Do you judge a book by its cover? (as in a person)

LighterGuy

An old saying I guess.

But do you?
Say you see a junkie looking bloke walking down the street. Do you judge him by his 'cover' and think he must be an absolute scumbag?

... or lets dig deeper, even people you briefly talk to? which goes beyond a cover?

or what about even the internet ... do you judge people by how they act and what they say or do? (gonna insert a big smilie here )

Tubsandtiles

No, because I'm a nice person .

seanybiker

Sometimes but I wouldn't not talk to someone because of it. I would talk to anyone and then decide if I want to keep talking to them or not. Same as people do with me.
When I first got into bikes my mother had the big thing that bikers where tattooed and tough people who didn't really care about others. Now years later she realised that she was wrong and the majority of us are sound.

Trog

Yes, I judge books by their covers. The most useful information on whether or not I want to read the book are on the cover- author's name and brief synopsis of plot/significance of the book. So obviously I use that.

As for people: no, I'm nice.

fishtastico

I do because I'm a bastard

biko

Sure all the time. It's called "first impression".

Alter-Ego

I do it all the time.

Especially if someone looks like a complete knacker. Many a time at house parties i've seen dodgy looking geezers and thought "who let this knick knack in", and then later on, found said knackbag to be a really nice bloke.

Also, some of my best friends I thought looked like tits when I first met them. Some of them still are...

bonerm

I judge a book by its barcode (and a person by its tatoos).

pragmatic1

It depends. If its some random person on the street I do. If I'm meeting someone for the first time, I dont. People surprise you all the time. Some nerdy looking people can be complete sociopaths and some tough looking people can be big softies.

Xivilai

Like any normal person would, I judge the book by how nice the pages smell

Unfortunately most people do, even sub-consciously.

Myself included.

Mrmoe

It is hard not to judge someone initially by what they look like but it is important not to judge them completely. You can't go against thousands of years of evolution and a lifetime of experience all the time.

WolfForager

I go to UCD, of course i do. :pac:

Chuchoter

I used to be terribly non judgmental and always thought the best of people, never concerned with what they wore.

Then I realized that what people where can be a very ****ing accurate picture of how a person is. Like hipsters, shallow trendsters who only care about things that make them look cool. Screw 'not judging a book by its cover'. People choose what kind of image they put out of themselves, thats a pretty good representation of who at least they perceive themselves to be.

wandatowell

No I dont but then again I happen to know that everybody who likes hiphop has the potential to a rapist/burgler.


I dont do hiphop brah

BengaLover

Depends what mood Im in..:D
But us women have an extraordinary ability to size up another woman - clothes, makeup, looks, weight, the lot within a split second..

Asphyxia

I have in the past and still do at times.. I always get an idea of what a person is like after a couple of chats! It's difficult though even I have been judged to be a certain type of person by people who don't know. What can you do though eh?

gbee

Absolutely, unless two thing are present, I am following the author, like Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes etc or the book comes recommended either from recommendations or as a study piece.

Otherwise, the cover attracts me to look.

CrazyRabbit

biko wrote: »

Sure all the time. It's called "first impression".

Hmm. His forum username is not capitalised, so obviously Biko has a poor educational background.

And with over 23,000 posts, it's clear he doesn't have a social life and spends all of his time on boards.ie.

Biko is also a moderator, so is probably on a power trip & likes to boss people around.

First impressions are often complete and utter ****e.

biko

Well I would have thought by now 23K later I had moved past first impressions

The_B_Man

Lol I remember a hot girl telling I shouldn't judge a book by its cover...unless I've read it first! Dumbass! I judged her for that!

[Jackass]

Fat Women = Narky and angry at the world. Petty, hatefilled. The older they get the more they hate life and it gets worse.

Eric Cartman

Anyone under 50 who cant use a computer properly (e.g know what to do when basic error messages come up , can type using more than 2 fingers , use outlook and still know what their email password is , know the difference between the email and the internet not working , dont type www.<whatever>.com into google every time they want to get to a website. know what a file extension is and dont live in a fantasy world where windows vista or 7 are 'good' operating systems, or use internet explorer as a browser by choice or bring their computers to pc world of repair ) I automatically think they are uneducated and below me and I dont bother my time with them.

