Weird – (adj) Strikingly odd or unusual.

When I lived in New York I loved to spend time in Manhattan. I wish I had taken better advantage of so much of the culture when I lived there. I went to some of the museums and a couple of Broadway plays, but never really looked into the restaurants or off-Broadway theater.

I did go to concerts though. Hundreds of them. One of my favorite areas was Greenwich Village with all of its nightclubs. Besides having a large gay population, the Village is a neighborhood where you will find tons of artists, musicians, and all sorts of “alt” types. Because of the eclectic nature of the people who lived there, it was fun to read through the personals section of the local paper, the Village Voice. I was talking with someone the other day and remembered one of the ads that I saw. It went something like this:

“Bi hermaphrodite likes bondage, latex, and roleplay. Looking for man who likes to give and receive. Serious inquiries only. No weirdos.”

Those last two words are what made the ad stick in my memory years after the fact. No weirdos.

Now I try not to judge people. Especially not by what they do with other consenting adults behind closed doors. With that disclaimer in place I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you’re a guy who’s seriously looking to get tied up in a rubber suit to play both top and bottom for a she-male, then you’re at least a little weird. I’m not saying that you’re a bad human being, but you have to admit that that particular behavior is at the very least “strikingly odd or unusual.”

I remember laughing about it at the time. In that particular way that you think about the perfect thing to say just after you should have said it, I wish I had that moment back. I would have written to the guy.

I would have written to him with this simple request: “Could you please explain to me what you would consider ‘weird.’ Please provide two or three examples.”

From my perspective I would think that he was a little weird himself, but think for a minute: If he’s weird to me, like way “out there” weird, then whatever he thinks is unacceptably weird would probably make my brain explode. I mean if you’re a going to place an ad like that, what constitutes a weirdo that you don’t want to deal with?

I didn’t ask the question, so now I’ll always wonder. How weird can weird get?