"You can't do that!" and other nonsense

Four quick incidents:

1. Homemade Baby Food--Back in the day, I made my kids' baby food. I generally just blended up whatever the family was having, set it aside in the freezer, and thawed it as needed. Nothin' fancy, but homemade.

I mentioned to a friend of mine, who also made her kids' baby food, that I needed to blend up some more green beans. A different acquaintance overheard me, and chimed, "You can't make baby food!"

I was a bit taken aback by her statement. So I sarcastically responded, "Well, how does Gerber make baby food?!" She had a look of utter confusion wash over her face. She had never considered how a commercial baby food manufacturer made baby food.

2. The Pasta Aisle--a gentleman at the grocery store seemed confused in the pasta aisle. He timidly asked me, "Can I get your help?" I responded, "Sure!" He told me that he could no longer consume nightshades, so he'd switched from Marinara to Alfredo. He needed to know what was the right pasta to use. I answered, "Which is your favorite?" He was frustrated that I didn't understand, so he reworded the question: "No, which pasta are you supposed to use with Alfredo sauce?" I said, "Well, whichever you like best. There is no right/wrong pasta." He only became more frustrated. So I joked, "Sir, the Pasta Police are not going to show up at your door if you use Alfredo sauce with rigatoni instead of fettucine." He laughed, then realized that it really was okay to use whatever he wanted. He was afraid of doing it "wrong."

3. The Pancake Affair--My sister was recently chastised, "You can't make pancakes without Bisquik!"

4. Chicken Butt Eggs--an acquaintance of mine graciously accepted some home-raised chicken eggs. A different acquaintance, horrifed, remarked, "No!! Those are the kinds of eggs that come from chicken's butts!"


Has anything similar happened to you? Have you gone against the grain of mainstream culture and gotten scolded for it? Share your funny stories for me to enjoy!

You can't sell your home without a real estate agent.  I've done it several times.  A good lawyer to look over the paper, but, nah; you can do it.

We bought our second home from a For Sale By Owner. The seller had a homemade contract. Our offer and counteroffer were nothing more than handwritten notes which we both initialed.
Georgia is a state that requires closing be done through an attorney, so there was that. But the attorney didn't seem bothered by our paperwork.

I've seen more than one customer in a store miffed that the store only carries 6'x8' tarps, when what they need is an 8'x6' tarp.

I'm fortunate that most of the people I associate with wouldn't make most of those comments, normally if you make something "differently" they will ask how you managed it. But there are some, generally it's disbelief you can make THAT at home? things like sausages, or ham/salami. And yes there are always the "culture" police ready to jump on you if you put chorizo in the paella or wine in the bollognaise. but so what, they are not the one eating it you are, and chorizo tastes excellent in paella.

Also we don't have smartphones or a TV service (we do have a TV used to watch things online) that causes a lot of consternation.

I do sometimes get comments on my hair I have long ginger hair with no split ends and it behaves nicely most of the time. I get asked what products I use on it  well shampoo, whatever brand is cheap that year, I only wash it once every couple of weeks and I've been to a hair dresser twice in my life, I don't own a hairdryer or straighteners or anything like that. They get quite upset when I say that is why my hair looks so nice and smooth and well behaved.

To house sales, we sold our last house without even advertising it, someone heard from someone else it was up for sale, we worked out a price a date etc and only employed an online service to do the legal bits and pay the taxes.

Yea, I can’t build my own house... but I did in MN.

I can’t reuse canning lids .. but I do.

I have to associate with person X because he/she is very important.  I don’t associate with people I dislike.

When someone at work found out I didn't have a TV, she stared at me and asked, " What do you DO all day?" I thought, for the sake of her health, I'd better not tell her at that point I also didn't have a fridge or running water.

I thought, for the sake of her health, I'd better not tell her at that point I also didn't have a fridge or running water.

She'd be a goner for sure!! LOL

I get this all the time with my biking.

"You BIKED here?"
"Winter's coming, gonna have to put the bike away soon...Right?"
"It's -27, there's blowing snow and you're BIKING home?"
"Wait, you biked ALL winter? You're crazy man."

The people that know me well don't question my biking shenanigans anymore. The people who don't know me are fun though. People gawk at me from their cars on the cold snowy, or rainy days and I love it. And the ones not in a car ask the questions I wrote above.

So if you hear anyone say, "Yeah biking is great, but it's just not feasible in the winter. Especially in a city up north." You tell them that there is in fact a crazy man that rides all year rain or snow or hail or shine.

