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"Manners ? Do you understand the meaning of the word ?" Then it was you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Yes ashamed 'for such goings on', maybe a movie line, the shame of no-manners, no-privacy politic.
She boxed their ears up one-side and down the others. I had never heard anything like it. She took on the whole crowd alone, sitting in her chair. I was so glad she came to my defence as I was melting mortified. A situation like this could be dangerous. The taboo was one of, although I don't remember which one, some characteristic of character I had noticed, but unbeknownst to me, a national cliche like French lovers, "like the guy I've noticed ..." and didn't realize my observation was a negative stereocast, and maybe I thought wet behind the ears as I was, the first one to say it. These sorts of national character sensitivities were so seemingly prevalent in these quarters, openly between overtly, as the Irish Protestants and Catholics, characterizing each other as baffin-buffoons, and getting upset when the banana peel was thrown back. There was not a verbiage pugilist to be found in the place. She started up our "private" conversation again, after she had read them their slights, and the place went back to what it was.
It got late and we got up to leave and much of the crowd had left. There were young guys longing at the bar. As I was filing past and out, they gave me unexpectedly friendly looks which I appreciated. And I returned the look: "I really didn't mean anything by it, just making conversation, like a tourist showing off, that had been some-place, so much so, that had noticed certain differences". And I was in sweet radiation with her and she was married.
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