MetaChat - Enemies! Nemeses! Do you have any?

Several people have told me that I am their nemesis. But there can be only one. So I killed them.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 18 September | 17:11

I singled this popular, successful (not that I was too much less so) guy a year ahead of me in high school out as someone I loathed, unbeknownst to him, because I thought he was the spitting image of Peter Keating; I thought he only made choices out of fear. I got into Ayn Rand for a bit, I did. I still have a distaste for him, his returning there immediately to teach, his dopey accoustic guitar, but when my friends now mention him as if I'll shriek in fury, I realize much of it must have been teenage histrionics.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 18 September | 17:21

I have made many enemies who hate me, but I don't tend to declare anyone else an enemy, just useless. This is my version of being a Randroid.

posted by mischief 18 September | 17:36

Look who your asking.

posted by jonmc 18 September | 18:28

I've been known to hate on sight for no really good reason. Case in point: We went to a Renaissance fair this past weekend. Whilst watching the archers, a woman in the crowd - by the front where the children were standing - lights up a cigarette. A little boy near her started coughing, various people made faces, but she was oblivious. Later, by the jousting, the same woman stepped in front of us to take pictures. If looks could kill, she'd have been a pile of ashes. And don't get me started on the two teenage girls who showed up in the crowd dressed exactly alike!!! Gag! Barf! Oh Please!! Like they thought they were Paris and Nicole!!

my husband said it was a good day, since I only wanted to kill three people.

posted by redvixen 18 September | 18:29

Sorry, IRFH, Poolio is my MetaFilter nemesis now, although he will probably finish me off soon enough and then go after you. Watch your back.

posted by wendell 18 September | 19:23

Enemies! Nemeses! Do you have any?

Living? No.

posted by bmarkey 18 September | 19:28

Not any more.

posted by dg 18 September | 19:40

Other than my sister, you mean?

For some odd reason, there were a few jobs I worked at in my 20s & early 30s where a woman, usually about 10 years older than me (give or take), usually somewhat overweight and with dyed blonde hair, and usually someone who didn't even work with me in my department, decided that I was their arch nemesis. I was kind of perky, skinny, creative, and I had a lot of friends back then and it was like I represented everything these women hated about themselves or something. One of them tried to get me fired because I came into work at 8:15 in the morning instead of 8am. Forget that she left at 5pm and I left at 11pm & that I was doing a good job. Fortunately my boss was my best friend at the time so I didn't get into trouble, but it used to really upset me because I was never anything but nice to this woman.

It's amazing how nasty women can be to eachother sometimes. I just don't relate to it at all.

posted by miss lynnster 18 September | 20:55

I don't have enemies. There are lots of people I dislike but nobody I would consider to be my enemy or arch nemesis.

I have had problems with women being jackasses to me and it took me quite a while to figure out that women were actually threatened by me...which was weird because normally women are not that bothered by chunky gals. But dang, I have the tendency to use my noggin and do the heavy lifting and it just tends to piss off a portion of the female population. And this is the first time I've given this thought in a while cause for the most part I don't have to deal with many of those women anymore.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 18 September | 21:09

I'm not worth hating, which helps avoid the whole question.

posted by jonmc 18 September | 21:18

Closest thing I had to one I created myself through inexperience.

At my first job I told my co-workers the details of my salary negotiations, revealing that a more senior person made less than me.

Voila! Instant nemesis!

posted by StickyCarpet 18 September | 21:42

Um, to clarify, I didn't know he made less than me, I assumed he made more. He never told me his salary. I figured out later that that was what it was about.

posted by StickyCarpet 18 September | 21:44

Big Black Nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home - Shriekback, natch.

I sort of do tend to have nemesii. They come and go and I don't let it overtake my life. Not a blood feud to the death sort of feeling, more of a Do Not Want feeling that is mutual. I'm pretty laid back about it. There are just some people I have No Time For. My reserves are limited.

Ok, I sound like a crazy person, but I have plenty of friends and positive relationships too.

posted by rainbaby 18 September | 21:46

Yes. Because. No. Yes. Yes.

Fucking me3dia. I just hate him so much.

posted by eamondaly 18 September | 22:14

I've only had one bona-fide nemesis, and she got to be that way because she was nucking futs.

The people who don't like me now aren't plotting for my destruction, nor am I for theirs. Too messy. Besides, I know where their files are.

posted by lysdexic 18 September | 23:18

Not here, no. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's apathy.

There isn't anyone I've written off... like a dead person.

posted by chuckdarwin 19 September | 02:46

I have one, or I had one, but the whole thing is years and years and years old now and we live in different cities and frankly, I can't be bothered with it anymore. But it was a big old honker of a nemesis evil anti-MGL arch villain duel to the death feud once - and it was all over a man who, in retrospect, wasn't worth either of our time.

In the interests of total honesty, it still is hard for me to be around her and vice versa. And since we are both part of a large very tight more like family than friends group in Baltimore, there are times, like funerals and weddings and so on, where we have to see each other. It is tough. But I at least handle it with dignity and grace and it's not my fault if I laughed hysterically when the cat threw up on her bridesmaid dress.

posted by mygothlaundry 19 September | 09:12

I used to actively dislike people, but I don't really have time for that anymore, you know? It takes a lot of energy to work up a good blood feud. The most I can muster up is a strong feeling of annoyance.

posted by muddgirl 19 September | 09:24

I really don't... but I'm also quite hermit-like and don't work in an office. Even when I worked in an office, most of my enemies were frenemies (competing departments, yet we'd still go out together sometimes and get wasted-silly). I was definitely an enemy to a boss or two of mine (over a long period of time! being my boss didn't make someone an automatic enemy!), but they had so many rabid enemies I was probably barely a blip on the radar.

posted by taz 19 September | 11:05

Fucking me3dia. I just hate him so much.

