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September 11, 2005
Bizutage
It's that time of year again.
I was half asleep after watching a video -- The Final Cut; I couldn't stay awake -- with Nathalie. Rain was pouring down outside as I drove back from returning the video. A teenage girl comes up to my car:
Can you tell me the way to Saint Marcel d'en Bas?No, sorry.
It takes me a long time to remember the names of places. Later Nathalie said the kid I talked to wasn't joking. Saint Marcel d'en Bas is up the hill. Not ideally located with respect to the station in Pontcharra, given that it was getting quite late, the rain was getting stronger, and none of the bizuts down there seemed to have a clue or a car.
The bizutage tradition is something I avoided in the US, since I wasn't a fraternity type of guy. I avoided it in France because I went to University. There wasn't enough esprit de corps to abuse each other gratuitously. It's too unscientific and episodic to cause real brainwashing, right? Not nearly as effective as putting people through boot camp, or having them work for a living.
By the time I got home I'd awakened enough to worry that those kids were going to get sick or worse out there. Nathalie said never mind, they'll get out their mobile phones and call someone if it gets too bad, or they'll sleep at a bus stop. And I guess we've all done worse than that voluntarily at one time or another.
Posted by Mark at September 11, 2005 10:16 AM