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All the lonely people

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Re: All the lonely people

#111

Post by Svip »

jkaljundi wrote: post #97
abraham_s wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strangers greeting me on the street was a culture shock when I moved from India to US (to Salt Lake City,UT). Often my brain won't process it in time to return the greeting before the person has passed me. Sometimes I will bungle the reply (saying "same to you" in reply to "Good Morning") or just smile in return or nod. If you have greeted someone on the street and hasn't gotten any response back, please don't take i…

This is how and Estonian or a Finn would feel: http://finnishnightmares.blogspot.com/

How odd, as a Scandinavian (more precisely: Dane), I can relate to almost all of those. Maybe it's a Nordic thing and not just a Finnish thing? Bus stops need a lot of place here, because people don't want to stand close together, for instance.

Re: All the lonely people

#112

Post by kayoone »

aaron695 wrote: post #95
sverige wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you doubt that the reporting is accurate? I don't. It's very believable to me that people would ignore some disturbance outside in a suburban neighborhood. Granted, this is an anecdote that illustrates one of the stranger aspects of isolation, and probably wouldn't happen everywhere, but I think that's the point: in some places, absolutely no one will help you. So, to say it's a lie without any evidence to the con…

> So, to say it's a lie without any evidence to the contrary is unconstructive. Sorry, it is of course a lie. You shouldn't need evidence. If you think this sort of thing happens you are a very very broken human being. 'You' are the actual problem, because the people in these stories are not real. But people who believe these stories are. I shouldn't need to link evidence but I will in the hope that perhaps the truly…

Not a native speaker so i must be missing something, but how does that link, that reiterates the same story, prove that it is all a lie ?

Re: All the lonely people

#113

Post by ChuckMcM »

13of40 wrote: post #74
ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Again, something my grandfather taught me, was that it was important to walk around your neighborhood and say "hi" to the people who lived there. He called it "Being neighborly." We also, periodically but not on a particular schedule, put together a block BBQ where people can bring food, or not, and share a moment together to talk about what is going in or what they are worried about etc. Generally people respond wel…

I can't even imagine a block party in my neighborhood. We'd have the 24 year old tech multi-hundred-thousandaire from across the street mingling with the Mormons to the right and the shut-in imminent foreclosure retiree to the left bumping shoulders with the gangster guys on the corner and the kitty-corner mother-of-twelve trying to feed her kids up on hot dogs but keep them from listening to any of the conversation.…

Ouch! To be honest one of the things you have to do if you're going to shut down the street is get a permit from the city. You fill out all the parts about what your event is about, time, etc. And there is a box to check for whether or not you will require a police presence (extra cost of course). We have always joked that it would be a pretty raucous block party that needed police to keep order, but I imagine there are blocks where that could be the requirement.

Re: All the lonely people

#114

Post by raverbashing »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Again, something my grandfather taught me, was that it was important to walk around your neighborhood and say "hi" to the people who lived there. He called it "Being neighborly." We also, periodically but not on a particular schedule, put together a block BBQ where people can bring food, or not, and share a moment together to talk about what is going in or what they are worried about etc. Generally people respond wel…

I wouldn't go greeting people randomly. But if it's somewhat related to your day by day, by all means do (neighbours, attendants in nearby shops, people you know, etc)

One thing I've noticed about Canadians is that despite their supposedly friendliness they don't give a f. about you.

Granted, different cultures and ways to express feelings (canadian.show_emotion returns NotImplementedException) but it seems their threshold of caring (even a bit) for someone is high

Re: All the lonely people

#115

Post by raverbashing »

elcapitan wrote: post #71
flamedoge wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

meetup.com seems to be alive in every city....

How is the target audience for Meetup elsewhere? I live in Berlin and I noticed that it's almost exclusively developers (which is fun, but sometimes weird - I went to a street cycling meetup and everybody else was a dev too). Maybe the dominance of German clubs in organized leisure is the reason for that.