Well, that makes two of us.
Wait.

posted by me3dia 19 September | 12:20

I'll try and hate you, jon, if that will help. :)

*practices* Damn that jonmnc and his disdain for Radiohead! *shakes fist*

posted by jokeefe 19 September | 12:38

Not that I'm aware of.

*looks around suspiciously*

posted by deborah 19 September | 12:49

There's this lady I work with, in the PR department--without going into boring shoptalk detail, we disagree about virtually every major issue in public libraries today. We get along okay personally, though.

Is she an enemy or a nemesis, or neither, or what?

posted by box 19 September | 12:50

I forgave them all long ago. In forgiving, I have forgotten them. Our enmity is lost in the swirl of the past. Perhaps we will meet as friends one day.

posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 13:06

In my younger years, I was almost always at war with someone. But I was a massive drama queen and it was to be expected. My last big nemesis was in college. She was awful. Tried to sleep with every guy I dated or was interested in. She succeeded a bunch of times, too. Even years and years after we'd both left college, she was still spreading rumors about me. I've come to realize that she's probably pretty seriously mentally ill.

Nowadays, the closest I have to a nemesis is my irritating neighbor who hates children and happiness and seems to love only Don Henley and her perfect lawn. But she rarely bugs us, so it's cool.

posted by jrossi4r 19 September | 14:32

Nowadays, the closest I have to a nemesis is my irritating neighbor who hates children and happiness and seems to love only Don Henley and her perfect lawn.

I love lamp.

posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 14:40

Hugh, you're just about the last person I would expect to hit me with an Anchorman reference.

You are, however, the person I would most expect to kill someone with a trident.

posted by jrossi4r 19 September | 15:02

Are you kidding? I loved Anchorman. Ron Burgundy is as good a fake name as Hugh Janus, Drew Peacock, Wes Jamaica, or Maverick Poker!

I laughed the entire way through. The ensemble was constantly picking up the slack for one another -- when a joke would fail, the next guy would say something ridiculous, through the entire movie. It just tickled me the right way, I guess. Like the Sex Panther cologne scene, which was hilarious to begin with, ends with some guy saying that it smelled like bigfoot's dick. Tee hee!

I was laughing, and laughing, and laughing, and laughing, and laughing....

posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 15:21

60 percent of the time, it works every time.

The only thing wrong with that movie was Christina Applegate. She was the weak link.

posted by jrossi4r 19 September | 15:45

She wasn't so bad, really. She kept a straight face pretty well, and I think that's about all she was there for, which belies any claim that the film was ironically sexist. Of course, my great enjoyment of said ironically sexist jokes thus come under scrutiny, but fuck it! I liked it's goofiness. How could you not like the Baxter/bear scene:

Baxter: Leave these people alone. They mean you no harm.
Bear: We Bears are a proud race. They must pay for their intrusion.
Baxter: On my journey I met one of your kind. His name was Katow-jo. We became friends.
Bear: Katow-jo is my cousin. Go in peace.
Baxter: I will tell tales of your compassion.
Bear: Fare thee well, Baxter. You shall always be friend of the bears.

and when Champ says:

We need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without you. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you, I miss being near you. I miss your laugh. I miss your scent; I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together.

posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 16:11

And pardon my grammar, above. I'd love to say it's cuz I'm distracted, and I am, but that's no excuse. I SUCK! (suck shit, that is)

posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 16:12

Yes. One of the BF's ex's that we are still 'friends' with. Well, I think he may still be friends, I'm not. She tries so hard to say things about how their relationship used to be. I thought it would get better when she got a serious boyfriend, but it hasn't. I don't like to be straight out mean, but I love to let her know how put together and in love the BF and I are. Especially if he does something nice for me - she totally missed out by not snapping him up when she had the chance. Oh well, I win.

posted by youngergirl44 19 September | 21:37

I don't think I have any hardcore enemies...

posted by sisterhavana 19 September | 21:41

Well, I hate pretty much anybody I don't know. Perhaps hate is too strong a word, I dislike people I don't know. I also dislike a few people I do know. It's hard for me to accept new people into my life. Takes me a while to start caring whether they live or die, up that point I'm really indifferent. I did have a girl that I power-hated, I nicknamed her Vomicka McSpew, and the reason I hated her was because, at a friend's party, she simply sat there looking nauseous for about 10 min before throwing up over the arm of the couch. No mad dash for the bathroom. Didn't move. Then when "wiping it up" proceeded simply to wipe it under the couch. After that I couldn't like her at all, not even a tiny bit. She also ruined basil for me since her vomit smelled like pesto.

posted by LunaticFringe 20 September | 09:13

Case in point: We went to a Renaissance fair this past weekend...

!!

posted by y2karl 23 September | 14:10

I don't ever really hate people. I certainly know a number of people who irritate the living shit out of me, and I'm bad about holding grudges, but that's anger, not hatred.

I'm sure there are quite a few people who loathe me, but I don't really care so long as they don't try to be an active part of my life.

posted by Orange Swan 24 September | 07:20

Can I change my answer?

posted by chuckdarwin 25 September | 04:16

18 September 2007