Wednesday, October 27, 2004
pooberty -- a time of great changes
Yo and s'up.
So I was sitting in my night class the other day, Social History of Modern China, and we're having a serious/somewhat creepy discussion of the late Imperial Chinese proclivity for the "little daughter-in-law" form of marriage.
This is where a poor family would "adopt" a daughter as an infant or young child, raise her alongside their own son as his sister, and then when both the girl and the boy are old enough, the parents announce to them one day that they are "married" and must now have sex. Inevitable questions from the class followed this announcement, including one from a girl we'll call Slowblonde (who, entirely coincidentally, is both blond and not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the brightest crayon in the box, not the keenest tool in the shed, etc.), who asked, in a moment of sheer, characteristic brilliance: "But...would the "sister" and "brother" know that they were supposed to be married? Would they want to have sex with each other?"
Like...duh!
But the prof, a balding, mildly humorous fellow who closely resembles Grover from Sesame Street (minus the blue fuzziness), replied: "Well, keep in mind that they would do this very early, just after the children had hit poooooberty."
There followed a moment of silence. I knew if I said anything at all or made even the slightest sound I would totally lose it, but the girl next to me, a pretty cool chick we'll call Berdie, whispered to me "poooooberty..." and that was it. The dude next to me starts giggling, then Berdie starts giggling, then I start in on it. It took all three of our combined willpowers to ensure that Grover was not let in on the joke, and it was a very close call.
It was nonetheless a nice, if rather brief moment of levity in a day otherwise consisting of Holocaust lectures and concentration camp artwork. It's good to know one can still get a laugh or two in the world today.
And one should always ask for second helpings.
Cheerio then.
-N
p.s. anyone have any idea why blogger was offline yesterday?
p.p.s. anyone know how to post photos on this thing? I have tried with little success.
Adios.