I now ride and ebike every day for my commute, whatever the weather. The only few times I have backed out is for really strong winds when I was genuinely worried about being blown off the road. Days that trees were coming down.

Wear the right gear and all is well.

I got big neoprene mittens that fit to the handlebars. Bloody marvellous. Completely cuts out the wind-chill, and on really cold days I can just wear comfortable thing gloves under them.

The baby food thing drives me crazy. I never fed baby food to any of my kids nor did I make it. I simply chewed up the food I was eating and gave it to them.

I get weird looks and comments for a lot of things. People can't believe that I cure meat or make my own cleaners or use greywater. I've stopped worrying about it and just go on with my day. The big one is that I can't build things, I'm a woman.

I never fed baby food to any of my kids nor did I make it. I simply chewed up the food I was eating and gave it to them.

That's what many cultures did before separate baby food was a "thing."

I've been told that almonds don't grow here, and neither does garlic. Another was that pistachios are a tropical tree (?!!) and need a lot of water. Um...no.

Although I think my favorite was when I asked a neighbor if I could have her leaves. She sent her husband and son down with the leaf bags in a truck and stood there staring at me as I tossed them over the fence. Asked me how I could do that, they were so heavy. DRY leaves, for heaven's sake.

But I've always been contrary. When I was in elementary school a teacher told me it's impossible to put the soles of your feet flat on the floor with your knees straight. I practiced until I could. Found out later it's called "full pointe," so it wasn't all that special after all, but I was proud of it at the time.

John F Dean wrote:Yea, I can’t build my own house... but I did in MN.

Yup, did that (built house) twice too.  Think about how many things have been done by people who were told "You can't do that."  A LOT.

But I've always been contrary. When I was in elementary school a teacher told me it's impossible to put the soles of your feet flat on the floor with your knees straight. I practiced until I could. Found out later it's called "full pointe," so it wasn't all that special after all, but I was proud of it at the time.

Think about how many things have been done by people who were told "You can't do that."  A LOT.

I take the "You can't do that" statement as a challenge. "Oh yeah?! Just watch me!"

Hi,  you can't use paper towel as a coffee filter, you cant paint pictures that way, you cnt wash clothes outside, you cant quilt that way, I laugh and show em that I already did.

What is worse than you cant is you have to because I or Govt says you have to. Thats when things become sinister.

The youngest and I took his adult sized trike to a bike coop to learn how to work on it.
They were very helpful but at a certain point they wanted to remove and discard the hand gripes on the bike and my kid quietly objected.
See the kid likes old, rusty weird things, and it  was his bike , so I of course backed him up and backed them down, even though they insisted there was NO OTHER WAY to put a hand brake on.
We let them know, we would take care of it later at home.
I was ready to finagled a way , but he was on it, and though I doubted  his method would work, I encouraged  him, and sure enough it worked great, with less fuss than whatever it was I would have done!
He proceeded to work on the bike well past nightfall, and  a couple of times he even let me help.

I have never been wrong telling my kids that they ,in fact, could do the thing, and therefore have the power.

Stacie Kim wrote:

I take the "You can't do that" statement as a challenge. "Oh yeah?! Just watch me!"

I've started answering with "Maybe you can't."

Stacie Kim wrote:Homemade Baby Food--Back in the day, I made my kids' baby food. I generally just blended up whatever the family was having, set it aside in the freezer, and thawed it as needed. Nothin' fancy, but homemade.

You can't? Apparently I starved to death as a toddler then.

I can't remember any particular stories, I gave up talking to people about doing things differently when I was about 14. I can however imagine the outcry if I mention going pooless, no toilet paper...

Many years ago, traveling in a VW bus by myself, I had a problem with it, took it to a place I could get parts (they were a shop too.) I got there way early in the morning, before they were there, and stripped my engine down to the damaged bit. The guys started coming to work I said hi to them as they walked past, the shop opened, I went in to get my parts. As I walked in one of the guys  said to another "That little girl in the parking lot has it down to the #3 cylinder, and the engine is still in the bus!" The other one said "Nah, you CAN'T do that, don't know what she's doing, but it CAN'T be that." I said "Oh, it's down to the #3, and it's still in." "How can you DO that?!" "I don't have a shop, floor jack and help, I had to learn to do it. You have never had to learn to do it."  They ended up all coming out to the parking lot and I showed them how I had modified the engine so I could do it.
So, you CAN'T take a VW bus engine down the the #3 cylinder with it still in the car if you have a shop. You most certainly CAN if you think about it.

I love that they came out to learn from you. That’s unusual!

Howdy,

"Many years ago, traveling in a VW bus by myself, I had a problem ...." Me to, been there, done that. VW stories never end. just funny endings.

