Monday, August 13, 2012

This Is Only Funny If You're From Utah

This photo was sent to me in a re-tweet by the folks advertising the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, which is going on right now.
Keep in mind a couple of things: 1) I used to live in Edinburgh.  I am very familiar with the Fringe Festival and the crowds of street performers -- many of them foreign -- who compete for tourists' attention on the Royal Mile (the street running downhill from the Castle to the Palace) in hopes of getting larger audiences for their paid shows.  (In fact, I use this whole set up in my soon-to-be-published novel, All in the Half-Vampire Family, as Eric goes to Edinburgh to perform at the Fringe Festival.)  2) I am also a 5th-generation Utah Mormon, descended on both sides from some of the original pioneers who came to Utah before the railroad, traveling by covered wagon (not by handcart -- because my ancestors weren't stupid enough to fall for that).  3) I also tend to be what is frowned upon by many as a rather "intellectual" Mormon, and I don't confuse tradition with actual doctrine.
Keeping all that in mind, try to grasp what ran through my mind as I clicked through the link and saw this photo sent by some unknown guy enjoying the Fringe on the Royal Mile and using his cell phone today:
1st thought: "Whoa!  Polygamists in Scotland???!!!"
2nd thought: "No, their hair's wrong.  Oh, it's a Young Women's choir!"
3rd thought: "No, you duffus.  A Young Women's choir wouldn't perform at the Fringe!  They're normal performers doing Sound of Music."
4th thought: "Wait.  There are too many girls and no boys.  It's not Sound of Music.  Maybe it's Paint Your Wagon."
5th thought: "What the heck IS this??!!"

7 comments:

  1. :) Yup, I've been in Utah too long, the first thing I thought when I saw the picture was, like you, "Polygamists"

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  2. Haha! That's awesome. I keep seeing women dressed like this in TJ Maxx and I can't figure out what they're supposed to be, and why the heck they're in TJ Maxx. Doesn't really matter, just curious.

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    1. Well, we can probably rule out "Store Models," unless they're part of a time-travel singing group and were accidentally sent to 2012 instead of 1977 to model the GunnySax line.

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  3. Mac commented on Goodreads:
    That is so cool to know about your heritage. I'm so envious. Three sides of my family were black sheep that struck out on their own for the west...no connections--have native American relations on both sides of the fraternal side (my granddad had no facial hair...I always found that so funny).

    My mothers parents were fresh off the boat from England...and kept no connections either.

    I guess it sounds like I know more about my family...but all I have is, "I think they were..."s

    My best friend through grade school and HS was Mormon. I played on his stake's basketball team. Fun memories.

    My...I was chatty today.

    - Mac

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