[ 19 May 2006: Message edited by: Pride for Red Dolores ]

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Originally posted by greenie:
Did you confront him/her?

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They are a handy tool for identifying people I will never, ever have anything to do with.

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Originally posted by Scott Piatkowski:
No matter how justified (and, egads, that is disgusting), it's probably not the best timing to verbally attack a customer when one is waiting for a job interview.

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It's one of the reasons I'd starve if I were to work in sales. That and I could't sell ice in Egypt.

[ 19 May 2006: Message edited by: Pride for Red Dolores ]

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Next time you see some one wearing a shirt with rape written on it, take his pic with a camera phone, with no flash, and post it on the internet. That would scare them.

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1. How is he going to know that his picture is on the internet? I assume the reason for not using the flash is so he won't know he's being photographed.

2. If the guy doesn't mind going out in public with a shirt like that, he's probably not gonna care if he's seen on the internet wearing it.

[ 20 May 2006: Message edited by: voice of the damned ]

My preferred strategy for dealing with inappropriate humour is to claim to have some personal connection to the issue being trivialized. For example...

SOME YAHOO: Hey, ya wanna hear a hilarious joke about the XYZ illness?

VOTD: My father died of the XYZ illness.

SOME YAHOO: Oh, uh...

I don't even bother saying that I find the humour offensive, because again the whole point of humour like that is to be offensive. Rather, I try to remind the person that for some people, these issues aren't just distant abstractions to be appropriated for momentary shock value, they are real things that have had a tragic effect on their lives.

Okay, I know, probably wouldn't work. But it's fun to think about his reaction!

Also, word to those who say it's an easy identification label. You know that saying, "Assholes should have to wear a sign"? Well, this is just voluntary compliance, as far as I'm concerned.

[ 20 May 2006: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Yeah. Or you could go up to him and say sweetly, "Hey, I love your shirt. I'm so glad you're bringing attention to the terrible, widespread problem of rape. I volunteer at a rape crisis centre in town (name centre). We're having a fundraising drive right now, and I'm collecting donations. Would you like to give?"
Okay, I know, probably wouldn't work. But it's fun to think about his reaction!

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Heh heh, that's even better. But you'd wanna actually go the whole nine yards, and get yourself some fundraising literature and a donation box. Because if you give the guy the opportunity to claim that he's making some sort of an anti-rape statement, he might actually take the bait, to save face. But that gives you the perfect opportunity to pressure him into putting his money where his mouth is.

In middle school, I met a guy who had a t-shirt advertising the name of a band he'd started, called Six Million Jews. I politely asked what I thought was a perfectly reasonable question, under the circumstances("Is your band pro-Nazi?"), and the guy informed me(also politely) that no, they were in fact anti-Nazi. One of the other people at this gathering was apparently embarrased at my inability to appreciate the ironic political commentary, and acted as if I had asked the stupidest question in the world.

[ 20 May 2006: Message edited by: voice of the damned ]

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I tried to find the manufacturer of these shirts on the internet,

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I only spent a few minutes but I came up with a lot of hits. [Question - is there a band out there named "Rape"?]

Probably not the shirts you wanted but there are these:

http://tinyurl.com/mktzd

Of course the band has a CD http://tinyurl.com/pvabp

Then there is this: http://tinyurl.com/m9ge9

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Originally posted by arborman:
It's an offshoot of the 'shock-irony' t-shirt fad that has been soiling our streets for the past couple of years. I've seen others with nazi slogans, far too many with variations on date rape jokes, and a few others I can't recall.

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On the other hand, he may just have been a member of RAPE (Resistors Against Premature Ejaculation)

The word 'rape' carries a hell of a lot of baggage. Nobody would wear a shirt bearing that word without knowing about that baggage.

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...I've often wondered what many of those t-shirts with chinese characters are saying.

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I bought one of those once in a thrift store. May not have been such a good buy after all - even at 50 cents and being 100 per cent cotton.

Wearing it at a local Asian food court, I became aware of many glancing my way and giggling. I almost went into shock when a young Asian male came to my table, smiled, stooped, and kissed me hard on the mouth. The applause was still lingering as I went hurriedly to the washroom to reverse the T-shirt.

A couple weeks ago I was listening to the radio and the subject came up of a website where one can post a photo of one's tattoo.

It wouldn't surprise me, though. When you see the type of English-language t-shirts they sell in Japan, with totally inappropriate things written on them (and even worn by children), when obviously the wearers are oblivious, it wouldn't surprise me if we were getting the same thing in Chinese or Japanese characters here.

[Edited because I always get "arborman" and "abnormal" mixed up - sorry about that! Mental block, I think.]

[ 21 May 2006: Message edited by: Michelle ]

When a man went to a tattoo parlor to request that his girlfriend's name be tattooed on his penis, the tattooist asked that he come back when he was less inebriated and that he give much thought to the fragile permanency of many relationships.

Thoroughly determined, the man returned to have the tattooing proceed. When the artist insisted that the penis must be erect, the man had no problem with this.

Despite the shortness of the name, Freda, only the first letter was written when the vibrating needle caused the man to climax. The tattooist said that she couldn't possibly have this happening with every letter of the name but could finish the task with a razor.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
[Edited because I always get "arborman" and "abnormal" mixed up - sorry about that! Mental block, I think.]

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Well, many people have called me abnormal...

You reminded me of the scene in Young Frankenstein when Gene Wilder is asking the name of the brain Igor has stolen.

"Er.... Abby"
"Abby, sounds like a good name. What was the last name?"
"Abby....Abby Normal."

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Originally posted by skeptikool:
When a man went to a tattoo parlor to request that his girlfriend's name be tattooed on his penis...

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Holy cow!

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I don't know what I'd say or do if I saw someone wearing a t-shirt like that. What makes some people tick?

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I'd guess that was entirely for the shock value and to make people react like this. Taking a pic and posting on the net would probably (and quite sadly) increase sales of a certain purple sweater. Hard to tell from just the shirt description mind you, but odds is he probably has no clue about the social implications of what he's wearing, he just likes the shocked looks he gets.

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I always wondered whether the whole "obscene Oriental language character tattoo" thing was an urban legend.

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[ 24 May 2006: Message edited by: Noise ]

[ 24 May 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Originally posted by North Shore:
Siren, Thanks! I was actually asking where the name rapeseed came from...I was aware of the origins of 'canola.'

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oopsie

Rapum sounds perhaps Latin.