What makes me laugh
(and I truly mean no offence to those of you that have all this stuff done) is that I suspect I have led a much more 'alternative' life than a lot of body-modifying types - to the extent that I spend my time desperately trying to conceal this from the world at large rather than making it really fucking obvious by, say, putting nails through my eyelids or whatever you crazy kids get up to these days.

When I say it makes me laugh, I don't mean it genuinely makes me actually laugh, you understand.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:31, 5 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

not everyone gets piercings and tattoos to try and be different
some people like having piercings and tattoos.

Also, that was pretty patronising.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:34, Reply)

I'm not talking about you personally.
I've known really quite large numbers of 'Torture Garden' types in my time, including some chappies who performed an American Indian-style hook-hanging event in a Bethnal Green loft, on the whole I have found them to be, outside of this one sphere of activity, rather staid.

The biggest genuine deviants/nutters I've known have invariably looked rather ordinary.

Also, I am pretty patronising.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:38, Reply)

*shuffles uneasily*
*tries to blend in*
(Bret Mong Keys Eggs has wet his weapon, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:40, Reply)

Fair enough
I don't like when people call lump me in with all the 'alternative kids' though because I don't really think I am. Plus no one is alternative these days, emo has taken over as the norm.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:42, Reply)

Agreed
Emo and chav groups are about equal in size in a lot of cities nowadays. The counterculture has become mainstream.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:43, Reply)

you have black hair!
you must be emo!
( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:43, Reply)

It's brown. Ish.
Naturally quite blonde though!
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:47, Reply)

excuse me
but I think that sounds a little bit emo
(Bret Mong Keys Eggs has wet his weapon, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:43, Reply)

it's all inspiration for my poetry

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:47, Reply)

I have been tempted to try a suspension
I've heard it can be quite a euphoric experience.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:42, Reply)

gross.

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:47, Reply)

Try having a dump after dropping a pill
much nicer.
( Undulating Tentacles of Love getting fun down to acceptable levels, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:48, Reply)

I don't do drugs
But a good shit is pretty euphoric.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:50, Reply)

call your boss a cunt and then accuse him/her of sexual advances
You'll be suspended all right.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:50, Reply)

I'm not getting metal put in me to be 'alternative'
I get piercings and tattoos because I want them. I'd love for tattoos to be more socially acceptable, so long as it's well-regulated to stop any chav twunt buying a shoddy tattoo gun off eBay and permanently scarring their friends.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:34, Reply)

I know you're not. You're a level-headed and sensible fellow (if that's not patronising)
But do you really contest that the 'scene' is peppered with 'look at me' types? I'm not trying to belittle anyone's personal choices but I do know more than a few idiots who fit that description and my brother wrote his thesis on 'modern primitives' - I'm not just opining in the hope of a disagreement, here.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:46, Reply)

I do not contest that some folk do it for the attention.
But do disagree with every heavily pierced or tattooed person being lumped into the 'look at me' category.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:48, Reply)

I didn't for a moment suggest that this applied to everyone.
I said 'a lot of body-modifying types' - and I'm afraid from the sample I've known - and I really have known more than just one or two - the folks more often than not looked like they lived an alternative lifestyle (and frequently had chosen a 'striking' look precisely to give this impression), but in fact really did not.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:53, Reply)

What constitutes an alternative lifestyle?
How many practitioners of a defining activity would it take before that activity ceased being alternative?
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:55, Reply)

That's a fascinating and difficult question to answer
I would define an alternative lifestyle by a combination of the following

* sexual so-called 'deviancy'
* 'alternative' living arrangements (squatting, communes, travelling etc.)
* use of MASSIVE DRUGS or alcohol to excess
* refusal to work for a living in the traditional way inc being a criminal

Thinking about it, in somewhere like Camden the regular 9-5 straight looking dudes are the ones living an alternative lifestyle...
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 14:07, Reply)

It would have to be alternative to what's considered your local/societal norm
People that live 24/7 BDSM lifestyles would definitely be considered alternative, as would the total recluse/outcast who lives in a hut in the countryside living off the land.

You could argue that any alcohol use in the UK would not be considered alternative, no matter the quantities, and that being tee-total is more alternative.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 14:12, Reply)

In a sense that's true
I was thinking about homeless drunks really, rather than 'liking a drink or two'.

But it's very much a term wide open to massively different interpretations, for sure.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 14:18, Reply)

I read that as:
wah wah massive drugs wah wah my cats gone wah wah you all suck I am better than you
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:36, Reply)

Why is everyone bullying Monty today? Is it his turn this week or something?

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:40, Reply)

he's being intolerant

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:42, Reply)

It's the gas chamber for you.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:46, Reply)

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:48, Reply)

OPPRESSED
Although now I've angrily said that, I'm doubting myself...
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:49, Reply)

is it?
I always thought it was re.

EDIT: Google says I'm the winner.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 14:25, Reply)

I thought repressed was something you did to yourself
Oppressed is done by an outside source.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 14:29, Reply)

Poor Lactose, always feeling hard done by.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:50, Reply)

I didn't realise I was living an alternate lifestyle by having tattoos and piercings.
Now I feel super edgy and kewl.
( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:38, Reply)

you are so old!

( SteveFrench Cardio is for homo's. do you even lift bro?, Mon 16 Aug 2010, 13:41, Reply)