In my younger days I would sometimes stick my tongue out at people in passing cars. And my wife would say, “Stop that!” She had a point. It had been cute when I was four, not so much at the age of forty. Actually it may not have been that cute even when I was four although I do have an early childhood memory of my father was stopped at a red light and I stuck my tongue out at a couple of teenage guys in the car next to us. They laughed and stuck their tongues out at me which just encouraged me.
Anyway the other day I was walking along and one of Nashville’s many tour buses went by. This has become a booming industry even though most of the tours, as far as I can tell, are free–they say, “Hop on or hop off anytime you like,” and I will take one of these tours one of these days but that will be another story.
As the bus went by I waved to the passengers. Sticking my tongue out at them would be rude and juvenile and I think being rude and juvenile should be reserved for the locals. Visitors to Music City deserve to be treated kindly, especially since they might be someone I know. The brain behind the blog Rubber Shoes In Hell was in Nashville recently, along with her body and her husband who I assume also brought both his brain and body, although a couple of disembodied brains floating around the streets of Nashville would be quite a sight.
I was a little disappointed that of the tourists on the bus only one waved back–an older guy sitting at the very back who gave me a dull, tight-lipped look and a perfunctory wave–saying, I think, “Yeah, we see you.” And I wanted to say, hey, lighten up. You’re touring the city, taking in the sights, having a good time. The very least you could do is smile.
I was seriously tempted to stick my tongue out at him, but I think it’ll be a few years before I can get away with that again.
I really do think it’ll be cute when I’m eighty.
Source: Wikipedia
Goodness! Aren’t you one of the sites of Nashville? Shouldn’t they have had their cameras at the ready for when you stuck your tongue out?
I am one of Nashville’s sights! You’ll hear those tour bus drivers say, “And if you look to your left you’ll see that guy taking pictures of graffiti.” Those darn tourists don’t know what they’re missing.
There is friendly tongue and gross tongue. Friendly tongue always gets friendly tongued back. And I would have waved.
Oh yeah, even when I was a kid I only did the friendly tongue. I wanted to make people laugh, not be rude about it.
Goodness, what a bunch of grumpypusses. Were they on a special tour for people with a permanent case of the Mondays?
It was a free tour so maybe they were more concerned about where they were going to hop off than what was going on around them. I’m beginning to think if I see people on one of those buses looking grumpy I should hold up a sign that says “Smile, jerkwads!”
You reminded me of something us rude country bumpkins used to do as kids; wave at cars, yeah, be friendly and all, but if there were grinches in there that ignored us we’d give them the finger after they passed by then laugh about it. The Finger was like a fun force field, preventing their grouchiness from sticking to us.
My friends and I used to do the same thing when we were kids. It was a fun way to rebel although it had unintended consequences the time a car stopped and the driver got out. We took off running into the woods. And then we gathered together and laughed about it so it worked out for the best.
My grandfather used to run down the halls of his seniors’ apartment complex knocking on all the doors, then hiding around the corner. He thought they were all sticks in the mud, and it was his job to shake them up a bit. I hope I’m as crazy as that when I get older:-)
We should all be that crazy when we get older. Well, there will always be some sticks in the mud, but I guess that’s a good thing. There will always have to be somebody for the crazy people like us to rebel against.
Chris, I live in a city (Boston) where people give each other the finger all the time while they’re driving. As an act of rebellion, I stick my tongue out at people instead. I’m very proud of this. I’m waving in approval at your post, right now.
That is a wonderful act of rebellion. I’m waving back at you too.