Wife and I purchased some land four years ago. In 2018 we hired drillers to drill a well for us. The rig is running, making a ton of noise and draws one of the neighbors over on foot. I'm the new guy from the city moving into rural countryside. My neighbor introduces himself and we shake hands. He asks "you drilling a well"? Yes was my reply. He then said "You can't do that! There's no good water here! You're wasting your money and are going to have to connect to city water anyway!" I replied that my wife and I don't want the city water. He had a slight look of bewilderment on his face. We chatted for a few minutes, then he asks "You building a house"? Yes was my reply. He asked if we're building on a pad or going to have a crawl space. I said "The house will be over a full basement". He responded "You can't do that! No one builds basements around here! The soil around here will bust your basement walls. Hell, some bricks and sheetrock in my house is cracked from foundation movement, and it was built ten years ago!". In my mind I knew if that was the case then his foundation wasn't built correctly for the type of expansive soils here, but I didn't want to be rude and say his house was built wrong.

My well water is sweet and delicious. With a little forethought and planning, my basement is fine. He's been over since, and admired the basement. He hasn't tried the well water yet....

You can't pick up a dime with a forklift.  That's always worth a $20 bet down at the warehouse.  

Eric Thomas wrote:You can't pick up a dime with a forklift.  That's always worth a $20 bet down at the warehouse.  

That cracked me up, here's the exact bit of the video


I saw a backhoe guy do that to pick up his extra bucket, whoop ha, never even slowed down. Knew exactly what he was doing.

Pearl Sutton wrote:Many years ago, traveling in a VW bus by myself, I had a problem with it, took it to a place I could get parts (they were a shop too.) I got there way early in the morning, before they were there, and stripped my engine down to the damaged bit. The guys started coming to work I said hi to them as they walked past, the shop opened, I went in to get my parts. As I walked in one of the guys  said to another "That little girl in the parking lot has it down to the #3 cylinder, and the engine is still in the bus!" The other one said "Nah, you CAN'T do that, don't know what she's doing, but it CAN'T be that." I said "Oh, it's down to the #3, and it's still in." "How can you DO that?!" "I don't have a shop, floor jack and help, I had to learn to do it. You have never had to learn to do it."  They ended up all coming out to the parking lot and I showed them how I had modified the engine so I could do it.
So, you CAN'T take a VW bus engine down the the #3 cylinder with it still in the car if you have a shop. You most certainly CAN if you think about it.

Uh...yes you can, I've done it too.  I've had many VWs in my long life.  I've also been told that you can't break into a VW bug (old school bug) without damaging the car or without a tool like a slim-jim.  Put your thumbs against the front corner of the wing vent window and rhythmically pump them for a minute or so, the little lock lever will start to walk up the window bar.  Usually takes about a minute and will not damage the window unless you do it a lot.  

That's another easy sucker bet!

You can't put your elbow in your ear.  Really, you can't do that.

Eric Thomas wrote:You can't put your elbow in your ear.  Really, you can't do that.

Define "elbow." Cuz I made minestrone for supper with elbow macaroni. I coulda put my elbow macaroni in my ear.

Note from staff
The whole discussion on divorce has been split off to it's own thread  Amicable divorces

Definitely interesting and worthy of it's own thread!

:D

Concerning not using commercial baby food. When my son was an infant I always blended up different whole foods. Initially I bought a few jars of the commercial cra*p and nearly gagged at the smell of it and the taste was just as bad if not worse.

Oh, I forgot. Yes, I do have an example.

"I haven't cut my hair for over 10 years", "but, but..."

It's just past shoulder length and has been for a decade.

You also can't lick your elbow, or touch the tip of your nose with your tongue (or if you can, you need to come with a warning label.)  You also can't tickle yourself.  Which is really a shame...you're having a bad day, you really need a laugh...rats....  

Who knew you couldn't hypnotize people on the telly??  

Eric Thomas wrote:You can't put your elbow in your ear.  Really, you can't do that.

It would be pretty hard to your elbow in someone else's ear...

James Alun wrote: "I haven't cut my hair for over 10 years", "but, but..."

My brother hasn't cut his in more than 30 years.  His is just past shoulder length also.

I've heard more than a few times that you can't have a yard that looks like a jungle without clouds of mosquitoes descending upon you and feasting on your blood. Unless you spray toxic gick on yourself and/or the land.
The abundance of jewel-like dragonflies and damseflies that now flit around the yard all day devouring the mosquitoes and being dazzlingly beautiful beg to differ.