Goth at the radar station.

[reddragdiva]

As promised, the poll on gothdar.

[Poll #658913]

Comments

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

I'm a metaller dammit
\m/

[reddragdiva]

Bugger, I knew I forgot one!

[bob]

i just like black and purple. okay!
its very flattering for the figure. :)
although im more often thought as a metaller even though im not really one of those either.
the entire not liking music thing doesnt help.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I don't actually know if I set off people's gothdar that often, but I do seem to find that strange random spookykids will walk up to me to talk about the damnedest things sometimes - even when I'm "dressed down".

[reddragdiva]

You set off people's gothdar wearing white. THE UNIVERSE IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING OBVIOUS!

[yady.livejournal.com]

I have tried to look goth at times but always ended up looking like a teddy bear dressed in black.

I have no clue what I am. I wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time. Currently most of my tops are colourful (though only one colour per top, because I am boring and don't dare to wear much that is more fancy, with a couple of exceptions) and my jeans are blue in various variations. I do seem to make friends with gothic or metal types most of the time though. What does that make me?

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

I may be missing something really obvious here, but I'm failing to understand how difficult it is to spot whether someone is a goth or not. Or is it telling whether someone is a goth or whether they're a special-individual-post-whatsit-meta-thing-with-kitty-ears-who-should-never-be-labelled?

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I notice you ticked "Often" for that one yourself - yet yesterday you said "When I'm in office clothes, I barely trigger people's gothdar".

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's something that veers dangerously close to that most feared of questions, "What Is Goth?"

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Where is the:
'not a goth, though I know some goths and have been to slimelight on occasion' option.

Way back, I wasn't a goth, mostly because I had no wish to dye my hair and get pierced plus I couldn't see me committing to dressing like a goth all the time, there were too many other great clothes out there.

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, that means sometimes I don't quite. I'm probably underestimating as much as you.

[reddragdiva]

Snowflake: "I am not at all goth."
Ten people: "GOTH!!"

[reddragdiva]

I'm starting to suspect that someone is a goth if they know what "gothdar" is without further explanation and particularly if theirs is always on involuntarily.

[mofette.livejournal.com]

i think it's being able to tell the goffiks when they're in work clothes or non-goth clothes :)

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

how do you tell if you set off other people's gothdar? i mean, i set off the local's weirdo protection systems, but that's because i'm a big freak. i have no idea if other goths think i'm goth.

[reddragdiva]

Heh. Normals spot me as a goth. I suppose I should up how often I trigger gothdar.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

normals *used* to spot me as a goth - they used to ask me if i liked the Sisters. oh, and i do get "hey, morticia" shouted at me a bit. but they also shout "hey Jesus" at Richard...

[reddragdiva]

He sets off their deitydar.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Wot 'e sed.

Also I'm a raver, which tends to get me mis-labelled as 'cyber' by people who haven't ventured outside the various goth subcultures.

But mostly you nailed it with the 'a fetishist or pervert who seems to know a lot of goths' - I met the camgoths via the Cambridge fetish night (Tight Laced), and that was my introduction to goths and goth culture in general.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

more people need to acknowledge that he's not just the god of cars...

[reddragdiva]

The normals should know a Jesus when they see one, having mastered turning beer into whine.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Also I'm a raver, which tends to get me mis-labelled as 'cyber'

I have long held that Slimes could quite happily have all the goths/cybers replaced by ravers and they wouldn't really have to make many changes to the music... :)

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Agreed.
I guess my ability to get into gothbars in my office wear seals my fate :)

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Yes they would. Most EBM sucks arse, it's a bit too slow to dance to, and often not melodically complex enough to listen to for very long.

I can't stand the music at Slimelight. :)

[lnr]

I'm a part-time goth :-)

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.
It's all techno to me, though ^_^

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I went to Slimelight once.
Just the once.

I spent most of the night on the staircase with antipodeans bitching about how much it sucked.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

I try to only go a couple of times a year... :)

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I think what we've come to realise is that, in London, you can be 40 and still attend nights out, and not be a freak - because there's a network of other 40-year-olds to support you.

In Australia, that's less the case.
Far less. For whatever reason.

