2015-05-01 I'll tell me to tell you to tell me what I'm not

[JoybuzzerX]

Personally, if I find someone calling my faith as "New Age Spiritual BS", I'd be really offended. I grew up believing in my faith and religion and some guy who doesn't believe in it decides to say out loud that it's a New Age-y lie, shrugging off years/decades/centuries of the faith's existence? That's just offensive and rude. I mean, it's okay if you don't believe in it, I'm not gonna attack you for that, but why would you demean and insult the person's belief just cos you don't believe in it? And to laugh at it as well? I dunno... that does come off as bigoted.

I'd be okay if Spid is actually saying that an Indian Spiritual girl in a lesbian bar seems out of place, but he actually said "New Age Spiritual BS". That's really not at all saying that the girl is out of place.

I don't care what card you're carrying, it does not give you the right to laugh or insult another person's religion/faith.

But it happens a lot on these forums, just usually a majority will agree on what to hate on

[Spidrift]

Of all the things to get one's hackles up over, something so tame as a granola girl might seem like it ought to be pretty far down the list...

Who's hackles are up? I find granola girl types (and their male counterparts - let's not be sexist about this) ridiculous, but not annoying.

(It may help that they're rarely in positions of power, mind. Flaky religious/"spiritual" types in a position to inflict their ideas on the rest of us are a more worrying phenomenon.)

[Cortez]

You are really not making yourself look good here.

[dmra]

The different reactions to the "I'm very spiritual" thing may well come down to the type of people you've encountered saying it.

I work in an office where quite a lot of people are from an Indian background. Some have a bindi some don't but I can't imagine any of those who do saying that they have it because they're "very spiritual".

On the other hand in the UK the bindi has been adopted by some people who aren't from that cultural background. For a lot of them it was being done as a kind of fashion statement rather than a genuine sign of belief, It was also done by the kind of person who also liked to dabble in kabbalah or crystals or other new age things. People who showed how spiritual they were by appropriating other peoples beliefs and symbols without really understanding them.

[smoothjohnny]

Curious thing:

Isn't Lavali a Hindu name?

[Artemisia]

LaVali is a french name, though normally spelled LaVallee or LaValley...and tends to be more French Canadian than French and a surname not a given name, but it is French. Spelled Lavali, it is the name of a place in Iran, but spelled LaVallee, it's a place in France. And I know dozens of people named LaValley here in Vermont.

[Azrael]

Lavali is a name of Sanskrit origins. It seems to mean clove.

Hmmm...I could swear we had this conversation before. Yes here it is:

A quick search on the name Lavali says it is Indian (Sanskrit) in origin. So, yes, I can see Lavali and Alex being English. With somewhat eccentric parents, perhaps.

[Zorlond]

There only so many syllables on Earth... : /

[Artemisia]

And, as I pointed out, LaVallee or LaValley are French...so taking into account possible spellings Lavali is perfectly reasonably French.

The only person who can answer its origins is Dave01.

[brasca]

Regardless of how spiritual the girl with the bindi is or is not Sandra's behavior is just the kind of thing Eva could spin into cultural insensitivity or racism if she is not careful. She is not of course so Lavali will have to be the one to save the day.

[Spidrift]

She'd need a fairly detailed description of Sandra's behaviour, though - otherwise it's just "model gets drunk and acts a bit weird in lesbian bar", which is embarrassing but probably not lethal. I can't help thinking that there must be more to Eva's plan than this...

[wiseguy]

And, as I pointed out, LaVallee or LaValley are French...so taking into account possible spellings Lavali is perfectly reasonably French.

The only person who can answer its origins is Dave01.

usually when it comes to things like that, the answer is the change of one language to the other, and her parents Anglicized Lavellee, just like lot of people like Spanish Ramon but change it to Ramone in the USA when naming their kids

[Artemisia]

Very true, Wiseguy. My family is French and Spanish, mostly, so our names got mangled when we came over. I have relatives named LaValley, and a lot of people do use surnames for first names, so Lavali makes sense.