Because meetup.com is what the expat nerds know

I've given up on it though sometimes you find something "outside of the circle"

It's like craigslist in Berlin: there are only scams because Americans think it works the same as in the US, when Germans have never even heard of it

Re: All the lonely people

#116

Post by greggman »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Again, something my grandfather taught me, was that it was important to walk around your neighborhood and say "hi" to the people who lived there. He called it "Being neighborly." We also, periodically but not on a particular schedule, put together a block BBQ where people can bring food, or not, and share a moment together to talk about what is going in or what they are worried about etc. Generally people respond wel…

I just wanted to say Thank You.

It basically takes someone to step up and organize. If no one does it it doesn't happen. If someone takes the initiative and organizes a block party it's a huge step in getting people to know each other.

Re: All the lonely people

#117

Post by ido »

raverbashing wrote: post #114
ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Again, something my grandfather taught me, was that it was important to walk around your neighborhood and say "hi" to the people who lived there. He called it "Being neighborly." We also, periodically but not on a particular schedule, put together a block BBQ where people can bring food, or not, and share a moment together to talk about what is going in or what they are worried about etc. Generally people respond wel…

I wouldn't go greeting people randomly. But if it's somewhat related to your day by day, by all means do (neighbours, attendants in nearby shops, people you know, etc) One thing I've noticed about Canadians is that despite their supposedly friendliness they don't give a f. about you . Granted, different cultures and ways to express feelings (canadian.show_emotion returns NotImplementedException) but it seems their th…

That's interesting. What led you to this observation?

I've only visited for a few weeks but my impression of "random Canadians" is that they care a lot more than random Germans and Austrians (or at least seem to?).

Re: All the lonely people

#118

Post by gaius »

robryan wrote: post #49
smelendez wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem in New York is that the vast majority of people who try to talk to you on the street want something--they're selling something, canvassing for a candidate, begging, creepily flirting or running a scam--and another big segment are under the influence or mentally ill. Usually the best case is a lost tourist asking for directions. The worst case, that everyone's aware of, is someone trying to get you to stop…

In Australia what I hate is when people stand outside supermarkets or on shopping strips and say anything to try and get you to stop so they can sell you on something. This might be okay if it was someone trying to tell you about a cause that they genuinely believe in but the majority of the time it is likely someone just working on a commission for whatever charity or group they are trying to sell you on.

They are called "chuggers" here, charity muggers. Ironically many are Australians on their gap years - you know the sort, white, dreadlocks, wearing sandals and various pseudo-Indian jewellery.

Re: All the lonely people

#119

Post by RickS »

RIMR wrote: post #70
ashitlerferad wrote: post #56

People are assholes :(

I live in a city, and I hear people screaming incoherently outside my window on a nightly basis. This is because my neighborhood has a sizable homeless population. Am I an asshole for not making nightly 911 calls to report this?

I am currently in this situation. It's case by case. Guy screaming "help, I'm dying!" I called 911. Two bums fighting over a bike? It will be over before the cruiser arrives.

Re: All the lonely people

#120

Post by raverbashing »

ido wrote: post #117
raverbashing wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't go greeting people randomly. But if it's somewhat related to your day by day, by all means do (neighbours, attendants in nearby shops, people you know, etc) One thing I've noticed about Canadians is that despite their supposedly friendliness they don't give a f. about you . Granted, different cultures and ways to express feelings (canadian.show_emotion returns NotImplementedException) but it seems their th…

That's interesting. What led you to this observation? I've only visited for a few weeks but my impression of "random Canadians" is that they care a lot more than random Germans and Austrians (or at least seem to?).

Can't tell much about the Austrians, but Canadians definitely care less than the average German

They may be friendly and talkative, yes, but it's mostly for politeness. You might see they quickly lose interest after a bit

Now your average German will be a little bit interested in a legitimate conversation (of course if this goes nowhere that's fine as well)

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