So I grabbed a seat, put on my earbuds with the intent of keeping myself entertained for the short trip. Of course this happens all the time: just as I get into the music I'm listening to some random stranger feels the need to start up a conversation with me.

I don't hear what he says at first, but I do see him point at my guitar case. Didn't want to be rude, so I take off my earbuds and the dude seated across from me says, "So what kind of guitar you got, a Martin?"

I pause for a moment and think to myself: I've had this kind of conversation before. The kind where the guy I'm talking to idiotically equates musicianly status with the brand of instrument he owns. Ugh. But being in the good mood that I was in, I decided to try be patient and see where this conversation was headed before I judged.

"It's a flamenco guitar."

"A what?"

I pause again. I didn't want to get into the kind of conversation where I say 'flamenco' and the guy I'm talking to thinks he's more worldly and attempts to correct me, "You mean FLAMINGO!" Ugh. So this time I took a different approach: I opened my guitar case and just showed him.

Dude takes a look, nods and in an authoritative tone tells me, "Yup…what you got there is a classical, my friend."

Ugh…I might've been in a good mood, but my patience was quickly deteriorating. I was so tempted to just put on my earbuds and ignore the dude until the bus arrived at my destination—which wasn't for at least 20 minutes. But I didn't. So I had a choice: do I try to explain that what I have is really a flamenco guitar or avoid the 'flamenco vs classical tangent' by just agreeing with his slightly incorrect assessment?

"Yeah, it's a classical." I lied.

Proudly he proclaims, "I play a Martin myself. Been playin' for 40 years!" He looks at my guitar again, shakes his head and continues, "Hmm...only bad thing about classicals is that the neck is too wide compared to normal guitars."

Normal guitars? Does this guy realize that in some other parts of the world, nylon-string is considered the "normal" guitar? Ugh. I had lost my patience to the point where I had no desire to try and broaden this dude's horizons even a little. I probably would've wasted my time—it seems he's set in his narrow view already.

The typical "wide" neck of the "classical" guitar.

What is it about those occasional idiots I run into who play steel string guitar all the time and think they can just pick up a nylon-string guitar and play it as if it's the same thing? It's not!!! Then when they fumble trying to finger chords on the wider neck (compared to steel-string guitar), they blame their ineptitude on my guitar.

Oh and you want to know what pushes me over the edge? It's when they continue trying to play my guitar anyway and then ask me, "Duuuuuude, you got a pick?"

Gahhhhh!