An exchange with my one (half-British half-Sudanese) friend.

So, the other week I ran into my one (half-British half-Sudanese) friend at the gym.

Like the British often do, he began the conversation with some inane conversational topic.

“[My name]”, he was like, “Do you realize that the drinking fountain on this floor is broken, and only gives out warm water?”.

“No,” I was like, “It’s not broken, it actually contains sophisticated technology that recognizes Europeans, and since it knows that they drink their water without ice, it gives them warm water at the fountain. You shouldn’t be upset, you should be thankful that the drinking fountain’s trying to make you feel at home.”

“But I don’t like warm water!”, he was like, “So it doesn’t work.”

“No,” I was like, “Don’t be so negative, it’s not broken, it’s just slightly miscalibrated prototype, and so it stereotypes.”

“How awful,” he was like. “I know stereotypes. It was like in my schooldays. ‘Brownie, brownie!’, they would say, and chase me through the streets. And” – and here he paused, as if on a flight of British comedic fancy – “and, they would throw their rubbish at me as I passed by!”

“Yes,” I was like, “And tear off your sister’s burkha (sp.?)!”

“Yes, exactly!”, he was like.