If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

John McCain prides himself as a straight-talker, but he’s got nothing on Armenians. Armenians are the original straight-talkers. They have no shame and no mercy to tell it as it is, especially when it comes to describing how people look. They will tell you (even to your face) that you’re too thin, too ugly, too smelly and too fat.

It’s not that they mean you harm. In fact, they have no idea that calling you fat is insulting. And believe me, Armenians are not meaning to be offensive and mean. Mean spiritidness is not high on the “characters” list for Armenians. Instead, Armenians will claim that telling you that you have gained a little pudge is truth-telling. You may not realize that you have gained a few pounds since the last holiday gathering. Perhaps, you don’t realize that that shirt doesn’t fit you very well, and we’d hate for you to embarass yourself by wearing that again. So, think of the Armenian as your best buddy, as someone who will tell you as it is because we want the best for you.

You might argue that Armenians could use a litlte more tact in communication, but remember, tact is not a value for Armenians. You are not going to find tact among Armenians, but did I mention that you’ll find people who will gladly call you fat?

So here’s my advice on how to respond the “fat” comment:

• Don’t call the person fat back. Why? Because usually the person who is calling you fat to your face is little old grandma, and such ‘disrespect’ won’t get you far (and besides, it will show you to be defensive).
• Work on losing a little weight before you see everyone–i.e. the family. Even if you lose half a pound, that’s enough, cause you can respond with all integrity, “Actually, I’ve lost a little weight.”
• Blame it on the fact that you’ve quit smoking. (And if you’re Armenian, than chances are you are a smoker!)

Good Luck!

Did you know that Armenians had the tragic experience of going through the first genocide of the 20th century? (Actually, some Armenians will proudly argue that we Armenians went through the last genocide of the 19th century, considering that some of the systematic massacres of Armenians in villages in the 19th century were part of a larger genocidal policy toward the Armenians.)

Do a search for “Armenian” on the Amazon website and you’ll see that there are three books that crack the top 10—Learn the Language, cookbooks, and books about the genocide. Armenian authors will invariably write something about the genocide. Take a look at the back of Armenian newspapers and magazines (the classifieds section that promotes books) and you’ll see that an overwhelming number of them are about the genocide.

Soon, you’ll realize that there will be a number of blogs that will pop up about the Armenian genocide. So we Armos (and the rest of the world, except if you’re Turkey) should not worry—there will be plenty of writing about the genocide (except in Turkey).

Go to an Armenian bazaar and most of the books on display at the book table will be about the genocide. On another post, I will reflect about this obsession with the genocide, but this post will simply be about the books that talk about the greatest tragedy of the early 20th century. (By the way, did I mention that Armenians had the unfortunate experience of going through the first genocide of the 20th century?)

Do you want to write a post for “Stuff Armos Like?” Are you an Armo or an adopted Armo and there are things about our peculiar culture that reminds you of how unique and peculiar we really are? I want to open up the posts to other people. Got an idea about “Stuff Armos Like?” Post a comment. If it fits the theme of the site I’ll put it up and give you all the credit.