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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that people who call themselves "quirky", "kooky" or "random" should fuck off?

360 replies

Namechangingchameleon · 13/04/2016 22:46

Add to that people with "eclectic" music tastes.

Fuckers, all of them.

OP posts:
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rhubarblover · 15/04/2016 11:19

Am really enjoying this thread Grin
I am guilty of having described myself in the past as someone who "doesn't suffer fools gladly". This was meant as shorthand that I am often grumpy and impatient and not very good at hiding it, rather than a badge of pride.
I also cringe when I hear someone described as"bubbly", for all the reasons other posters have said. For me, a "bubbly" person is probably very loud ,talks too much, probably squeals, and claps their hands together very fast like a seal whilst saying "yay" but is not necessarily fat.

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 15/04/2016 11:20

like7

I think (from my perspective anyway) the point is that people labelling themselves 'quirky' for wearing a pink flowery hat and slapping it all over instagram is irritating.

People who are genuinely quirky and eccentric are wonderful!

AgentPineapple · 15/04/2016 11:38

Not sure why you care so much or why it makes you angry? Maybe one particular person? I would say distance yourself from said people/person and relax a wee bit!

christhomps57 · 15/04/2016 11:39

Thank you that made me smile

Queenie73 · 15/04/2016 11:40

"Bubbly" is my pet hate. I had a friend who used to tell me at great length about how people always used to tell her how bubbly she was. I don't see her any more, partly because the strain of not being able to tell her that these people probably meant she as thick but basically cheerful was too much for my limited tact capabilities!

SqueegyBeckinheim · 15/04/2016 11:41

like7, people who are genuinely quirky or eccentric are wonderful, they just like what they like and do what they do because they like it, not because they are trying to impress people. My DD has been described as quirky or wired differently by every teacher she's ever had, but she honestly wouldn't see herself that way she just has her own way of doing things.

MrsBoDuke · 15/04/2016 11:47

Actual quirky & eccentric people are great.
Actual off-the-wall people are great.

Not quirky, just irritating is this:

To think that people who call themselves "quirky", "kooky" or "random" should fuck off?
To think that people who call themselves "quirky", "kooky" or "random" should fuck off?
MrsDeVere · 15/04/2016 11:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsBoDuke · 15/04/2016 11:49

*MrsDeVere
*
YES!!!

That's exactly it!

Franny1977 · 15/04/2016 11:49

I find the people who are always describing themselves at all, are nearly always not what they say! Best leaving it up to others to observe and decide what one is!

Those who are genuinely quirky don't need to tell you and are often rather cool!

KERALA1 · 15/04/2016 11:50

Or the people that fling themselves around children's playgrounds, hogging all the equipment and potentially trashing it as it is designed for the under 11s not hulking great 20 year olds demonstrating how "quirky" "childlike" and "playful" they are. Sod off!

Sorry but I also include people that go to Disney without kids in the above bracket. Its sad.

Also adult women in bunches. Nooo.

ReySkywalker · 15/04/2016 11:58

those statuses on fb about some illness then '....can I ask my friends to post this status...I know some of you won't' ugh

Also, the ones who think that having kids makes them too busy to do anything AT ALL, in convo with a school mum I asked if she'd seen a movie "eh....I have two kids, when would I get the time to watch a whole movie"
They're 7 & 10

like7 · 15/04/2016 11:59

Thank you all of you - you are right. I was too quick to react when I saw the word 'quirky'! DS doesn't speak anyway so certainly wouldn't call himself quirky. DD1 wouldn't either although she knows that she is a little different from others in several ways. DD2 calls herself autistic (she's mildly affected) and puts herself down but wouldn't show off about it etc. She wishes she was 'like other people' as she puts it.

But I think SOME people find social situations harder, aren't sure how to act and so perhaps use ways to describe themselves in order to 'join in' / be popular etc - probably not wanting to annoy others?

I haven't gone to Disney without kids - but I don't see why you shouldn't - lots there for kids, altho' probably wouldn't ride on the Dumbo carousel!

ReySkywalker · 15/04/2016 12:00

Quirky adults walking around with Adventure Time backpacks

i know one hipster who doesn't do shoes maaaan, his parents pay his rent so he can concentrate on being a dj

like7 · 15/04/2016 12:01

sorry - meant there's lot there for ADULTS too......

Fruu · 15/04/2016 12:04

I tend to assume that anyone who says they like "all sorts" when it comes to music actually just listens to whatever is on the radio or that their friends have given them and isn't very passionate about music - it seems to be the statement of choice for anyone who hasn't heard of artists outside of whoever's in the charts.

"Eclectic" or other more specific terms usually mean they actually think about music and go out of their way to explore genres or have slightly more knowledge from my experience. I think it's reasonable if a vinyl collector hobbyist describes themselves as having eclectic musical taste, for example.

Of course, if someone is a proper music nerd they often ramble off a list of genres or artists / pieces they like. :)

My pet peeve are fake geeks. You are not a geek unless you're unusually obsessive or interested in something. Wearing hipster fake glasses or badly fitting clothes and saying you're geeky or a nerd does not mean you are a geek!

