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#135156 11/13/04 02:50 PM
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... and all you really® had to say, themillum, was "Tell us what you really think, WW".


#135157 11/13/04 02:52 PM
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calling a guy 'heel' (a guy who uses women)still carries less of a stigma than many of the 'names/words' used to describe women who fall out of 'social norms'

blue stocking and round heels are 2
slut begins to enter into the collection of vulgar terms and that list is a long one.

there are derogatory terms that are sexist but i think there are more of them that are applied to women.

but as has been pointed out on this board more than once, there exist misogynist and misandery attitutes and behaviors in our present day society. attitudes are changing about misogyny, but there are TV shows (america's funniest home videos, for example) who's stock in trade seems to be laughing a men being kick, hit, or other wise suffering injuries to their genitals.


#135158 11/13/04 03:04 PM
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...but there are TV shows (america's funniest home videos, for example) who's stock in trade seems to be...

Even though they have an audience I'd wager against the producers relying on *them for the sound of laughter.

It's the same reson why, IMHO, most feel "Sienfeld" or "Freinds" are funny... developed consumers of comedy being propped up by the use of laugh tracks.

Spelling altered to protect the innocent.

#135159 11/13/04 03:14 PM
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consumers of comedy being propped up by the use of laugh tracks.

I was always saddened and annoyed by the laughtrack on Monty Python's Flying Circus.


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...patiently waiting for good, live television...


formerly known as etaoin...
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Yer gonna hafta be purty patient, e! Seems every time (well, the majority of the time) anything is truly good or funny, it's gone in weeks. Maybe the "average viewer" is lower than we think?


#135162 12/15/04 09:53 AM
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I recently heard a new slang term for money in Spanish. It seems that every culture has it's own (d'oh!) but back to the new (for me) word: chavos, which loosely translates to "kids".


#135163 12/15/04 03:18 PM
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I think political correctness is the last thing on a person's mind when they're angry and want to insult somebody.

Not sure I can agree with that belMarduk. I can't speak for the present generation, but in years past it was not acceptable for a gentleman under any circumstances to return an insult from a lady.

Winston Churchill, at least when he was inebriated*, was a notable exception in his famous exchanges with Lady Astor.

In looking for one such exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor, I have just discovered that Lady Astor was a politician. No doubt, this explains why Churchill did not afford her the customary protection of her gender when his mighty intellect was provoked. She had forfeited that immunity by becoming a member of Parliament.*

About Lady Astor

She was known as a fierce debater. There is a famous exchange between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor when they were both staying at Blenheim Castle visiting the Marlboroughs. The two politicians had been at each other's throat all weekend when Lady Astor said, "Winston, if I were your wife I'd put poison in your coffee." Whereupon Winston said, "Nancy, if I were your husband I'd drink it."

http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/Lady_Astor.htm

* I have always been an admirer of Churchill [who was voted "the greatest Prime Minister of the 20th Century" by the citizens of Britain in 2000], but this reputation for returning an insult from a lady, whatever the provocation, was always a blemish on his otherwise unsullied escutcheon, at least for me.**

One can never win in the court of genteel opinion by crossing swords with a lady.

** Even his bad habits, smoking cigars and drinking too much brandy, were endearing. Churchill elevated even his weaknesses into virtues: "Claret is for boys, port is for men, but brandy is for heroes."

Churchill 'greatest PM of 20th Century'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/575219.stm

* I am sure all are familiar with this famous exchange:

"Why, Sir Winston, you are drunk!"

"Yes, madam, and you are ugly. But tommorrow I'll be sober."

Now that I have investigated the subject further, I think Sir Winston was being a little bit disingenuous in denouncing Lady Astor as "ugly". Her portrait certainly gives no evidence of it. Now, her disposition, well, that's another matter altogether.



#135164 12/16/04 12:22 AM
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That’s interesting, consuelo.hi :)
Wonder if there’s any connection with the widespread UK argot chav, used to describe a youth high on bling and low on educational self-esteem?

Quinion records:
Chav is almost certainly from the Romany word for a child, chavi, recorded from the middle of the nineteenth century….
http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm



#135165 12/19/04 03:39 PM
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high on bling and low on educational self-esteem

It's easier to come by bling than it is by an education. That's the rub, isn't it?

If you could steal an education, there might be more demand for it.

Well, actually, you can steal an education, even at Yale, as the current President has demonstrated, but it takes a lot of money and some very serious heavy-duty pull to pull it off. [I understand that Dubya's year at Yale was the last year you could get in on your daddy's ticket if you couldn't make the grade on your own merit. Lucky us! ]


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