I was hot tubbing at my friend’s place last night when I got into a discussion with my new friend Brady about meeting new people these social Mormon gatherings. When you meet a new Mormon, sometimes you need to ask some questions to gauge just “how Mormon s/he is.” It’s important to know this to see how well you relate to this Mormon as well as keep you from putting your foot in your mouth (see post for tomorrow). Also, it just helps you avoid an awkward moment if you happen to reference just how awesome Leo was in The Departed.

Usually the first and best way to judge how straight-edge a Mormon is to find out if that person watches rated R movies. Watching R movies is somewhat of a religious faux paux, but some justify it anyway. And it’s not just finding out if someone watches rated R movies; it’s what type of R movies they watch. Some Mormons only watch R movies if they are on TV. SOme only wath R movies edited by CleanFlicks or ClearPlay. Some people watch on the epic R’s like Gladiator, Braveheart, or Saving Private Ryan. Then you have those who watch the full spectrum, especially the really raunchy shows like Knocked up or Super Bad. (I know a handful of non-Mormons who are even offended at these movies.) Once you know this about your new friend, you can then derive other things such as if they curse, drink Red Bull, or think it’s okay to pay for gas at the pump on Sundays.