Local Shop For Local People
Him Indoors has written a good article on CiF about our local Netto supermarket.
But what I love about it is the comments. They quickly descend into a discussion of the merits of various supermarkets, which is entertaining in itself. But then this thing happens - which always happens when Ally writes articles for CiF - people (who have previously only seen him as the prolific CiF commenter "AllyF") start exclaiming in surprise at his gender.
Like this:
"I just thought AllyF was a poster who just happened to be able to write better than the rest of us and lived in an oddly similar situation to that of the author [of this article]. I had the whole backstory in my head as well, she was female, married, 2/3 young kids (7 and under) who kept up a blog relating to her everyday experiences, the struggles of raising a family in some of the scariest parts of Manchester and only very occasionally exposing us to her political viewpoints."
and this:
"Yes, I had done much the same as you mention. The children were very vague from my point of view - merely hazy, almost formless blobs playing in the garden, just beyond a glazed back door, leading to a small garden with a rotary washing-line.
AllyF herself was, to be honest, not much more distinct herself. She had slightly curly, blondish hair to her shoulders, but her face was very shadowy and slipped out of view when I attempted to apprehend it by anything other than peripheral (and that imaginary) vision.
What I can say for sure, however, is that I never thought she had a beard. I was most surprised and somewhat disconcerted."
...both of which made me giggle.
When I use gender-non-specific pseudonyms on the internet, people often mistake me for a man. Go figure.
___
But what I love about it is the comments. They quickly descend into a discussion of the merits of various supermarkets, which is entertaining in itself. But then this thing happens - which always happens when Ally writes articles for CiF - people (who have previously only seen him as the prolific CiF commenter "AllyF") start exclaiming in surprise at his gender.
Like this:
"I just thought AllyF was a poster who just happened to be able to write better than the rest of us and lived in an oddly similar situation to that of the author [of this article]. I had the whole backstory in my head as well, she was female, married, 2/3 young kids (7 and under) who kept up a blog relating to her everyday experiences, the struggles of raising a family in some of the scariest parts of Manchester and only very occasionally exposing us to her political viewpoints."
and this:
"Yes, I had done much the same as you mention. The children were very vague from my point of view - merely hazy, almost formless blobs playing in the garden, just beyond a glazed back door, leading to a small garden with a rotary washing-line.
AllyF herself was, to be honest, not much more distinct herself. She had slightly curly, blondish hair to her shoulders, but her face was very shadowy and slipped out of view when I attempted to apprehend it by anything other than peripheral (and that imaginary) vision.
What I can say for sure, however, is that I never thought she had a beard. I was most surprised and somewhat disconcerted."
...both of which made me giggle.
When I use gender-non-specific pseudonyms on the internet, people often mistake me for a man. Go figure.
___
Labels: Silly
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home