Improbability of the Week!
SCENE: Lydia sits, innocently as ever, at the counter at Bookstore X That Is Her Bookstore. Sunlight comes through the windows behind her, making no impression at all on the well-lit store. She is ringing up several customers
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Comments 10
that is quite a compliment. you rock.
Sudden Poll! Is it possible to tell someone that they remind you of yourself when you were younger[...]?
[for simplicity, i ignored your other hypotheticals. they have the same answer.]
yes. my friend rachel once said i remind her of how she was a few years ago, and i think that is a grand compliment. i admire rachel, you see, and it's flattering that she identifies with me (or that she identifies a younger version of her self with me... you get the idea). then again, rachel is cool now, so i imagine she was younger when she was younger; additionally, she used a "man, [my life/i] was so cool that summer..." voice when she told me.
so basically, yes; you can do it in a non-patronizing way if the person likes you or if you were cool when you were younger.
if that makes any sense.
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And sure, it makes sense. As long as you meant to say "rachel is cool now so I imagine she was cool when she was younger".
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(2) it was not 110 today, at least not anywhere you were.
-Steven
p.s. yes the sun could shine from the north for a bit before sunset at this latitude at this time of year, but it would probably be blocked by buildings at that location.
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2) I was told by two reputable sources that it was 110°, so I'm not ashamed. Have any evidence?
ps: Now that was characteristic.
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http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMDW/2005/7/24/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KORD/2005/7/24/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KILCHICA30&month=7&day=24&year=2005
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Gods, I hope so. I did it only a few months ago.
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So I guess I feel like you can tell someone they resemble X in X's youth without patronizing them as long as you're doing it in the spirit of observation rather than as some sort of snide remark. Depending on who you are and what you think of the person you're comparing them to, though, it could easily reveal some kind of undercurrent of patronization within your own mind even if you didn't intend any.
(Amusingly enough, sheer curiosity has led me to discover that "condescension"'s dictionary definition is "patronizing attitude or behavior".)
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