<p>“big big big SUVs that take up 2 parking spots and hog the road likes buses”</p>
<p>I DEFINITELY don’t get SUV’s. 90% don’t need them. Must be survival mentality or something. I find them socially irresponsible. Driving my little Civic, looking at their bumpers at eye level is always a real treat.</p>
<p>My theory on SUVs - people are trying to insulate themselves in steel cocoons. The world’s a fast paced, hard place and people feel vulnerable. It’s just like the arms race - “everyone else is driving one, so I need one to be able to see”. The cognitive dissonance sets in when you see someone step down from one of these behemoths in the mall parking lot. You needed 8 HP, seating for 8 and 4 wheel drive to do this? Maybe it’s a result of the supersizing of the population - we want to feel small and rattling around in a cavern on the way to work accomplishes that. Leasing has also made it way too easy for people to come by these expensive models - there should be a mandatory three day wait period and some counseling before people are given the keys, maybe set them up with mentors who drive smaller cars and live full lives nonetheless.</p>
<p>Don’t get the media obsessions with West Nile virus each year.</p>
<p>also, among other things.</p>
<p>I don’t get why George McGovern lost. He was going to give everyone a thousand dollars !!! How could people have been so stupid as to vote against their economic interests. And now here its just happened again. 
Those daggone, dadburned hillbillys and fundamentalists are too stupid for our own good.</p>
<p>And some of their houses and cars are too big too. (Choice is great, but seriously, it CAN go too far.) Oh well, at least every once in a while you see someone in a Volvo out there past the Hudson. Maybe there is hope.</p>
<p>I don’t get how some people can spend so much time and energy trying to legislate the rights of zygotes and first-term feti because “all life is sacred” and turn right around and support the death penalty and wars that kill thousands of innocent civilians.</p>
<p>I also don’t get:</p>
<p>States rights advocates who support legislating “moral issues” from the federal level<br>
Cigarettes
Pamela Anderson (less so than Paris Hilton)
People who never leave the city but drive SUVs
People who talk on cell phones while they drive
Religious people who think it’s okay to cheat, lie and steal in the name of profit
Why I’m writing on the Parents’ Forum. ;)</p>
<p>Oh, yeah. A coupla more …</p>
<p>People who apply to colleges they know they can’t afford</p>
<p>The obsession with college “rankings.” It’s like we’re supposed to salute those who go Ivy league and some of them are supposed to salute each other. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks Alu. We are going to have to do that beach walk soon. :)</p>
<p>Ditto on SUVs, piercings, and almost everything else everyone does not get. </p>
<p>But I can’t believe we all forgot this one:</p>
<p>I don’t get-- the fascination with, coverage/prominent front-page placement of, fan attendance at, signs made for, & talk show interest in-- the incredible freak show spectacle that is the Michael Jackson trial!! Bleh!!</p>
<p>SBmom - wow, how DID we miss this (Jackson trial, etc.). For that matter I forgot to mention the Jerry Springer type talk shows.</p>
<p>I don’t get why so many men are anti-abortion [or are reluctantly for it, but have “troubles” with it] but persist in not wearing condoms when they’re with women.</p>
<p>I don’t get:</p>
<p>clipping off dogs tales and ears so to look like the breed</p>
<p>not get your dog fixed- so get them neutered or spayed</p>
<p>people who spend hours and hours in the gym- go take a walk and build something</p>
<p>6 pound hamburgers</p>
<p>on the evening news:
and after the commercial, we will tell about the breaking news and big emergency!!!</p>
<p>going on vacation, but eating at mcdonalds and shopping at the gap or walmart or any chain store</p>
<p>suntanning with the sun</p>
<p>Louis Vitton. It’s just ugly. Sure, it might be durable - but my '91 Volvo is unattractive & durable, and that can never be mistaken for a designer car.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t get the whole designer-label thing period. I mean, who really cares what little label is hanging off something? If it looks good, doesn’t matter. Like you said, a lot of designer stuff is very unattractive. Almost like “Emperor’s New Clothes” - everyone’s afraid to say something! Wouldn’t you love to see somebody important just stand up in the middle of one of those fashion shows and shout “MAN is that ugly!”</p>
<p>I don’t get it when people bring kids into the world that they have no interest in raising. Birth control isn’t complicated. It’s not like we’re in the 1940’s anymore.</p>
<p>Agree with Michael Jackson. I hate looking at pictures of him. (Shudders)</p>
<p>Re: Cheesecake - every time I’ve gone there, it’s been bad. Not mediocre, just bad. Food burned, pizza that is just baked dough with some tomatoes and pineapples on the side (I kid you not), eggplant sandwich that required a steak knife to cut, tiramisu that was mushy and had been sitting out all day… and it’s expensive. Honestly, if I’m going to pay more than $5 for a dessert, I’m going to Finale or Serendipity or Burdick’s. Not for cheesecake.</p>
