C2 - Friday, January 11, 1985 - North Shore News

ANNOYING TO INFURIA TING
Pet names offensive in offi

EAR MISS MANNERS — We work in a
25-person text i

processing department,

under a female department head who
seldom calls us by our given names.

miss

- Manners

by Judith Martin

“Instead; : she. uses
diminutive . ‘‘endearments””
like. “‘babe,’”:: ‘‘dolly’’ . and
“hon,” although - she ‘ob-
viously has neither. the friend-
ly feelings “nor. the- close
relationship with ‘mest :of us
that ~ these. forms, imply.
Rather; ‘she. uses them on the
run, Gr when she wants some-
thing’ from: us’—- as if she is
tor hirtied: to remember our
nates, dr. wants-ta give us
the “fleeting .illusion of being
“in”? with, the. boss.

oN

of-us is fooled by this -

especially

she-tears: through the,

W lere’

He is also a: three-toed .

extraterrestrial. who crash-

lands on. Earth in New York.

‘.harbor and hides out in
Harlem to escape the white
bounty hunters who have
chased him through the solar
system.

That’s the synopsis of the

latest. in a long list of sci-fi
flicks to. hit the: screens of
Vancouver . theatres. For-
- tunately, The Brother From
Another Planet brings a
fresh, funny point of view to
the screen.

Written, directed and
edited by John Sayles (The
Return of the Secacus Seven,
Lianna, Baby. It’s You) The
Brother From Another
Planet ‘is a low-budget‘ film
shot with humor and insight.

The story is delivered with
a cynical; ‘black sense of
humor that points out just
how alien our own planet can
be to those who live on it,

Through the eyes and
hands of the brother (Joe
Morton), the inner-life of
Harlem is, explored. The

” Office with a “How are ya,
babe?’’ which.. she's not
within ea-shot long enough
to hear the answer to. We all
find her salutations anything
from mildly annoying to ab-
solutely infuriating.

Now. her. particular...

favorites :and assistants are
begianing to. pick -up the
habit, calling ‘the rest of ‘us
(although ‘they are “younger

than many of: us) .“‘hon,’? -
“‘dear,”” etc., even though’
there is absolutely ‘nothing ~

but professional civility bet-
ween us.

How can: we, ‘emphatically

but without incurring her
{easily aroused) professional
wrath, tell ‘‘babe’’ that we
have had it with her
phoniness, and that we like
our names?

GENTLE READER: —
You have no idea how reliev-
ed Miss Manners is that the

boss in question is a female,

addressing other females.
rather than a male.

In this case, the habit has,
as you pointed out, spread.
What you may properly and
inoffensively do is to issue a
Memorandum, signed by as
many people as possible,
stating something like:

‘“‘We have noticed a

general tendency in the office
lately toward sloppy, pseudo-
social language, which seems
out of keeping with the effi-
ciency and professionalism of
this department. in the in-

terests of keeping a dignified.

working atmosphere, we

would like to suggest that we ©

all get into the habit of ad-

dressing one another formal- °
fy, rather than by nicknames, :
slang phrases (‘sweetie’, or

whatever).””

DEAR MISS MANNERS '

— My wife- has told me on
many occasions that~ she

*. needs room to grow. and be’

her own self. I said fine, but

there are still customs reserv-
ed for married couples.

As we walked to our car
from a suburban theatre, so-
meone honked their horn.
My wife turned around.

I told my wife that no lady
in the company of a
gentleman turns her head
when she hears a car’s honk.
The argument was on.

GENTLE READER — A
lady, married or unmarried,
in the company of a
gentleman or alone ignores a
cas’s honk or a man’s: whis-
tle, unless she is blocking
traffic or unaware that she is
on a construction site. with
building parts about to des-
cend on her head. In cither of
those two cases, she moves
fast. In-any other case, ‘she
puts her nose in the air and
continues at her ncrmal pace.

You may be. interested td
know that Miss “Manners,
who is aware that there are
times when married ladies do
such things as to leave for the

’ Riviera. without: previously
‘notifying their husbands, is

considering issuing the decree
that henceforth no lady may
properly tell her husband that
she needs room to grow and
be her own’ self..Nor may
gentlemen so remark to o their

“wives.

$s the brotherly love?

. JHE BROTHER is black and has a bounty
on his head.

_ .By COLIN LAMONT

brother cannot speak and ex-
amines his new home through
sight and vibrations of past

- and present events picked up
through his hands.

Alone, clad in rags, the
brother resembles a wino
more than an alien from
another planet,.He wanders
through Harlem learning the
ways’ of its residents and the

difference between daytime’ '

and. nighttiine life. ‘on the
“Streets.

Director Sales was smart to
let ‘his aiien blend in with the
blacks of Harlem while let-
ting. the brother see the
lifestyle as a new experience.

~ In fact, everything is a new
experience to the brother. At
first, the blacks he.meets are
‘suspicious of him because he
can't speak.. Wandering into
a bar, he samples booze for
the first time and takes a
violent dislike to it. Money is
an unknown concept to him.
He soon learns that man will

do almost anything for it, in-
cluding killing.

The brother is accepted by
the patrons of a local bar
when he demons trates’ his
ability to fix things simply by
passing a hand over a
malfunctioning video game.
Amazed by his skill, his
Harlem brothers fix up a job
for him, repairing video
games in an arcade.

Here, the scene where the
brother listens to a young
gizl, alienated like most
teens, brings. out Sayle’s
specia: brand of comic relief’.
The girl tells the brother that
she often feels that she is far
ahead. of everyone and that
things move too slow for her.
As the. current champ of
video games, she complains
that for just once, she would
like to find a video game that
could keep up to her,

Obligingly, the brother
speeds up the video game ‘un-
til the exuberant teen is
playing at her best. For a fev
minutes, the two have met
one another on an equal
basis, sharing and understan-
ding the feeling of being so
apart from everyone around
them,

Don't Forget.
‘PARK ROYAL

Located this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
in South Mali/East, West & The Marketplace

While the entire black cast
plays their part weil,
characters like Virgil (Sidney
Sherrif, Jr.) stand out. When
the brother tries heroin after
seeing so many other young
blacks indulging in it, Virgil
guides him through the night,
pointing out the anger, fear,
and frustrations of Harlem,
or any other ghetto.

The brother learns much
about his new home while
evading the bounty hunters
who have tracked him into
Harlem, Directer Sayle plays
one of the bounty hunters,
clad in black, with sunglasses
and cat-like screeches coming
out of his throat. The brother
eludes them while slowly
coming to accept and identify
with Harlem.

The Brother From Another
Planet is sometimes hilarious
but never far from its
message of what blacks have
lost and gained since they
have been in the U.S. For a
silent hero, the brother has a
lot to say. The Brother From
Another Planet is now play-
ing at the Cineplex Royal
Centre on W. Georgia.

y “AN ALTERNATE 7.
KINDERGARTEN. PROGRAM

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