nearly every guy on Stranger Things

That wouldn’t be alarming enough to remove her from the film.

“This girl said that to me, I do not want any problems, so I will choose a different girl,” how can anyone argue with that?

It’s called taking the piss, and very mild taking the piss at that. If his feelings are hurt, he can grow thicker skin. If you are hurt for him, I suggest you find worthier subjects for your empathy. The rich movie star will be just fine.

Says the person trying to excuse the customers who patronize tipping establishments....

Richard Branson and Oprah are both still relatively unhated, and it’s because they backed the fuck out of the limelight. (Oprah continually donating herself off the Forbes list helps.)

Ex-Marine. Bad Conduct Discharge. For identity theft.

Besides the theft that got him a Bad Conduct Discharge from the US military before he went swimming in a Russian honey-pot?

Right. But being an academic requires a terminal degree. She has a better start than him, though.

I have heard very little about them, and even the little I hear is because I follow Jez. They are far from oversaturation.

if enough bullshit gets astroturfed into enough Tik Tok feeds

You are claiming ring customs aren’t based on tradition?

You are talking in circles. Ironic you mention me being dishonest. Here’s the argument you won’t make because I’m pretty sure you know how weak it is: It is explicit because tradition dictates it so.

Your argument boils down to: “Rings are explicit because they are explicit?” So you have no actual reason apart from “because!”? (You did make an unintentional pun that undermines your argument, though, which is great.)

I have never known anybody to explicitly make that agreement with regard to an engagement ring.

So if a gift can be given on the condition that a marriage will take place, why can’t a gift be given on the condition that the marriage continues?

Why is this different from a ring?

Well, some Europeans make fun us for the way we talk about race.

I am really certain there was a swarm of it surrounding the Russian takeover of Crimea as well. I remember some bizarre arguments popping up about why it was a-ok.

It just frustrates me because “power imbalance” is an incredibly important and meaningful word specifically because it can cover a lot of nuance. A lot of age-gap relationships have a power imbalance. Not all do. Certainly not one between two randos, or between one rando wash-up pop star and one rando starfucker.