i was once told that my hands were incredibly soft. the guy who told me this – a platonic friend – told the person next to him. The other guy touched my hands and supported the first guy’s exclamations.
“You’ve never done any hard work in your life have you?”
If you mean cleaning toilets, picking fruit, using a short handled hoe, operating heavy machinery, and sewing hundred of garments in a few hours, then no, I haven’t done any “hard work.”
The people who came before me — Grandpa, Grandma, Papá Chepe, Mamá Toni, mom and dad — already did it for me.
My work won’t make my hands rough.
Lotería Chicana 
It’s a compliment when you are a girl. It’s bad when you are a guy. I get that all the time from my friends…on how soft my hands are. My dad makes fun of me and says that I should rub my hands over a bunch of broken concrete or something.
It’s for the same reason though. Aside from a few months of construction and factory work when I was 18, I have not done any hard labor. Waking up before 8:30am alone is a chore for me, let alone actually doing physical labor.
As a man I don’t think being told having soft hands is something negative. My wife likes my soft hands. I may not have done much “hard” labor, but my mom always told me to work smart, not hard. My work doesn’t make my hands rough either, but it sure does make me keep my mind SHARP!
before my dad got together with his now ex-wife, she tried to pass him off on not one but both of her sisters (maybe that was a sign?), country girls from rural illinois. they both rejected him, which was just as well, but it was the first time that i had heard of somebody *wanting* someone with rough, hard hands (my dad’s are soft as a baby’s ass).
there’s a lot more here than the actual physical condition of your hands, though. you said a lot with very few words.. this is a really great post.
i wish i had soft hands. i have rough hands that i must keep moisturized at all times… you’re lucky.
of the various jobs i have had… the ones that had the most potential to damage the softness of my hands have been roofing, gardening, being a grounds keeper’s assistant, and carpentry. but i always wore gloves to preserve my fey little hands.
my current job probably has the most potential to damage my hands (synthetic chemistry).
The people who came before me — Grandpa, Grandma, Papá Chepe, Mamá Toni, mom and dad — already did it for me.
I love that…it’s so true. My soft hands are a gift given to me by my ancestors who did all the hard labor so their children wouldn’t have to. My grandparents did hard labor all their lives. My mom and dad did their share too. Me? Racing and dancing are pretty easy on the hands, but hell on everything else.
Oooh, I absolutely hated this comment when I got it, probably because it came from an ex-boyfriend’s mother (that witch!). And when she said it, I thought exactly what you thought “no, but my parents did it for me (so, f**k off lady!).” Fortunately, my current boyf beats me in the soft hands department, so he takes the brunt of the ridicule from his friends… hehe… Haters!
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