She Just Blurted It Out

I had a similar thing happen in Hawaii at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.
Two 20 year olds remarked those are cool jeans, I was wearing my skinny jeans and they were quite complimentary really.
They have style and you look great in them.
I was wearing the slim fit blouse, and pixie shoes as well.
Hawaii is a warm place, anywhere else except the memorial I usually wore shorts.

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Originally Posted by Leslie Langford

Building on Eryn's response and taking her assumptions one step further, it's likely that this presumed younger girl also had one or more body piercings, tattoos, spiked, multi-colored hair and/or ripped jeans, as is typical of her age group. Young people these days seem to have no sense of proper manners or etiquette, and sometimes one has to be extraordinarily blunt with them before they "get it".

If she was accessorized as I am suggesting, you should have perhaps turned the tables on her and quizzed her on her particular fashion statements.

Then, of course, there's always the classic Ann Landers response to someone who asks an inappropriate and personal question - "Why on Earth would you ask me that?"

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I think what the girl said was rude, however, you are giving her grief for something she said for being judgmental, but yet you are in turn trying to stereotype someone else. I happen to have tattoos etc etc and most of my friends do. They are the most non judgmental openly kind people you will ever meet. So I think to try and label a generation or stereotype what someone looks like by something they said is just making you a hypocrite. I am not trying to be rude but I think what you said is much more offensive than the girl asking about her nails.

I would also like to comment that I disagree with your generational stereotypes of "getting it". The younger generation, although there are bad apples like there is in ever age gap, is the MOST accepting and generous yet. The only grief or judgement I see anyone get is from the older generation because they are stuck in their ways and just don't "get it".

I've dealt with people with a lot of unusual habits through the years (CD, gay, lesbian, nudist, bisex, swing, BDSM, trans) as well as various races and religions. It still amazes me that nearly everyone of them will find someone to demonize. It seems to me that those of us in these groups should be the most accepting of all, but it never proves to be true. There are CDs who will put down gays even, and black minorities are among the strongest forces against gay marriage in California and Maryland. Arabic friends will put down hispanics and whites. Agnostics put down muslims. Where will it end? Each of us must take our experiences as subjects of prejudice and bias, and broaden our own views toward other groups. Until we do that, we're really no better.

Miriam

Bravo, Miriam! Well said! I'll give you three cheers for that and a big hug when next we meet.