There are many Australian writers in town at the moment and there has been much socialising to celebrate.1 I can’t tell you how much fun it is to be in NYC and not be the only Aussie in the room.2 Especially when the other Aussies are fabulous folks like Deb Biancotti, Rob Hood, Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, Cat Sparks, Trevor Stafford, and Jonathan Strahan. Much fun has been had.3
And much teasing has been teased. Aussies are a much more teasing people than most of my USian friends. It’s been such a relief to have several sessions of full-bore teasification. The Aussies were excellently mean to me. Such bliss.
In the course of this teasefest I realised that I have a friend who is unteasable.
Now I have friends I don’t tease cause I know they’ll get upset. Making people cry is not fun. Many USians fall into this category. But I have a dear friend I have never teased simply because it has never occurred to me to do so. I know she would not cry. She is not an easily offended person. I mentioned her unteasability to her. She says no one has ever teased her, or mocked, or been mean to her. Not at school, not at university, not ever.
Isn’t that bizarre?
I have been trying to figure out why this is so and if I’ve ever met anyone else who was so unteasable.
I can’t think of a single person.
My first theory is that it’s because she’s so unflappable. But I have other unflappable friends I tease and mock. So I’m not sure that’s why. Then I thought maybe it was because she does not tease. But that’s not true she teases her husband all the time.
I am at a loss and must study the problem further.
How about you lot? Are you unteasable? Have you ever known anyone who could not be teased?
I don’t particularly like being teased, and when I’m trying fend it off, I find the best “unteaseable” defense is to take absolutely everything the teaser is saying literally (like you misunderstand them or actually agree with them). Do this long enough and with a straight enough face, and the results can be entertaining 🙂
that’s so weird. teasing (ribbing as we call it, as in an elbow to the ribs) is a way of life for me; my wife and i tease each other mercilessly. her family is terrible that way and it’s awesome. in my mind, you can’t take yourself too seriously.
but I hear from non-USians all the time that united states people do not take kindly to teasing. I wonder why that is?
hmm, i wanna know that secret. i’m plenty teasable. 😛 and it seems like it’s been forever since you blogged from australia. i thought you were supposed to go there for half the year.
wooohooo, halloween!! do they have that in australia? it’s my favorite holiday.
just to be clear, are the u.s.-ians in the audience supposed to start teasing you to prove our chops? because I can start any time.
Tim: Nope.
very well then, I will stick to the “read and admire, but no teasing” agenda.
I should point out that, while never teased, I have been hated on more than one occasion.
So, can people from australia be called ‘australian’ and ‘aussies’?? Just wondering
i really want to read the books from the other authors that were there too.
i’ve never teased either.
i’m definitly not unteasable. i don’t really know anyone who would fit that. hmmm… i’ve never met anyone like that before.
I like teasing, but it’s gotta be a two-way street.
Maybe her posture puts off little red flags into everyone’s brains not to tease her. Usually the way people hold themselves can influence how other people talk to them.
when I was young and did any kind of teasing, my psychotherapist mother would say, “there’s truth in every joke” and I was soon cured of ever teasing anyone or taking any pleasure in being teased
i can take a small bit of teasing on some subjects but am easily hurt by that now-ingrained idea that a criticism is actually meant, or an anger expressed, beneath the surface.
I rarely tease other people and when I do it often goes wrong, somehow
(I am American! not sure what that has to do with it, but there you go)
Please do not tickle me, either
gosh. I can’t believe that some people have never been teased. for my family, teasing is a way of life. and i tease my friends. and they never stop teasing me. i’m quirky…of course everyone teases me. but almost always in good fun.
what is up with my fellow usians? how can they not be teased?
as your teasing of me has turned into an entire freaking movement I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer this question.
well, there’s two kinds of teasing. there’s the mean kind and the fun kind. the mean kind is when someone wants to be mean and tries to cover it with a joke. that’s not cool. the fun kind is, well, fun. i’ve received plenty of both.
the aussies i’ve met seem to have mastered the art of good-natured teasing. many americans have not. couldn’t tell you why…
I am very teasable, but the fun thing about teasing me is that I go along with it and help you tease me better. Because teasing is funny, but only when no one gets hurt.
… a little late, and probably irrelevent…
Rebecca: No, we don’t have halloween.
Teasing is the best. in my circle if you can’t tease someone they are one of two things: not your friend, or a stick in the mud.
Amy: so true.