Answers I liked

[Katya]

https://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74896/

...from what I've noticed about life, it's the people who think they aren't bishop material that end up making great bishops. I would be more worried if your boyfriend was going around saying "You know, I'd make a great Bishop someday."

+1 Well put Concorde.

Seriously. So many misconceptions in that original question, but this was a particularly nice point.

[vorpal blade]

https://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74896/

...from what I've noticed about life, it's the people who think they aren't bishop material that end up making great bishops. I would be more worried if your boyfriend was going around saying "You know, I'd make a great Bishop someday."

+1 Well put Concorde.

My stake president used to say that he'd never recommend a man to be made a bishop who said that he should be a bishop. And he never did.

I'd be a little concerned if the reason for thinking he was not bishop material was because he didn't have a testimony. If the person meant that he had no empathy for others then I would be concerned. If he just didn't get tearful and emotional that would not be a problem. Besides, men get a lot more emotional as they get older.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74769/

@Concorde: UNTIL THEY GET OLD AND MOLDY.

[Marduk]

Was there an unbagged board member in those posts?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Former Board member, yes.

Not that I've ever met him, but, hey.

[Concorde]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74769/

@Concorde: UNTIL THEY GET OLD AND MOLDY.

AND MAY THAT DAY NEVER COME!
Seriously, I've had that squash for like three months. I'm fairly certain it's magical or radioactive or something. Sometimes it glows.

[Portia]

Um, what is a 'Christian town'? Pretty sure mainstream Christians think Mormons are going to hell, FWIW. As someone who is moving back to Utah, this really makes me super duper excited for the culture wars, yup.

I feel like starting an Association for Non-Mormon Non-Christian Utah People Who Aren't Dicks.

[mic0]

There's a Unitarian Universalist church in Utah Valley, that's pretty close to that association you've come up with.

[wryness]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone notices a lot more inappropriate behavior in Utah simply because of the emotional response that is connected to the events (the disgust, surprise, etc. when someone realizes that another Mormon has treated them poorly). It's a lot easier to recognize and remember events that are associated with a strong emotional response.

I'd also suspect that there is a converse but similar reaction for Utah Mormons; if they're not the traveling type and then they venture out elsewhere in the world, their brains are probably going to expect to see (and then fulfill that prophecy), "Oh, look at the rude/bad stuff that all of the non-Mormons are doing!"

If we expect something to be positively different and it's the same, it can seem negatively different. If we expect things to seem negatively different, they might appear that way even if they're not that different.

...then again, in my rural hometown I never saw a man passed out drunk on the sidewalk after a hard night of partying. So, there's that, too.

[Portia]

But how do you know the religious affiliation of the guy who cut you off or the woman giving the middle finger? Why don't we all just try to be decent, civilized people and leave Christianity out of it.

[wryness]

EDIT: I guess I didn't really address the question. I'd just argue that it's hard not to have Mormon-ness in mind when you think you're in an area with lots of Mormons. I'd think about Catholics if I were in Rome or Italy/Spain in general, for example. Fun With Stereotypes!
- - -
We should just expect everyone to be civilized, but when you live in an area with a large population of any group, there tend to be divided expectations. As a Mormon, I have a very concrete set of expectations about what Mormons are supposed to do. I might make snap judgments about supposed non-Mormons' values, but I don't generally get as frustrated with them because I have an easy excuse (blame it on their supposed lack of values)--whereas if a Mormon is a jerk to me, I am frustrated because I hold them to a higher standard. I might not even hold myself to that standard all the time, but I expect it of someone who is part of that same cultural group. It's the whole mote-beam thing, I think.

Of course that is a hypothetical "me" in the paragraph above--I hope I'm not really that prejudiced!

The solution is to simply give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I like my sister's approach--whenever someone cuts us off on the freeway, she just says "they are probably hurrying to the hospital because their wife is about to give birth." Lots of babies coming, apparently...

[Dragon Lady]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74769/

@Concorde: UNTIL THEY GET OLD AND MOLDY.

AND MAY THAT DAY NEVER COME!
Seriously, I've had that squash for like three months. I'm fairly certain it's magical or radioactive or something. Sometimes it glows.

Concorde, that's because it's a winter squash. It has a hard shell. It's meant to last for many months. But... come late winter/early spring, I'm gonna be surprised if it's as hardy as it seems now.

[Concorde]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74769/

@Concorde: UNTIL THEY GET OLD AND MOLDY.

AND MAY THAT DAY NEVER COME!
Seriously, I've had that squash for like three months. I'm fairly certain it's magical or radioactive or something. Sometimes it glows.

Concorde, that's because it's a winter squash. It has a hard shell. It's meant to last for many months. But... come late winter/early spring, I'm gonna be surprised if it's as hardy as it seems now.

Then I shall make the most of the dwindling time we still have together.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Please take fake engagement pictures with it and post them on facebook for everyone you know to love.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Dear Concorde,

I find it highly amusing that your squash got more votes than ANY of the baby pictures. All of them. And is the second highest voted question from the last week, only to Rating Pending's retirement. In fact, if you didn't know, you're already on the "best answers this quarter" list with that.

Props.

Gio

[Concorde]

Am I really? Dang. I feel kind of bad about that. I mean, those were all cute babies and pets and stuff and I was kind of a loser and posted a cop-out squash picture and steal all the thunder.

Oops...

[Portia]

Am I really? Dang. I feel kind of bad about that. I mean, those were all cute babies and pets and stuff and I was kind of a loser and posted a cop-out squash picture and steal all the thunder.

Oops...

Don't feel bad for one second. Babies are boring. Squashes are adorable.

[bobtheenchantedone]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74998/

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE JUST TELL HER THE WORD IS "SECEDE"

[Dragon Lady]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/74998/

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE JUST TELL HER THE WORD IS "SECEDE"

Oh my goodness, yes. That was pretty much my thought exactly. When I got through the third answer on the second question and no one had still corrected her... [sigh]

[bobtheenchantedone]

I mean really guys. I am in a creative writing class. Let's sort out these wrong word uses now before I'm editing the story of a 40-year-old woman who doesn't know the difference between "waived" and "waved."