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The Quiet Ones

nytimes.com

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Re: The Quiet Ones

#191

Post by fudged71 »

bpatrianakos wrote: post #75

Oh, the quiet car. I ride the quiet car every weekday to and from work into and out of Chicago (except ours is Metra, not Amtrak). His description of it is completely accurate. The people on the quiet car tend to be thinkers, readers, writers, and I dare say just a bit more intelligent than the average rider. I've had the same experience before. For some reason people think the signs and the announcements don't apply…

You have trains with quiet cars? That sounded neat at first, until I realized that everyone where I live is quiet on the train anyways so it isn't a problem.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#192

Post by JabavuAdams »

irahul wrote: post #183
jrockway wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced quite a culture shock when returning to the US after living in Tokyo for a year. I was at some noodle place with a friend and ate the noodles in the way I considered normal. Eventually he told me he was going to leave because I was eating so rudely. "Welcome back to the land of the Puritans," I thought to myself.

> Eventually he told me he was going to leave because I was eating so rudely. Does this happen in a jovial manner, or people really take serious offence to simple inconveniences?

I find it seriously annoying, but I realize that others don't.

The problem is that if you don't like it, you really don't like it. Meanwhile, if you don't mind it, people who do seem like jerks.

Imagine something more universally recognized as rude. E.g. Eating with someone who keeps making really smelly farts or picking his nose all the time. The disgust is visceral, and hard to rationalize away.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#193

Post by droithomme »

noonespecial wrote: post #163
jseliger wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The deeper I get into writing, and what it means to write well, the harder it is. Reading Martin Amis's The War Against Cliche was a particularly pernicious moment for me. So was Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By . I think the question is this: does a rhetorical figure of speech help the reader or writer see the things being compared or figurized in a new way? If the answer is no, then perhaps we should look…

Occasionally I enjoy attempting to communicate entirely with cliches. Its easier than one first imagines. Your own little "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" moment.

It's usually Shaka, when the walls fell when I do this.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#194

Post by geoka9 »

Having grown up in Eastern Europe, I was always reminded by my parents not to talk loudly in public places. The habit is so ingrained that even now I'm uncomfortable speaking up when strangers are around.

When I visited North America for the first time, I was of course surprised by loud voices everywhere, but I just shrugged it off and assumed that it was a cultural thing.

And now this article surprised me again.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#196

Post by tsotha »

pg wrote: post #81

My life has been a search for quiet for as long as I can remember. I think the fundamental problem with noisy people is not that they're inconsiderate, but that they don't have any train of thought to interrupt, and they thus don't realize the havoc they're wreaking. When I was living in Providence, working on On Lisp , I told my loud but well-meaning neighbors that I was writing a hard computer book, and that made t…

I've often wondered what I in particular and my group in general could accomplish if we had a quiet place to think at work.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#197

Post by kleiba »

tobias3 wrote: post #85
cletus wrote: post #13

I sympathize with whoever criticized the guy for loud typing. Seriously, it's distracting/disruptive. I learnt to type on (manual) typewriter too but laptops and keys don't need to be stabbed with the force of a thousand suns to register the press. It can be just as loud as people talking and (IMHO) can be harder to tune out. After all, we're used to hearing people talk all the time. Oh and while I'm in the mood for…

Never had a problem here in Germany either. Smoking is luckily not allowed anymore, as well. There is a quiet car, too, but it is hardly necessary. Talking on the cell phone loudly is frowned upon everwhere, even in the underground train -- at least I haven't seen too many people doing it. Just don't take the same trains the drunken soccer fans take (if you're not in the mood). This is must be a somewhat American pro…

There is a quiet car, too, but it is hardly necessary. Talking on the cell phone loudly is frowned upon everwhere

Surely you must be joking?

Re: The Quiet Ones

#198

Post by tsotha »

esharef wrote: post #179
VexXtreme wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the same way. I always find it perplexing how most people can't spend literally 10 minutes in complete silence with their own thoughts without getting anxious. I notice this mostly with the younger generation these days (young women especially). They literally feel the compulsion to always have some sort external stimuli coming in, usually in the form of a constant stream of music from their phones/MP3 players.…

"young women especially" really?

That's the pattern I've noticed as well.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#200

Post by mhartl »

ANH wrote: post #96
jerf wrote: post #37

Sometimes, the urbanites on HN will pile on suburbia, wondering how anybody can live there. This is one of the reasons I often feel the same way, only in reverse. As I sit here, I can not hear any sounds not originating in my house. While I certainly visit the places with Musak, loud bars, et al, I don't live there. It isn't as grating when there is surcease. I'm not saying that Here It Is, The Reason Suburban Living…

I'm in suburbia now, and the noise is nearly constant, year-round. I grew up on a farm, have lived in the hearts of major cities, the middle of an isolated mesa -- basically covered the spectrum of sound environments. Nowhere has the noise gotten to me like in suburbia. Two words: leaf blowers.

I've often said it: The twin banes of the suburban soundscape are barking dogs and gas-powered gardening implements.
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