Dinner Conversation

[Mayhaw Man]

Fun Finnish Facts For Fabulous Finn Fans

[Busboy]

No-no's: Things that call up unappetizing images in your head.

The war in Iraq; not mutilated bodies in Iraq.

Religion; but not Mel Gibson movies.

The need for fiber; not it's inevitable result.

Sex, but not Dick Cheney having sex.

Q: What did the cannibal kid say when his mom served him boiled clown?

A: Moooooom, my food tatses funny.

Edited April 16, 2004 by Busboy (log)

[balmagowry]

I once knew a nurse in a proctologists office.  She said you'd never believe how many nude gardening accidents there are!

All the more reason to be even more highly selective in one's choice of guests and/or topics ... why is there no smiley emoticon for nauseous??

Oh, there is - just use the green one under the posting window.

Dick Cheney having sex.

Eeeeeeeeewwwwww!

I also agree with balmagowry that religion can also be an interesting topic.

Oh, Pan, so diplomatic... what I actually said was that it could be fun.

A box of Farmer Fannies!

:: Buh-DUMP-BUM :::

And that was one of them.

When I have to chance to dine with mom...we don't usually discuss sex.

Probably just as well .. why do we all automatically assume that our parents have nothing to add to our personal wealth of knowledge on this subject?

Probably because in many cases they don't. My mother and I used to talk about it occasionally, and I could always make her jaw drop and her eyes pop - and that was when I was being discreet about tailoring my experiences for her unaccustomed ears.

And Carolyn, your wonderful supply of cannibal jokes is almost enough to make up for Florence & Sanders, if by that you mean who I think you mean....

[YKL]

agree that most medical matters are best left at the hospital rather than being brought to the table - or at least the ones that involve blood, guts, gore or other bodily fluids and matter. Work can be pretty dull if it goes on all evening ....

However, the trick is surely to distract the rest of your dining companions with an "interesting" topic ... so that you can scoff and hoover up the rest of the food on the table without anyone noticing!

[cakewalk]

Oh sure. Try living in Israel for 20 years and having even one single meal where the topics of religion and/or politics DOESN'T come up. I dare ya. I DOUBLE dare ya.

Old American TV shows. Great topic for soothing the inevitable shouting matches brought about by the above.

Bodily functions are best left undiscussed.

[hjshorter]

Q: What did the cannibal kid say when his mom served him boiled clown?

A: Moooooom, my food tatses funny.

Slightly different version:

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One looks at the other and says "Does this taste funny to you?"

[insert rim-shot]

I never enjoy discussing politics with my father during a meal - or at any other time for that matter. That and bodily functions are big no-nos at our house.

And Busboy, thanks so much for the Dick Cheney example. I will have to watch several hours of children's programming today to get that mental image out of my head.

[Bicycle Lee]

Oh sure. Try living in Israel for 20 years and having even one single meal where the topics of religion and/or politics DOESN'T come up. I dare ya. I DOUBLE dare ya.

Old American TV shows. Great topic for soothing the inevitable shouting matches brought about by the above.

Bodily functions are best left undiscussed.

that's why I started this thread. I posted something that made a reference to the instability in this region and it was deleted...if certain people can't accept that other people have differing opinions then....well...you know....

it is a good topic for discussion BECAUSE there are strong opinions on either side. and this site is as close to a dinner table as any message board can be...that's why I say anything goes. it isn't inflammatory to state opinions...being a jerk about someone else's opinion is inflammatory.

[NeroW]

I don't like it when people talk about leprosy.

[creepygirl]

if certain people can't accept that other people have differing opinions then....well...you know....

it is a good topic for discussion BECAUSE there are strong opinions on either side.

I'm going to offer a dissenting view:

I don't find the expression of strong opinions to be always interesting.

When political discussions arise at the dinners I've gone to, it's always been the same people arguing the same issues and the same points that I've heard over and over and over again, both in real life and on the internet. It bores me.

Now if the strong opinions were about something new (The political situation in Finland rather than Iraq, for example), I'd be interested. But the people who insist on rehashing the same tired arguments are louder and more persistent than the people who attempt to discuss something more interesting, so the loud arguers always dominate the dinner conversation.

I wouldn't dare impose my conversational preferences on anyone else, but if a group were to mutually agree to have dinner be a politics-free zone, I'd be happy with that. YMMV.

[cakewalk]

Oh sure. Try living in Israel for 20 years and having even one single meal where the topics of religion and/or politics DOESN'T come up. I dare ya. I DOUBLE dare ya. 

Old American TV shows. Great topic for soothing the inevitable shouting matches brought about by the above.

Bodily functions are best left undiscussed.

that's why I started this thread. I posted something that made a reference to the instability in this region and it was deleted...if certain people can't accept that other people have differing opinions then....well...you know....

it is a good topic for discussion BECAUSE there are strong opinions on either side. and this site is as close to a dinner table as any message board can be...that's why I say anything goes. it isn't inflammatory to state opinions...being a jerk about someone else's opinion is inflammatory.

I agree that topics (such as the Middle East) that evoke strong opinions can make for truly interesting dinner table conversation, as long as everyone knows how to behave themselves.

And I agree that this forum is, as you said, "as close to a dinner table as any message board can be."

HOWEVER, I do not concur with your "therefore" statement, which seems to be that we should therefore discuss politics here. BECAUSE ...

(1) This isn't a dinner table, it's the web. After a dinner everyone eventually gets up from the table and goes home, so no matter how hot the dinner debate might have become, it inevitably ends at that point. Not here. It just goes on and on and on, has the potential to get very ugly (we're all anonymous here, which makes things very different), and it NEVER ends (until Jason locks the thread).

(2) With all due respect, this is a food board, not a dinner conversation board. Jason worked long and hard to make it that way. Gotta show at least a little respect for our master.