Anyone who posts on boards in full blown txt speak I automatically dismiss as spasticated and monged out on heroin

Anyone driving a boxy starlet I assume is a danger to the roads and should be banned.

syklops

I do and shouldn't.

My frail and aged aunt was in a queue for a taxi on a wet and windy evening in Dublin a few years ago. Behind her in the queue was a man in a suit and behind him 2 guys with piercings and leather jackets and tattoos and they looked 'rough', and she says to herself she needs to be careful with them. Anyway, a taxi pulls up and the guy in the suit side steps her and goes to get in the taxi. And the 2 'rough' looking guys, tell him to get the f*ck out, and to get back in the f*cking queue or they'll ble*din' murder him. One of the 'rough' looking ones goes and grabs him and brings him back to the queue and the other goes to my aunt "There you go love, thats your taxi. Do you want me to put your bag in the boot?". She got in and went home.

I still judge people by how they look, but I try to look a little deeper.

Fluorescence

First impressions count a lot, and for the vast majority of people you see on a day-to-day basis, first impressions are all you get. Even if we don't mean to, we absorb large amounts of information about people in a split second, and from their appearance, expression and body language we get a rough picture in our heads of who these people are. I tend to pay particular attention to how people hold their heads and how they move their limbs. In fact, I've found those two things relay a lot of information to me, and it tends to be rather accurate. It's a fascinating thing to observe in people.

df1985

I do and to be honest 95% of the time Im right so no apologies for it. Ive been introduced to people who I immediately dont like, everyone else says "no hes sound, honest" and that im being a prick.....6 months down the line the guy has screwed someone over and people say I was right-has happened on a few occasions.

alwaysadub

I do i suppose. Not all the time though, but mainly yes.

I try not to let it cloud my judgement on people though, try to give people a chance unless they really don't deserve it!

Nuggles

Maybe not by the cover. But if the book smells like piss, it isn't coming home with me.

Is that shallow, judging people on their smell?

Brenireland

fishtastico wrote: »

I do because I'm a bastard

here here

Fluorescence

Nuggles wrote: »

Maybe not by the cover. But if the book smells like piss, it isn't coming home with me.

Is that shallow, judging people on their smell?

No. You can always shut your eyes but you can't switch off your nose! Besides, people usually smell because of a lack in their hygiene, which is a legit reason to be turned off.

Brenireland

syklops wrote: »

I do and shouldn't.

My frail and aged aunt was in a queue for a taxi on a wet and windy evening in Dublin a few years ago. Behind her in the queue was a man in a suit and behind him 2 guys with piercings and leather jackets and tattoos and they looked 'rough', and she says to herself she needs to be careful with them. Anyway, a taxi pulls up and the guy in the suit side steps her and goes to get in the taxi. And the 2 'rough' looking guys, tell him to get the f*ck out, and to get back in the f*cking queue or they'll ble*din' murder him. One of the 'rough' looking ones goes and grabs him and brings him back to the queue and the other goes to my aunt "There you go love, thats your taxi. Do you want me to put your bag in the boot?". She got in and went home.

I still judge people by how they look, but I try to look a little deeper.

Nice going,they we're using the "don't judge a book by its cover" perception in reverse psychology so when they had performed the good deed they attempted to nick your aunts bag by offering to put it in the boot,Did your aunt accept this?,and if so did she recover her bag from the boot or did the rough ****ers in fact walk with it?

--LOS--

I try not to, some people turn out so different to your first impression of them.

Nuggles

Apparently you're shallow if you don't look past someone's looks. Would people who believe that hang around with smellys?

.same.

Just did, some of those independant TD that are being lifted up on RTE look very dodgy, the dail will be great crack when these guys/gals are there.

trixabelle86

Yeah i do *cringe*
-Also constantly worry about how I'm perceived by the outside world...hmmmmm....

