European Meats Story

[robin_d_laws]

Scene: European Meats, a large butcher shop in Kensington Market, Toronto. A short, silver-haired man in a flat cap examines a tray of very smoked meats I am too far away to identify. The woman behind the counter prompts him to pick one

Comments

[jeffwik]

I believe that once you hit a certain age, actions that would be unacceptable in a younger person become permissible.

Once you turn 80, you should be allowed to shoplift all you want, any item under $20. That's my golden promise to the elderly, support me politically and I'll see to it you're allowed to shoplift.

[madmanofprague]

Old people are hoarders! You fool, what have you done? Now we'll have to get hair conditioner from smelly cat ladies...

[hugo_two]

Probably the same synaptic disconnect that results in lane changes without signals and/or looking...

I personnally blame the hats. What is it with old people and hats?

[pauldrye]

I know you're being funny, but I have to chime in since I always found this fascinating.

The hats are because of a sea change in male fashion that occured in the late 50s or early 60s depending on where you lived. Prior to that, going outside without a hat was like going outside without pants. After, it's today's attitude where hats are functional. Wear one if your head is cold or you're band, otherwise not so much. Ergo, if you were male and adult in 1960, you may still be wearing hats.

I think that's interesting because you could ask 99 out of 100 people on the street about this and none of them would have a clue, even though the change happened in their lifetimes, or in the lifetimes of their parents.

[thebitterguy]

It's all because Kennedy didn't wear a hat to his swearing in ceremony.

[lhn]

Kennedy actually wore a silk top hat to his inauguration. But it's true he didn't much like hats, and doffed or avoided them whenever possible. His preference was more symptomatic of his generation (who gradually abandoned hats as they grew old and secure enough to do so) than causative.

Though I believed the Kennedy explanation when I started wearing hats myself, sixteen or so years ago now-- much to my grandmother's consternation, she having been of the WWII generation that had so forcefully rejected them. (Now I just wear them because I like them. :-) )

[thebitterguy]

Well, won't the meat that's good for an old man be good for all the similarly faced old men?

[zorkfox]

As a long-time retail employee, I can tell you that young, arrogant people are just as likely to say, "How dare you! I'm a regular customer!" :) (I know you weren't claiming it was unique to old people, but I thought it would be funny anyway.)

[robin_d_laws]

The counter help at European Meats let you pick your particular cut of meat, if you have a preference, and it's no big deal. I found this interaction amusing because, although the server was doing her best to be obliging, the gentleman wouldn't elaborate on what it was he was actually wanted from her.

Casino Royale

[wordwill]

Tangent: Speak to us of Casino Royale.

Re: Casino Royale

[pauldrye]

It is good for an old man.