Of course, not only does Slimelight suck (IIRC there was a no pass out rule, plus people passed out in the street), it sucked musically. And all the rest.

I should add, I hated 'going out' even then.

[redcountess]

It's more to do with walking down a street minding one's own business and suddenly focusing on the one goth walking along it, well that's how it happens for me.

[reddragdiva]

More specifically Perth, where if you're still visibly in a subculture at 25 you need a damn good reason. In Melbourne, you can carry on your early twenties well into your forties, and in London it seems to be mandatory.

[reddragdiva]

Or when it's triggered by someone not gothed up and you then try to work out what about them triggered it.

It's like measuring sexual orientation by what gender(s) your eyes track before your mind notices.

[redcountess]

I must admit I'm not so good at spotting goths in civvies, unless they're wearing corporate goth clothes.

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I am so a pervy goth fancier - well, I'm pervy and I fancy pervy goths.

[reddragdiva]

Yes. I worked out that (a) I do in fact have a fetish, and (b) it's goths. Just as well I am one, really.

[shamus9999.livejournal.com]

I've learned not to label people as Goth based on their appearance. I know some people online that were unmercifully teased in school for being Gothic just because they preferred to wear black and liked certain bands, even though they didn't self-identify with any particular subculture.

When I see those who may be Goths or Punks my first thought is that they dress funny, but then I remember myself in my central Asian SCA garb and internally shut up. :)

[sinibar.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond.

Now, can I remember... I used to love slimes, but there were two things that I think really killed it for me.

Firstly I think the vibe of the club changed when the electronic room appeared. There were suddenly a lot of arseholes in the club.

The real killer for me though was when the goth floor up the top closed. I only went a couple of times after that and from that concluded that it sucked. I've not been back in... ten years... and have no desire to.

You *used* to be able to get a pass out, btw. And it has a bar now, which strikes me as distinctly against the ethos of the club, but I gather was a legal necessity.

I like Goths

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

However, what I am is a 52-year-old resale shope and used-clothing-warehouse fancier with her own style of unique dressing. I've had goths admire my clothing every now and then, and little black girls come up to me in Wal-Mart and ask me where I get my boots, a college girl get awestruck by my apple-green polar fleece full-circle cloak, etc. etc. I'm just strange.

[andricongirl.livejournal.com]

today Im wearing a bright oragnge abdou tee and black pinstripe pants ..

i think still my piercings and black hairzzz give it away..

is there such a term as indie-goth?

a Gindie?
or would that be a Indoth?

I'm still more greebo than thou ;p

hmm a greeboth ?
or a gothbo ? ;p

[scatterbeetle.livejournal.com]

I'm a rock chick who likes to wear corsets and Nice Boots.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

I misread the poll title as
"As black as my thong"
Which was disturbing.

[themadcatlady.livejournal.com]

Erm, I got the same problem. I have about five 13 year old emo kids hanging on my every word and visiting me at the shop all the time. They´re cute though and I´m teaching them in the way of the goth, so there´s hope still.

And yeah, I don´t have to dress up either. I think it´s the goth aura. I also believe there is a "goth gene" and some of us are born with it. ;)

[themadcatlady.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

I love this conversation. ;)

[themadcatlady.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah. That´s cause Goth chicks and Goth chicos are just soooo hot.

[themadcatlady.livejournal.com]

LOL! ;)

With me, whatever I wear, wether it´s normal or goffed up, it´s the black liquid eye liner and dyed purple-black hair that gives it away. But I am told I still look goth without the eye liner, so it must be the hair? ;)

[kits-the-dm.livejournal.com]

Dude, is it wrong of me to be the only one in a Melbourne Gawth club wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and realising, none of these plebs except for my peeps get the underlying text for hawaiian shirts being GAF?

BTW, you should've been here, I felt like carrying a huge ACG sign with arrows pointing to people's nicks.

[reddragdiva]

grega is a g*th famous for his line in Hwaiian shirts. OTOH he's a big scary dude with a grey ponytail, so no-one argues.

[kest]

I'm not a goth, I just play one on the internet. And like black clothes. And polish up nice sometimes.

[reddragdiva]

g*th ;-p