rob the bartender

[trochee]

I went out on Saturday night with thevorak and imtboo at St. Clouds (yes, beckyb's stomping grounds) to hear thevorak's (ex?)-boy friend C. play drums for a very good Cowboy-Junkies-ish four-piece band (bass, guitar, drums, vocals). It was a relaxed evening for me and imtboo, but thevorak was kind of panicky around talking with C., because she's not sure how they should relate.

That's really why we were there: we were backup for thevorak. But things seemed to be okay, and we sat around and socialized with some of C.'s friends who were also there, and with other people who were there. imtboo knows somebody everywhere; I'm very impressed. One guy got up to play a couple of duets with the lead singer, and her reaction was "hey -- it's R! I was in a rock musical with him last year." She knows everybody.

The bartender --although very slow in actually getting drinks/food -- was sociable and started off trying to impress us all with his various knowledge. thevorak and a friend had been folding fancy shapes out of their napkins, and he came over and started talking origami shite and took every opportunity to talk about all the crazy ninja training he had. Actually it was one step up from saying "I am trained in ways to flip out and kill people" because he claimed that ninjitsu was all American nonsense (probably true) and that he was training in the real thing (possibly true, but what a weird thing to say -- it reminds me of this).

We were all heavily irritated. And then he started talking about languages. Most readers of this journal are aware that (unlike ninjitsu) I know something about languages. (imtboo and I had been speculating about his accent.) Turns out he's Welsh (he was very excited to learn that imtboo was from Breton Brittany/Bretagne) but he wouldn't believe that Gaelic and Welsh and Bretagne Brezhoneg were all Celtic languages. He got really aggressive about how Gaelic was really different ("it just has a different cadence, and I couldn't understand it"), which was making me progressively more and more shut down and backed off, but I kept saying "I dunno, but I think I know something about language, and I'm pretty sure that they're in the same family."

After declaring that his next languages would be Arabic and Japanese, and dropping "casually" that he knew Swahili and Hausa, he finally settled down (I don't know why -- imtboo said it was because I kept not taking the bait) and decided that we could have a real conversation. (Did I mention that during this entire conversation, he was ignoring his customers by sitting at our table and calling imtboo and thevorak "luv"?) Then, he decided he wanted to talk about the linguistics in Snow Crash (which I may have mentioned are crap) and how they had to be right.

What's really amazing to me is that I finally left the bar thinking "that guy's frustrating -- but I could imagine being a regular where I show up once or twice a week to have a drink and a sociable argument." I actually introduced myself; turns out his name is Rob.

Today, that reminds me of the relationship between Vary and the professor in Mystery Date (ah, I'm always flacking for Carla Speed McNeil, aren't I): the professor isn't seeking any of the things from Vary that she's used to offering, especially to men: sex, dance, art, music. Instead, he really wants someone to argue with. She finds an unusual way to provide that.

It's making me think about my own relationships -- what do I seek in people around me? am I looking for people to argue with? Is that a good thing? I think (for both) the answer is yes.

And among those I can safely argue with, and still be confident of trust and honesty, I am happy to include imtboo. Thanks for being there, D~.

Comments

[trochee.livejournal.com]

1. I just found the icon and couldn't resist.
2. heh, I noticed that too and left it because it was more fun
3. yes, that's exactly what I tried to say to him. And he rejected the idea that English and German were related too. That's when I started shrugging.

[q-pheevr.livejournal.com]

3. Ah. Yes, I can see how that would get frustrating very quickly. I don't think I would have had the patience to draw up a nice big table of I-E cognates for him, either.

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

That's the thing though... If < lj user="trochee"/> had started to pull all the technical stuff and linguo, it would have been worse. But no, he just explained to Rob what he knew with words that Rob could understand and his usual intelligent use of analogies and Rob saw that he wasn't challenging him, but simply sharing what he knows. ...

The icon... yes... I missed it the first time. It's GRRRREAT !

[trochee.livejournal.com]

you're sweet.

Speaking of Gaelic, it looks like the Scottish Parliament is moving that way.

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

interesting... oh and by the way... The place is Bretagne and the language is Breton.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

yup, I already figured that out and corrected it. The place is Brittany/Bretagne/Breizh and the language is Breton/Breton/Brezhoneg.

Thanks to Wikipedia again.

[soliss.livejournal.com]

Does your icon say "this is a angry angry boy"?

Because if it does, I'm going to have to hunt you down and kill you...

[trochee.livejournal.com]

um, are you upset about the failure of the phonological realization of the indefinite article?

I found this tree on the web and hacked it into an icon. I should really create my own, I know.

[soliss.livejournal.com]

Yes. That is exactly what I'm upset about, although I'm sure I would have put it differently.

And if you do make your own, try and make it legible, too... Even though this one's total illegibility probably cuts down on the number of *points at her previous comment*.

[soliss.livejournal.com]

although I'm sure I would have put it differently
Because it's... well, I can't say it's morphological, really, but what I'm getting at is the fact that the change occurs in writing as well. Is there a word for that?

Just ignore me

[soliss.livejournal.com]

"Yes," he replies, "'Phonological'."