But I've been proved wrong loads of times so I tryyyyyyyyyyy to keep an open mind when I'm making first impressions but sometimes can't help thinking "knob", "dumb as bricks" etc...

Also

Just recently I was collecting money for a charity on a busy Dublin street.
It was rush-hour and loads of businesspeople were passing by, some gave money, some didn't, fair enough.
Two "dodgy" looking characters started walking up the road, wearing old tracksuits, quite rough looking, you know yourself, and unfortunately I did judge them and was unsure if I should even ask them for some money to support the charity.
Anyway, as most people walked right by, as I would often do myself, these two men stopped, were very friendly and gave some change. I felt a bit ashamed for judging them to be honest, but it's an instinctual thing and I still think our judgments are often, but not always, right.

mikemac

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Anyone under 50 who cant use a computer properly (e.g know what to do when basic error messages come up , can type using more than 2 fingers , use outlook and still know what their email password is , know the difference between the email and the internet not working , dont type www.<whatever>.com into google every time they want to get to a website. know what a file extension is and dont live in a fantasy world where windows vista or 7 are 'good' operating systems, or use internet explorer as a browser by choice or bring their computers to pc world of repair ) I automatically think they are uneducated and below me and I dont bother my time with them.

Sounds like a bitter IT person on the helpdesk

The IT monkeys in our place have a answer for every problem.
Just turn it off and turn it on again :rolleyes:

LighterGuy

Some interesting posts ...

I think that when it comes to appearances, sadly you have to judge a book by its cover in this world. For example if some junkie looking guy is walking towards you ... you would be an absolute fool to whip out your 500euro iPhone and start checking your messages or to be away in the clouds :rolleyes: ... but ultimately doesnt matter what a person is dressed like, suit or tracksuits, you have to keep your eyes open.


But lets dig deeper :P
First impressions. Which is another big form of juding a book by its cover. But as was said:

df1985 wrote: »

I do and to be honest 95% of the time Im right so no apologies for it. Ive been introduced to people who I immediately dont like, everyone else says "no hes sound, honest" and that im being a prick.....6 months down the line the guy has screwed someone over and people say I was right-has happened on a few occasions.

I would have to agree with this.
Even if you have a short 5 min, or even less, conversation with someone you can read them to a certain degree. But of course only if you are looking.

starlit

Ya I do. I'm very judgemental sometimes. I cannot help it but I do try not to be. Based on first impressions can affect whether or not I percieve a person, I tend to wait until I get to know them before I judge them, but sometimes my gut feeling tells me if I should trust them or not and go through the process of being friends with them or not. Peoples opinion of me can vary and not realise it until they get to know me...

I know its a bit cruel, but I do be cruel to be kind, but I do give people a chance like but if I don't click with them after first impressions it won't go anywhere. It can take me years for me to fully trust someone, so suppose that shows my insecurities a bit too much. I'm a very private person at heart so, would take a lot for me to drop my guard down.

As in books, I judge harshly but I don't judge the cover I try not too, if it looks nice and cool then I probably buy it but I'd have to read the summary at the back before I really decide on buying the book. Depends what interests me and I always like a good read!

Azureus

I really REALLY try not to, but I do find that 99% of the time your first impression of somebody is the correct one. I wouldnt voice a judgement of a person to anybody else until I got to know them though.

starlit

Azureus wrote: »

I really REALLY try not to, but I do find that 99% of the time your first impression of somebody is the correct one. I wouldnt voice a judgement of a person to anybody else until I got to know them though.

Ya I have that feeling too. Like 90-95% feeling like. I can be a little psychic like that, I can tell if that person will turn out to be my friend or not It's like I know or have this feeling of knowing. Weird, and its 99% accurate! Amazing really, you do find out who your friends really are down the line!

missingtime

Alter-Ego wrote: »

Many a time at house parties i've seen dodgy looking geezers and thought "who let this knick knack in", and then later on, found said knackbag to be a really nice bloke.

Always happens to me too.