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How do you know??

Started by BagPipeBabe, November 21, 2008, 03:28:45 PM

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BagPipeBabe

When you are talking to other rennies at the fair and they asking about you, how do you know who to answer as. I was talking to a few rennies last year and they would get confused when they would ask something like "were are you from?" and I would say "the island of Mull off the cost of Scotland."

Carl Heinz

Depends on whether you're where the public can hear you.

If within hearing, keep in character.  You can, however, use euphamisims.  "I live in a southern shire on west coast where angles have been known to visit."  If that's too obscure for your audience then it's a lost cause, anyway. :)
Carl Heinz
Guild of St Cuthbert

BLAKDUKE

Quote from: BagPipeBabe on November 21, 2008, 03:28:45 PM
When you are talking to other rennies at the fair and they asking about you, how do you know who to answer as. I was talking to a few rennies last year and they would get confused when they would ask something like "were are you from?" and I would say "the island of Mull off the cost of Scotland."

when asked that question on the field, I always answer "from England of course, where else would I be from'.
Ancient swordsman/royalty
Have Crown/Sword Will Travel

DuCoeur



I am not on Cast, so dropping character is not as big a deal to me as others....(you know who you are)

I believe it would depend on where you are in the conversation....If it is a first meeting then deliver your story in character.  As the conversation progresses you can enter a "In sooth, I am so and so from here and there."

It is  a natural progression of conversation. 
I would rather endure a thousand biblical hells then live a life of perpetual inconsequence.

Dev

I just tell them I'm from the mountains "that way" and point south.

It's true IC or OOC.

DuCoeur

Quote from: Dev on November 27, 2008, 09:39:49 AM
I just tell them I'm from the mountains "that way" and point south.

It's true IC or OOC.


lol...That would work also!!!

I would rather endure a thousand biblical hells then live a life of perpetual inconsequence.

Lady Renee Buchanan

I'm not on cast, so when someone asks me where I'm from, I just tell them "Galena."  Of course, if I were on cast, I would keep in character of whomever I was portraying.

But we go to the faire to have fun, and I can't be bothered to try not to forget an accent, a character, etc.   I have highest regards for those who do keep in character, but I know it's not for me, so I don't worry about it or even think about it.
A real Surf Diva
Landshark who loves water
Chieftesse Surf'n Penny of Clan O'Siodhachain,
Irish Penny Brigade
Giver of Big Hugs 
Member since the beginning of RF
All will be well. St. Julian of Norwich

Welsh Wench

#7
If it is a jerk, I say 'My father owns a dairy farm in Wisconsin'.
Seeing that this is a Florida faire.... ;D
Show me your tan lines..and I'll show you mine!

I just want to be Layla.....

BLAKDUKE

Quote from: Welsh Wench on November 30, 2008, 01:35:59 PM
If it is a jerk, I say 'My father owns a dairy farm in Wisconsin'.
Seeing that this is a Florida faire.... ;D

Somehow I always thought you were a milkmaid in disguise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ancient swordsman/royalty
Have Crown/Sword Will Travel

Welsh Wench

Maybe hanging around the stablehands was a dead giveway.  :D
Show me your tan lines..and I'll show you mine!

I just want to be Layla.....

Carl

When we are in royal garb I am Conte Carlos Valla and my wife is always Contessa Gabriella we try to keep up an Italian accent and throw in any  Italian words we know(printed out a basic phrases sheet from the internet). When I am in my Musketeer garb I am Charles de Montcalm and tell everyone I am guarding the Contessa while her husband is away raising armies to retake the Duchy. (of couse I do my outragous French accent you silly dogs)I sometimes get a stange look from people I met the day before as the Musketeer wig  will throw them off and they think I am someone else. But usally we don't keep up the personna when we are with rennies.But when we walk around we try to stay in character as much as possible with mundanes. If I am wearing any thing else I speak in an English accent
Castleteer
Bretheren of the Great Lakes
Outlander
FOKTOP
True heirto the Duchy of Savoy
Rivet'n Penny

Carl Heinz

#11
I suspect I'm going to irritate some folks, but I really don't care for the term "mundanes".

If I were to be really snarky, I'd say that if you aren't a theme character or a participant, you're mundane.

However, this gets into the old discussions on AFR about "US versus THEM".

At what point does someone cease being mundane?  Is someone in a chain mail bikini a mundane?  Is someone protraying Jack Sparrow a mundane?  Is someone in pirate (not privateer) garb at an event based on Tudor England a mundane?  Is someone in the garb of a wizard a mundane?  Am I a mundane because I now have to ride a mobility scooter even though it's a hobby horse with wheels?  I could say that from my point of view, if you aren't portraying an Elizabethan character at an Elizabethan event, you're mundane.

