Deep Dive
最短的约会和番茄酱
我在纽约约会时，和一位名叫Kelly的女子匹配成功。我们约定见面，我打电话给她决定地点。她的声音低沉沙哑，疲惫不堪，但我努力克制住自己的评判。
我建议在35街和8大道的一家酒吧见面。虽然她是纽约人，但她却不知道那是哪里。我问：“你真的不知道35街和8大道在哪里吗？”她说：“不知道。”我说：“好吧，问问别人就行了，大家都知道。” 此刻，我开始对她产生负面评价了：声音低沉，对居住城市的地理位置一无所知。两个危险信号。
我开始把她添加到我的手机通讯录里，于是说：“嘿，我有两个朋友叫Kelly，你能告诉我你的姓吗？”她用她那疲惫的声音说：“我不会告诉你我的名字，你可能是连环杀手。”“什么？”“好吧，好吧。”三个危险信号。
几天后，我们在35街和8大道的那家酒吧见面。她看起来不错。我们互相问好。我问她想喝啤酒吗？她说想。我拿了两瓶啤酒回到桌子旁。
桌子上有一瓶番茄酱。番茄酱？我以前从未真正注意过这个词。它来自哪里？它看起来不像拉丁语、法语或日耳曼语。所以我说的第一句话是：“你认为‘ketchup’这个词来自哪里？”她厌恶地望着我，一直冷笑。“这是什么问题？谁在乎？为什么有人会在乎这个？”
我看着她，思考了一秒钟。声音低沉，不熟悉自己的城市，认为我是个杀人犯，现在对任何事情都毫无好奇心，不愿意参与任何一丝一毫的探索。我决定不想了解她。我起身说：“我要走了。”她说：“但你还没喝一口啤酒呢。”我说：“保重”，然后离开了。有史以来最短的约会。
多年后，我住在新加坡，新加坡靠近印尼，所以我读了一本关于印尼历史的书。书中说，英语中只有一个词来自印尼语。那就是——番茄酱 (ketchup)。我惊呆了，忍不住笑了。问题得到了解答。我的直觉是对的，我应该结束那次约会。 生活中处处充满着有趣的小事，但缺乏好奇心的人永远不会发现。
Shownotes Transcript
Hi, I'm Derek Sivers, and this is Shortest Date and Ketchup. Here's a story about my shortest date and ketchup. I was dating in New York City and matched with someone named Kelly. We agreed to meet, so I called her to decide where. She had a miserable voice, creaky and weary, but I tried not to judge.
I suggested we meet at a bar at 35th Street and 8th Avenue. Although she's from New York, she didn't know where that is. I said, you really don't know where 35th Street and 8th Avenue is? She said, no. I said, well, just ask anyone. Everyone else knows. Okay, now I'm judging. Miserable voice, doesn't know the basic layout of the city she lives in. Two red flags.
I started to add her to my phone, so I said, "Hey, I have two friends named Kelly. Can you tell me your last name?" She said in her weary voice, "I'm not gonna tell you my name. You could be a serial killer." "What the?" "Okay, fine." Three red flags. So a couple days later, we meet at the bar at 35th Street and 8th Avenue. She looked good. We said hello. I asked if she'd like a beer. She said yes. I brought two beers back to the table.
On the table is a bottle of ketchup. Huh, ketchup. I never really noticed that word before. Where is it from? It doesn't look Latin, French, or Germanic. So the first thing I say is, where do you think the word ketchup is from? She looked at me with disgust and said, just sneering the whole time. What kind of question is that? Who cares? Why would anyone care about that?
I looked at her and thought for a second. Miserable voice, doesn't know her city, assumes I'm a murderer, and now doesn't have the slightest bit of curiosity about anything, no willingness to engage in the tiniest bit of wonder. I decided I didn't want to know her. I got up and said, I'm going to go now. She said, but you haven't even had a sip of your beer. I said, take care, and left. Shortest date ever.
Years later, I'm living in Singapore, which is next to Indonesia, so I'm reading a book about Indonesian history. It says there is only one word in English that comes from the Indonesian language. Ketchup. I was amazed. I laughed. Question answered. My instinct was right to walk out on that date. Little interesting things are all around us, but the uncurious will never know.
Go to s-i-v-e dot r-s slash ketchup.