Words Not Spoken In Polite Company
I was driving to work the other day and learned something completely new to me from talk radio.
It seems there’s a mild controversy going on at the New York Times. Fake but Accurate? No. It’s all about the crossword.
It seems that the 7 letter word for scoundrel was SCUMBAG. This word is, apparently, vulgar. The first OED meaning of the word is condom.
Makes sense, but I had no idea. Even if I had, it would be far from “outrageous” to me. I guess I’m a vulgar bird, at heart.
The guest on the radio was the editor of the OED, and he went on to mention all sorts of things that shall not be mentioned in polite company – like gypping someone, going dutch, etc. He even brought up that old controversy of how a gentleman was fired from his job for using the word niggardly in the proper context. PC craziness to the max.
Then, I opened the paper, and read about a new movie named F$%&. Of course, the real movie has it all spelled out. And people are asking for tickets to it…
A world where a person is fired for using a word that sounds like a bad word, where the grey lady gets protested for having a crossword clue which is slightly vulgar, yet an art can be named after a TRULY bad word and be completely accepted? I truly do not understand.
(*)>
It seems there’s a mild controversy going on at the New York Times. Fake but Accurate? No. It’s all about the crossword.
It seems that the 7 letter word for scoundrel was SCUMBAG. This word is, apparently, vulgar. The first OED meaning of the word is condom.
Makes sense, but I had no idea. Even if I had, it would be far from “outrageous” to me. I guess I’m a vulgar bird, at heart.
The guest on the radio was the editor of the OED, and he went on to mention all sorts of things that shall not be mentioned in polite company – like gypping someone, going dutch, etc. He even brought up that old controversy of how a gentleman was fired from his job for using the word niggardly in the proper context. PC craziness to the max.
Then, I opened the paper, and read about a new movie named F$%&. Of course, the real movie has it all spelled out. And people are asking for tickets to it…
A world where a person is fired for using a word that sounds like a bad word, where the grey lady gets protested for having a crossword clue which is slightly vulgar, yet an art can be named after a TRULY bad word and be completely accepted? I truly do not understand.
(*)>
Labels: politics
posted by birdwoman | 8:57 AM
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