But I don't like the term "Mundane".

To me, if you attend faire because you enjoy being there, whether in garb or not, you're one of the family and not mundane.  If you paid at the gate or have a gate pass, you're not mundane.  You're there because you want to be there.  And I will greet you and interact with you as being one of us--assuming that you want me to.

It's not us versus them.  We're at faire because that's where we want to be--all of us.  There aren't any mundanes at faire.  (I'll grant that unruly drunks are probably an exception.  But should they be there in the first place?)

Many postings here deal with people we encounter outside of faire.  But, when we classify them as mundanes, we fail to give them the opportunity to visit faire and find out for themselves what faire is like.  We should try to tell them about faire and invite them to attend.  I gues I'd have to classify those who don't want to be associated with faire as mundanes, but they should be given the chance.

How many here invite folks they encounter while shopping to come see us at faire?  I've even gotten a couple of my doctors interested in attending as well as my usual checkers at Costco. :)  But this is a whole different topic.
Carl Heinz
Guild of St Cuthbert

crazyrennie

I was taught-perhaps incorrectly,that a mundane was anyone not in the cast(or group that you happened to be with-ECS,SCA,Adria.et all)was a mundane.

Now I realize that mundane is just a state of mind.

maelstrom0370

I always thought "Mundane" just referred to those not in some sort of garb.  So, IMHO, chain maille bikinis, Jack Sparrows, Trekkies and Storm Troopers would not be considered "mundane".  I was a "mundane" up until about two years ago and, while I knew the term, I never took it in a negative way.

As to the topic at hand, I'm still new to being "in character" so I'd probably answer "Saginaw, you?".

Richard de Graeme

Mundane is anyone mundanely discussing the mundanes of the mundane (having the mendacity to mundanely bring this to your attention as it were and therefore........where's me pipe.....) 8)
"For it is the doom of man that they forget."
NE OUBLIE!
Purveyor of dubious wisdom
Player of spoons
Herbalist

Carl Heinz

I've been known to visit faires in civies.  This is usually because I don't want to interact with other visitors as though I were a participant.  This is usually on my first visit to an event that's new to me so that I'll know where such things as the privies are so that I'll be able to assist others if asked.  At other times, to be truthful, I just don't want to be bothered.

However, I'll generally interact with those I know from other events as though I were in costume.  Back in the days before I kept the beard between events, I also found it to be amusing to walk up behind someone I knew only the the context of another event and start talking.  It sometimes took several minutes before I was identified. :)

So I don't think mundane is necessarily garb related.  Wouldn't most folks at an event whether in costume or not be there because they wanted to be there?  If that's the case, then I wouldn't say they were mundane.  Their ability to interact within a persona is more one of skill or interest.  Not attitude.  YMMV

I would agree that the "Mundane Topics" forum generally meets my understanding in that most of those threads are not event related.

Mundane is mundane is mundane??  Mundane isn't faire??
Carl Heinz
Guild of St Cuthbert

Tammy

As this is my first year going to faire I don't have an answer that's on topic.

On the Mundane conversation though...I thought this was interesting...
mundane
Adjective
1. everyday, ordinary, and therefore not very interesting
2. relating to the world or worldly matters [Latin mundus world]

Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006


Royal Protector of Raccoons, Mistress of the Poi, Best Friend of Windland/Nim, Guppy, Seamstress for The Feisty Lady.

Carl Heinz

Hi, Emma and welcome.

The term "mundane" has frequently been applied to that category of folks perhaps better described a "them" versus non-mundane or "us" within the context of historical reenactment.

I think this usage started within the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) and spread to faires. 

A lot of my comments harken back to a number of discussions (now a number of years old) on the alt.faires.renaissance usenet news group (AFR).  The point I've tried to make both in the old AFR discussions and here is that we can't afford to have such a division.  To do so discourages ticket buying customers and faires are already running so close to the bone that we can't afford to alienate those who pay for our playpens by making them feel like they're outsiders.

This does trouble some faire purists who feel that we should adhere to strict historical accuracy.  But I think we can keep close to this while still making all visitors welcome.  Those who wish to interact on that level can still do so, but we shouldn't chase away the pirates and klingons at an Elizabethan event.  Who knows, perhaps they'll decide that they want to start playing at that level.  But we shouldn't exclude those who don't.  I've had fun with Jack Sparrows, klingons, pirates, fairy princesses, and folks in "civies" as well as those who want to interact within the context of the event.  I also interact with children and others, likey myself, who are mobility challenged.  If nothing else, Sparky/Lightning provides a photo op. :)

Come play and enjoy.
Carl Heinz
Guild of St Cuthbert