to her.
It is a statement on how…

That summed it up for me as well. Because it might be satire, but it's sadly the way a large portion of the world actually sees it. Thus the "... ?!" reaction.

WTF is up with "Lady Astronaut" in that title? Was she knighted by the Queen? Or is this the 1970s?

Or even more 'fun' is having a family member tell you that you must be lying, because she is far more attractive than you and it never happened to her.
Yes, rationalizing it away in some weird, sick, competitive way.

Only a moron would consider threatening someone with a deadly allergy with exposure to it a joke. My sympathies.
Faced with a similar situation towards a loved one, I informed the powers that be that a good lawyer would have no problem convincing a judge that it was tantamount to pointing a loaded gun at someone and…

The power of denial in the face of cognitive dissonance is amazing. Only bad people do X, I know I'm not a bad person, therefore I didn't do X.

Sadly, he will also probably manage to convince his next wife of the same. The pattern is pretty standard: 1) convince next girlfriend that he might've had *some* anger issues, but they were the result of years of abuse heaped on him by Nigella, 2) tell her that he is "a different man when he is with her" because she…

Dammit. I usually hate Hoffman. But the fact that he suddenly understood how many interesting, intelligent, witty women he missed out on meeting because their outsides didn't match conventional beauty standards? Well, at least he's not to shallow to get it.

This! What's with the sudden inability on Jez to understand the difference between relative numbers and hard numbers?

It took me years to find a doctor who understood my weird laundry-list of issues was real, not either a) hypochondria or b) drug-seeking behavior. She trusts me because she's written me "10 day scrips" that last me anywhere from 10 days to 6 months, depending on what is flaring. That and the fact that I keep trying…