Why my Kevin Arnold voice keeps yelling "No! Wrong again!"
In today's Daily Northwestern, there's a terrific column about "the walk-by." You know, the mini-conversation that must in occur in the act of passing without awkwardness or endangerment. Read the column.
This column is on my level; I had a bad walk-by incident Friday. I was in my old dorm, trying to find a friend. I stopped in the room of two guys to ask about his whereabouts. They're both great guys, but when one of them gave the greeting, I got it wrong not once, but twice.
Patrick pops head in dorm room.
"Hey Patrick, what can we do for you?"
"Fine, than–not much."
Let's review. Questions answered successfully:
1) How are you?
2) What are you up to?
Answer given unsuccessfully: "Yeah, do you know where Dave is?"
Today's Daily column also discourages the keep-talking spin ("often leads to bump-ins with strangers or at least with their backpacks"). But I think there is an exception — bulky and self-confident men.
Often spotted on campus in the early fall and late spring, the BASCM (pronounced ba-zim) can be identified by their large (but not rotund) form, Ruthian feet, cargo shorts, and consistently backward head apparel (typically baseball cap or visor).
Faced with the walk-by, they do an unabashed 180 spin. Backing up, they fear neither collision nor displacement. Others — the skinnier, the meek, the female (not necessarily skinny or meek) — will inevitably scatter out of their way. They are the BASCM, and they will not be moved from their course, whether they can see it or not.
