Hobotaku is great. I'm adding it to my dictionary. It is also I problem we really don't deal with much around here. Instead the kids walk from the next block over with the sparkling sidewalk and valet street parking to pick up the "MAIN-ga" and talk about stupid/homo/etc. it is to read in general.
Which, I'm ashamed to say, was the word used by AnimeBoston's manga librarian to describe patrons of the library who spent longer than an hour in the library, reading.
(You know, the anime convention library which was created for the express purpose of allowing people to sit around reading manga for free.)
A friend who works the manga section at Borders will be tickled by this term, I think.
He was trying to re-stock the other day and this kid, sitting up against the shelves, would acknowledge him, smile, even say 'hi', but never move so the shelves could be re-stocked. I recommended otaku-tipping.
On one hand, I'm somewhat impressed that parents are dropping their children off at bookstores so they can sit (unattended, of course) and have a good read. However, I seem to recall libraries serving the very same purpose. And their books didn't have price tags on them. Hmmm....
The Borders I usually patronize is right across the street from a highschool, so if you hit at lunchtime or after school lets out, there's lots of kids clogging the floors there. I've seen, more than once, kids lying full-length on the floor there reading manga. O.o
While I've seen Hobotaku in a number of bookstores, I've noticed on my last few visits to my local B&N that their numbers are increasing. I nearly tripped over a group of 5 as I rounded a corner. ;P
He. He knew a lot about manga, but not much about how to interact with people in a service profession.
He wasn't the only one, either--the volunteers were just as bad. I've gathered that a lot of con staffers and veteran volunteers are pretty jaded about con attendees, but it takes a lot to impress someone who's worked full-time in retail for longer than six months.
And this was the guy running the library. Next year, the library will be mine! Mwah-hah-hah-hah! And anyone caught making gratuitously derogatory references to people using the library for the purpose for which it is intended will get slapped like a red-headed step-child.
oh, good word. i've noticed that these are increasing at the local chapters. i always smile at them happily, because hey, they're reading! i like kids who read. and they do move out of the way if i ask. occasionally i have actual conversations about the manga they're reading.
I mind the ones who sit down, leaning against the manga shelves who don't move when it's pretty obvious that others are looking at the shelves, and the one or two I've seen lying down on the floor full-length blocking the entire aisle.
But I also tend to get in an introspective, antisocial mood when browsing in bookstores and don't like to interact with people. :)
*nod* -- it's kinda unusual for me that i deal with them so well. they're a bit more polite in canada, i suspect; i've yet to see somebody lay down. and while i am usually in an anti-social mood when out in public, somehow the fact that they're reading manga, and manga is a new love for me, combine to leave me be more magnanimous towards them, *wry grin*.
though generally i am less anti-social in bookstores than in almost any other place. bookstores make me happy, and that brings greater tolerance for people.
at my local comic shop they actually have a rule against that because kids would come and, yanno, steal the pages out of the covers by hiding the evidence under crossed legs, etc.
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they have to suffer with my ass in their face as i'm hunting for comics i ACTUALLY WANNA BUY.
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Which, I'm ashamed to say, was the word used by AnimeBoston's manga librarian to describe patrons of the library who spent longer than an hour in the library, reading.
(You know, the anime convention library which was created for the express purpose of allowing people to sit around reading manga for free.)
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He was trying to re-stock the other day and this kid, sitting up against the shelves, would acknowledge him, smile, even say 'hi', but never move so the shelves could be re-stocked. I recommended otaku-tipping.
On one hand, I'm somewhat impressed that parents are dropping their children off at bookstores so they can sit (unattended, of course) and have a good read. However, I seem to recall libraries serving the very same purpose. And their books didn't have price tags on them. Hmmm....
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He wasn't the only one, either--the volunteers were just as bad. I've gathered that a lot of con staffers and veteran volunteers are pretty jaded about con attendees, but it takes a lot to impress someone who's worked full-time in retail for longer than six months.
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Yeah, retail is a special area all its own.
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hobotaku
Re: hobotaku
But I also tend to get in an introspective, antisocial mood when browsing in bookstores and don't like to interact with people. :)
Re: hobotaku
though generally i am less anti-social in bookstores than in almost any other place. bookstores make me happy, and that brings greater tolerance for people.
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