<p>Re: abortion/death penalty - trying to stop this from being a huge debate - I don’t agree with the other side, but I understand it. If required to, I could certainly argue the other side. I don’t agree with the other side, but I “get it.” IMO, TheDad started this thread for things that you just don’t understand - like Paris Hilton, where you are left thinking, “…but WHY is this so important?”</p>
<p>Rant over! :)</p>
<p>Another thing I don’t get: Tiffany’s soleil clip (was talking to Twinkle about this). Search their site for it (Jean Schlumberger designs) - it’s heinous and costs more than my law school tuition.</p>
<p>going on vacation, but eating at mcdonalds and shopping at the gap or walmart or any chain store</p>
<p>YES, one thing I will NOT do when travelling is go waste my time visiting a shopping mall, no matter how much it’s touted. Has anyone not noticed they are the same old chain stores? Same for eating at chain restaurants. The point of traveling was I thought to see something new, not seek out the familiar. I won’t even go to Chinese/Thai/Indian restaurants when travelling elsewhere in the U.S. because there’s no reason to expect ethnic food to vary all that much in the big cities. But it makes sense to me to eat pizza in Chicago, pastrami in NY, and BBQ in Texas.</p>
<p>I have never been to Cheescake factory but my 15 yr old loves it- of course she has the metabolism for it :)</p>
<p>Tara- another one! Shopping on vacation!!!</p>
<p>I’m always confused when I ask people what there is to do at this place or that (vacation destinations) and people reply “great shopping”. Why would I want to shop on a vacation? </p>
<p>I also don’t “get” people who book themselves a trip to a tropical destination and decide to stay in the Westin, or Hilton, or whatever BIG, air conditioned, elevatored hotel chain there is. </p>
<p>Also, why do people go to the trouble of traveling to some foreign, exotic location and staying at an All Inclusive? You never want to leave the hotel grounds? You don’t want to experience the culture of the land? You never want to eat authentic food? You never want to mix with locals? Heck, you could have stayed home. It cracks me up.</p>
<p>my mother just went on a cruise and wasn’t even able to get off the boat.
( She has health problems)- So her form of entertainment was apparently eating and shopping in the gift shop @@
Why she didn’t wait till she had her problems cleared up I don’t know, especially as I expressly told her several times NOT TO GET US ANYTHING- just take some pictures to share. So what did she do? She spent several hundred dollars on our family alone buying stuff that she could have gotten cheaper at Macys ( Swarovksi crystals for example), and my brothers and sisters families are much larger so she even bought more stuff for them.
Then she comes home and tells me she can’t even afford to get groceries because her account is overdrawn!!
OMG
Iadmit I do enjoy shopping on longer vacations. We go to a little town of about 100 every winter, and I like to take a break and get handmade stuff that I can’t get anywhere else ( or not without really looking for it anyway). I also feel like I am supporting the community.
But otherwise- Iam a big fan of shopping online- no parking- no dressing rooms- no snotty clerks</p>
<p>Well momsdream it must just prove the old “great minds” saying! :)</p>
<p>The other thing I don’t get is why at a fancy buffet restaurant do people (at least in my family) feel obligated to add a bread roll to their plate. I am going to waste money and my limited appetite on “filler” food? Excuse me, I’m going to use it on something expensive or too hard to make at home, not BREAD! Even sometimes when we’re at someone’s house for dinner I skip the roll and get asked why I don’t want any. Uh, how about I already know what bread tastes like and I’m more interested in what the hostess took the trouble to cook?</p>
<p>TaraMom, as a devoted carbohydrate addict, I will have to try and explain the bread thing. To me, not all breads were created equal! There are many, many varieties, too, and often “house specials” for bread. In fact, I make it a ritual at every new restaurant to try some of their bread (I do the same thing when travelling seaside with the clam chowder) – I am often surprised (ie, fancy restaurants have lame bread, diners have GREAT bread) and I find it worth my while. But maybe that’s because I absolutely love bread and think it goes great with everything (and is very functional when you’re trying to get peas onto your fork :D).</p>
<p>The newest thing I don’t get: WHY people feel like they have to tell me they’re Christian when asking a favor they’re promising to repay, as if that’s supposed to make me trust them more. (Re: experience in a parking lot were some woman asked my mom for $20 and our address, repeating that she was a good Christian woman, and she’d send it back as soon as she could. … 2 years later, still no $20, and a sour taste left in the mouth for people who <em>use</em> Christianity like that. Disclaimer: poster is non-religious. :P)</p>
<p>undecided – I think you got the New York City sidewalk vendor genuine, discounted variety of Christian there.</p>
<p>My personal “don’t get” is why movies list every last person who worked on the entire movie, down to the assistant stamp licker, but don’t mention any of the musicians in the orchestra that produced the most glorious sound-track.</p>
<p>But hey, I’m a musician’s mom.</p>