N0THD wrote:
On some forum that guy is looking at pics of our bikes and saying, "Man are those boring."

And for this, I am thankful...

RK

eirinn99 wrote:
MitchellNJ wrote:
It's not "REAL" Italian since there's no plastic on the seat.

? I don't get it

Eirinn99--

It's an ethnic joke about Italians you wouldn't get unless you lived in the US. I can relate because my grandparents were East Coast Italians...

It stems from Italians being immigrants to the US in the early 20th century. They had very little money, so when they could afford nice furniture, they put plastic coverings on it all to protect it and prolong its "new look". After the early 1900s, it continued on as a cultural thing more than anything else...a sort of "learned behavior". I had an uncle in New Jersey that was an executive with a large cosmetics firm and made GOOD money, and we used to tease him because there were plastic carpet runners all through his million-dollar house, and no one was allowed to sit on the plastic covered furniture in the living room unless it was a family gathering.

RK

Roadkill1962 wrote:
It's an ethnic joke about Italians you wouldn't get unless you lived in the US. I can relate because my grandparents were East Coast Italians...


Thanks RK,
I was thinking something similar, because when I was really young there were some, mainly among elderly people, who were used to leave the plastic coverings on the seat of their new car.
There were jokes about them here in Italy too, as the one about the old men wearing a hat while driving(= extreme danger!)

I don't think it's an Italian thing but I'll give it to you.

Not uncommon for other European immigrants to do the same thing.

Doc

I had a girl friend back in the 60's that had a toilet seat cover that looked a lot like that bike.

So, that's what happened to the 101 dalmations...is it Cruella's? Give me leather and chrome over fur any day of the week.

That bike reminds me of a Harley I saw years ago that was covered with a buffalo hide front to rear. It had evrything from the horns to the tail, including the proper equipment under the tail. All I could think was WHY IN THE HELL???

cmchenry67 wrote:
So, that's what happened to the 101 dalmations...is it Cruella's? Give me leather and chrome over fur any day of the week.



Marshall, that's hilarious..

I know about the plastic thing and Doc is right, its not only an Italian immigrant thing. My mom (her mom was an immigrant from Poland) used to put plastic on the sofas, have the plastic runners on the carpet and even had plastic covers on the vinyl seats of her car. I remember it well. Sitting in the sun after several years the plastic in the car was trashed (cracked, brown marks, torn from the heat of the summer sun, etc), but the seats looked good as new when we took the plastic off of the car seats. There's just something about covering a man-made material with another man-made material that seems to me like what's the point?

Regarding that bike, I give it two things. Its probably warm in the winter and you will surely get attention. It does stand out. Going to a large bike rally it would be easy to find your bike.

slyguy wrote:
I know about the plastic thing and Doc is right, its not only an Italian immigrant thing.

I think it's actually a po' folks thing. I saw it a lot growing up. People just trying to make the things that they worked so hard to get last longer.