ext_147832 ([identity profile] aerofish.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] lkh_lashouts2006-04-16 04:36 am

Something that has been bugging me...

Hello, all. I'm new to this group and this is my first post. I figured I'd introduce myself with this peeve of mine.

I was reading the sample chapters for the next Anita book, and it was mentioned Anita is 27. This made me back up and go WTF(well, more than I already was). I know Anita is supposed to be in her twenties, yet that fact just never seems to stick, and I constantly find myself envisioning her as mid-30s with the mind-set, perhaps, of someone much older, if not the maturity. And giving her the age of 27 in this upcoming book really drove home the point to me, as that is my age.

Anita does not act like any twenty-something I know. For any of you around Anita's age, do you feel the same way? And I know I'm making a sweeping generalization about how a 25-30 year old should act, but shouldn't there be some consistencies with the popular culture for this age group? I have so many examples, but here's two obvious ones:

-Does she dress like someone my age dresses? Maybe if it were the 80's or early 90's, with her silk shell blouses and pantyhose and power jackets. Maybe she's going for a retro-ironic hipster thing, and I'm too dull to see it?

-She speaks with none of the slang commonly used. And while yes, "nifty" is a, well, nifty word...it's not exactly the cornerstone of a young person's vocabulary, right? Doesn't she, in one book referencing her brother's opinion of her line of work, even say something like "he says it's cool, or whatever the kids are saying these days?" Uh. Right.

In general, this is such a minor pet peeve, what with the many many MANY issues with her books I am having these days. But still, shouldn't there be a least a few references here and there anchoring Anita to the age she is supposed to be?

[identity profile] russian.livejournal.com 2006-04-16 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I mentioned this to my ex-boyfriend just yesterday.

Something along the lines of, "Why does she always wear silk shirts and fucking black jeans and a fanny pack? Way to be lame."
(deleted comment)

[identity profile] delphinapterus.livejournal.com 2006-04-16 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
A good question, let me see, from personal experiance, it seems to be diabetics or older women and men.

[identity profile] russian.livejournal.com 2006-04-17 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
To be fair, she hasn't mentioned the fanny pack in a while ... but the black jeans has always killed me. I own one pair, and that's because I had to wear black pants for work, and got away with black jeans. But I can't remember the last time I saw anyone under 56 wearing them casually.

[identity profile] vanity-lost.livejournal.com 2006-04-17 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
I re-imagine them as those really dark jeans... or I have some friends in posession of punky (admittedly jr's department) black-washed jeans that were trendy for a year or so... I'm pretty sure that's not the way to describe them... but... they're black-ish. But with that aged/beaten-to-hell thing done to them. And some sort of clunky/punk/bejewelled/wonky belt thing.

That's what I pretend Laurell's talking about when she says black jeans. It makes it hurt less, but then I end up imagining Anita as a college freshman trying to be vaguely punk.