Gosh, "bubbly". I've had a few people describe me as bubbly and it's pretty insulting. Being overweight and smiling occasionally is not exactly a way to define someone's character. It's like they don't even notice you're a person, just fat.

psychosophyc · 15/04/2016 12:05

To the list I would add (a) People who brag about how spiritual they are ( I can think of nothing less "spiritual" than bragging about it); and (b) People who claim to be "a little bit psychic". If so, your are probably offended by what I'm thinking about you right now ...

Galdos · 15/04/2016 12:07

I think I was at uni before I worked out that people who claimed eclectic musical taste DID NOT just mean that they liked electric guitars. Eclectic wasn't a word used at home ...

jaykay34 · 15/04/2016 12:25

I'd normally say live and let live. But not in this case. YANBU.

I have a friend who loves being "kooky", "hipster" and "quirky". It started off with her dressing a certain way in her twenties, but has now become her whole lifestyle (in her late thirties). She does countless facebook status updates telling us how quirky she is, ie:
"Went out to buy a pint of milk...forgot the milk but came back with a 70s sideboard and a Fez. Soooo randomic".
"Went to a works do...what was meant to be a piss up and dinner turned into me reciting Keats and making origami hats out of serviettes. Soooo randomic".
"Woke up feeling random. Today I want to be addressed as Vincent. Because I feel like having that name today."

She has become this contrived kooky caricature - everything she does had to fit in with this particular image. And everything is "so random"....when clearly it actually isn't.

I don't think true kooky people have any awareness of their kookiness.

Namechangingchameleon · 15/04/2016 12:35

jaykay

What a nightmare she sounds! I assume as she is a friend she has some redeeming qualities?

I agree with a pp that people who are genuinely quirky and eccentric who don't announce it to the world are fab!

OP posts:
Goldenbear · 15/04/2016 13:32

Well I live in Brighton and demonstrative quirkiness is such a daily occurrence that I'm thinking of moving to somewhere 'normal'. The school my DC go to has parents that do the school run on skateboards and they're the Dads that talk very loudly about their day ahead and always wish everyone a great day, as in, 'well you guys have a great day!', skateboard slammed down in the playground, skating off to work at 40!

I have one DC in Reception and I have to wait around with her and others until the classroom opens, whilst you're waiting the child can choose a coloured band for their hot school meal and the menu which we were all given a copy of for home, is stuck to the window in case you've forgotten to check- you can look at it whilst you wait for the classroom to open, to decide what your child wants. Every day without fail, a Mum loudly proclaims the 'yummy' choices to her daughter and everyone else who is waiting outside the classroom, as in, 'Anneka, wow, we have MACORONI cheese today with yummy broccoli and carrots or barbecue chicken with rice and Choc o late pudding, or JACK ET potato and TOOna (Tuna, it's Tuna), what are we going to choose?' Everyone else manages to go over the options at a normal pitch and before anyone says anything, the girl is a normal weight, doesn't need to be persuaded to eat and has no SN as my friend is good friends with the Mum and would know.

We also have a Dad that talks about his daughter to everyone waiting whilst he interacts with her, like we would be enthralled by her every move as he is or will make a deliberate point of interacting with the children in my DD's class who are lucky enough to be friends with his DD, he doesn't engage with the parents of these children but will say things like, ' What are you guys up to? I think we're all coming over to ours for Friday movie afternoon aren't we, it's going to be so much fun?' Classroom opens and the DD ignores him and goes in, cue, 'what is this Alice, don't I even get a kiss goodbye from my boo boo anymore'?' It's all done very loudly and conspicuously and it's honestly cringeworthy. I maybe bias as his DD is vile to mine- been hit by her, told to leave the area she is playing in as she is not included etc. but I've been told by the teacher that this girl is just a very different kind of 'personality' to mine and that she is just very 'self confident', almost as if that excuses her behaviour. I can't help think that her parents expect an audience for their daughter and it has resulted in the DD having a self inflated view of her standing in the classroom, that even the teachers are convinced by. So I would include conspicuous, down with the kids, parental behaviour on your list!

Becomingmom · 15/04/2016 13:37

The same kind of people who shop in topshop and live in a pair of converse because they are "different" whilst writing a poem about being "misunderstood"

RiverTamFan · 15/04/2016 13:37

Like7 DS1 might describe himself as quirky but that is because he has Aspergers and others, especially at High School, make him painfully aware he is different. It's easier to defiantly call yourself a geek, quirky or eccentric than it is to be called a freak.

oldlaundbooth · 15/04/2016 13:39

Actual eccentrics are very hard to come by.

All the other idiots ate just wannabes.

Like my mate who reckons she's a foodie but doesn't know what passata is?! And she's Italian!

oldlaundbooth · 15/04/2016 13:40

Another ex colleague who though they were so deep, misunderstood, communist and quirky.

We worked in Starbucks.

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