Asking the time

[robinturner]

More from McCaughy's book:

Quigley [a self-defence instructor] first instructs women to take on an assertive posture in daily life. She suggests that a woman mark a man with her eyes, avoid answering men who ask what time it is, and not to worry about being polite to them."

Is asking the time in America some kind of a come-on? Maybe I'm naive, but in both Britain and Turkey I've had lots of women ask me for the time, or a light or whatever, and it never occurred to me that they had designs on my honour; I had innocently assumed that the same applied in reverse. OK, asking a question like that can sometimes be a prelude to a chat-up, though for that purpose they're almost as corny as "Do you come here often", but I'd be seriously worried about living in a society where it inevitably meant that, or was a prelude to mugging or whatever.

Comments

[asteriskhere.livejournal.com]

Funny, it's usually girls who ask me what time it is, maybe because guys know that when they ask a girl if she's got the time it typically means he's trying to hit on her. I think that if you're sitting on a bus and someone asks the time it's usually sincere, because they're on their way somewhere obviously and want to know if they'll be late. But when it happens as you're walking down the street and a guy tries to stop you to ask the time, in that case, I'd say don't stop to tell him.