soy, nonfat, extra-hot, with vanilla please?

The Times called us "the latte generation" today. Yeah, I can deal with that.

If there is something disctinctive to Americans, it's our ability to really deliver a biting criticism with no immediate sensation but a bitter aftertase. An ingrained passive-aggressive behavior comes down to a nicely phrased sentence that bites you in the ass only after you start thinking about it. Like, "I'm loving the work you're doing, but you might consider coming in during the weekend?" Basically, unlike the rest of the world, Americans are tender jackasses. I like to think of the moment when Jerry Maguire gets fired in the noisy restaurant so he can't fillibuster his way out of being fired when I think of this.

The problem with being disguising criticism in pleasant conversation, however, is that you have odd people who I just don't get. They're either super-dumb or super-cruel, and they'll just spill out something like, "Gee, you must work real quick because I never see you working" or "Wow, do you always eat that much?"

And you're left thinking, am I supposed to take this the Jerry Maguire way? Or is this guy really that tactless? Neither. It's society -- we live in a world where candid observation of facial blemishes or frugality or work habits or life habits -- well they just don't fly. So, is it my fault for running an occasional social experiment? No, let's do as the seventh grade english class does and blame society.