IOW, we've been there. Didn't work.

Now, what's for dinner?

[Bicycle Lee]

Now, what's for dinner?

Politics....

ZING!

[Bicycle Lee]

and to clarify, I in no way am suggesting that we SHOULD talk about politics...but when analagous to food, or brought up in the context of food, why not say what we think?

[cakewalk]

Now, what's for dinner? 

Politics....

ZING!

Bring me George Bush's head and then we'll talk.

Ooops.

[Bicycle Lee]

I'm gonna report you....

HEHE

[Toasted]

I don't like it when people talk about leprosy.

Word! Or feet fungus for that matter. Or anything having to do with toenails. When in doubt, sublimate.

[GG Mora]

Yup, bodily functions and bathroom talk are right out. Everything else is fair game. Unless we're dining with my stepkids. Cardinal rule: no "telling" of movies and TV shows. We're trying to train them that conversation is a two-way proposition.

[auntdot]

Was brought up in a family in which half of us were pretty inured to, shall be say, biological processes. Heck, we could discuss autopsy techniques (what little we knew of them) while shovelling in the liver and onions.

Then there was the other half, who were about as squeamish as one could get. Have one brother who could not stand seeing his wife mix meat loaf ingredients with her hands.

Usually conversations at the table would become a bit too graphic for the squeams (OK, it isn't a word, but it should be) and we would be asked to change the topic. Which we would.

Today, as an adult, find that in some company can discuss anything, including politics and religion, at the table.

In other company, I kinda just bite my lip and hope someone else has a benign subject they wish to discuss.

I suppose old TV shows is as good a neutral diversion as any.

[balmagowry]

Good point - it does very much depend on context and company.

[Lady T]

Good point - it does very much depend on context and company.

Absolutely. There are people with whom no topic is off limits, not even over food: politics, sex, taxes, death, religion, how (precise technique, from anesthesia to post-surgical recovery!) to spay cats, the care and feeding of septic tanks, intervention and treatment for alcoholism (especially when complicated by cocaine addiction and/or clinical depression), the delivery of babies (of several possible species; you shoulda heard the giraffe seminar. Or maybe not.) -- anything. Truly anything. We're maybe a touch careful in restaurants if other tables are within hearing distance -- no need to gross out the neighbors -- but among ourselves, it's open season.

Then there are people with whom I discuss books and movies, and the quality of the wine. Carefully.

The latter group are dear friends -- but for the former group I'll go to Hell and back, kicking obstacles down as necessary.

Edited April 21, 2004 by Lady T (log)

[Busboy]

Now, what's for dinner? 

Politics....

ZING!

"The supper was like most others of its kind in Paris. At first everyone was silent; then followed a few confused murmurs, and afterwards several insipid jokes passed and repassed, with false reports, false reasonings, a little politics, and a great deal of scandal. The conversation then turned upon the new productions in literature."

--Candide

[stephenc]

Only real no-no is politics, because it gets people in a really pissy mood.

But it's great for the bar afterwards!!!

[aliwaks]

During one of my first meals with my father's girlfriend ( a woman who lends new meaning to inapprpriate) she jumped up from the table (which consisted of my brother, my step sister, her boyfriend, my father and four of the womans friends) grabbed her crotch , scratched furiously and shrieked loudly in her heavy French Canadian accent

"I cannot keep siting 'eere I itch like I 'ave ants in my pants!!! This damn yeast infection!!"

well at least it wasn't during passover,

A woman I was seated next to at a dinner party (who I had met like 10 minutes before) told me all about her abortion and her subsequent candida issues, I guessed she was sahring because she had dietary concerns though when I told her she should lay off the wine since that is a contributer to candida discomfort she was wholly un interested.

as a general rule I find that gynecological conversations are best left for unmixed company and unpleasant emmissions kept from the conversation if there's food around, but of course depends on who you are having dinner with. With certain freinds there is no subject that is taboo, though some scatological topics are too much for me, 'cause I'm dainty like that.

[jhlurie]

that's why I started this thread. I posted something that made a reference to the instability in this region and it was deleted...if certain people can't accept that other people have differing opinions then....well...you know....

it is a good topic for discussion BECAUSE there are strong opinions on either side. and this site is as close to a dinner table as any message board can be...that's why I say anything goes. it isn't inflammatory to state opinions...being a jerk about someone else's opinion is inflammatory.

Normally I'd try to handle an issue like this on the side, in private with Bicycle Lee, but given that he's chosen to air this in this fashion I'm going to reply in the same fashion, although I'm going to address the larger question and not Bicycle Lee's specific deletion complaint.

Dinner conversation is one thing. eGullet is another. Dinner conversation is a small group of people who can all see each other's faces. eGullet is a conversation with thousands of semi-anonymous faceless people. We've used the "dinner conversation" analogy ourselves on occasion, but it's really not an identical experience, and we don't treat it as such. The context, the ability to read the reactions of people, and the tone of a communication are not the same.

Also, eGullet has a specific mission targeted towards food discussion, and we've got certain rules of conduct and standards we have to follow to keep things organized, civil and on topic to food.

In other words, on this board anything does NOT go. We try to be fair-minded, but please remember that.

If any of you have issue with a specific administrative decision, or questions about site policies, you can PM me, or any of our Site Managers. But we aren't going to debate the decisions in a discussion thread with you. Ever.

[Bicycle Lee]

fair enough

[Majra]

Yup, bodily functions and bathroom talk are right out. Everything else is fair game. Unless we're dining with my stepkids. Cardinal rule: no "telling" of movies and TV shows. We're trying to train them that conversation is a two-way proposition.

In our home we have a No Singing At the Table rule, for this same reason. My kids love an audience.