I needed a hire car today to get down to Stranraer. The car was to be delivered to the hotel at midday. I checked out at 1100 hrs and sat in the lobby waiting for the car to turn up. The lobby wasn't the best place for my nerves. In the lobby itself they were playing jazz, in the bar (not separated by a wall or door) they were playing Elton John, and at the front door they had a piper. I normally quite like the bagpipes but my senses were being assaulted by three different music forms and it was wearing. It got more wearing when the car didn't arrive. And very very wearing by 1230 hrs when I started making phone calls to find out what was happening. No answer to the first number, they had closed. The next number couldn't find my booking reference but gave me a third number to call. Who could find my booking but couldn't tell me anything so gave me a 4th number. In the meantime I checked with reception again and they still didn't have the keys. So I rang the fourth number and was told the car had been delivered. Strange. I went back to reception. They checked again. Then I asked whether there was any chance the keys had been taken across the road to the other building that was also part of the hotel. Reception thought it unlikely but I could go over and check. I suggested that maybe they might like to use the phone and ring across rather than me having to walk across in the pouring rain (customer, you know, person you are supposed to help, kind of thing). And surprise, surprise, the keys were there. I went and got them and was told that they were delivered at 0900 hrs but they hadn't been able to get me. Which is also strange because I was in my room.
So I found the car. I normally drive a metallic red Mazda 6, nice car, looks smart and, I think, quite sporty. So I am picking up a Fiat Punto. Which is bad enough. Then I find it and it is turquoise. OK, this is definitely going downhill. And then I realise that the inside has loads of turquoise panelling and dashboard. How girly!
6 comments:
Turquoise is girly? I don't know where to start with this one!
er, no, you'd checked out, so you were an ex customer! no need at all to be polite and helpful to you ;)
Bugrit and carnation, you are, of course, completely right C. I had overlooked that small and subtle shift in my status. That would explain why she glowered.
And yes, turquoise is girly.
Clearly not. If you put 'turquoise girly' into Google you get 323,000 results. 'turquoise boy' on the other hand returns 1,840,000 results. Therefore, clearly, the giant global internet associates turquoise with boys far more than girls.
And that's even before I move onto the rather outdated notion of colour gender stereotyping...
There is a fundamental flaw with your research. The word "boy" is not a direct equivalent to the word "girly". However if you search for "turquoise girl" you get 2,140,000, significantly more than "turquois boy". But to make the research more comprehensive you can do a search for "turquoise laddish" and you only get 251 results, less than 0.1% of the number for "turquoise girly". Therefore putting me in the right.
Damn you... I did know that but I couldn't be arsed really.
I still don't think turquoise is girly though. I mean, it's a shade of blue, which is clearly* a boy colour.
Incidentally, Matt and I had a "discussion" about whether, if we had a baby, we'd dress it in non-traditional-gender colours. Turns out we can never have a baby.
*there may be some sarcasm deployed here. I really couldn't say.
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