Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Fading Fast]

Of course there should. They're giving the awards for the best male and female performances.

I'd think it was stupid and offensive if, say, the Maine Association of Broadcasters gave out "Best Reporting by a Man" or "Best Reporting by a Woman" awards, because gender has nothing to do with the performance of a journalistic job. But there's nothing wrong with recognizing actors and actresses for the performances they give in roles that are very obviously gendered.

Don't we do the same comparison to say if George Clooney played a spy better in "The American" than Christian Bale played Batman as when we compare Clooney playing the spy to Cameron Diaz playing a teacher in "Bad Teacher?"

Isn't it all about acting - being convincing in the role, showing the right emotion, etc? Other than when two actors play the same role (and even then, there will be differences do to who are the other actors, etc.) don't all acting awards require us to compare acting skills in non-similar roles?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I understand all the above, but again, in three companies over the last 15+ years, the term "political correctness" has come to mean something closer to euphemistic speech - at least in the part of Corporate America that I've been in. And my friends also use it that way in casual conversation - "oh, that's just the landlord PC' B.S. - they are putting in more expensive washers and dryers - it's not an 'improvement' to the laundry room, but a price increase." This might be absolute wrong with respect to what the phrase did mean, but again, I am seeing the phrase being used in the way I am describing. Maybe the companies I've worked for and the people I socialize with are atypical.

I think the reason I object so strongly to the use of "Political Correctness" in such a context is that it implies that some actual, identifiable political force is at work in such instances. Nobody's *political* agenda is served by calling a washing machine a "laundry room improvement." A corporate agenda might be served, a business agenda might be served, but the use of "PC" in this context implies, no, it's all really *politics* at work, it's the sinister hand of the Dreaded Minions of Bureaucratic Orthodoxy who Demand That Every Knee Should Bow To Their Master. When, in fact, it's just some jackass landlord trying to sugarcoat a price hike.

The misuse of "PC" is a symptom of modern linguistic laziness in action. Rather than precisely identify what the problem is, just throw a cheap talk-radio catchphrase at it and feel like you've taken a bold stand.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Don't we do the same comparison to say if George Clooney played a spy better in "The American" than Christian Bale played Batman as when we compare Clooney playing the spy to Cameron Diaz playing a teacher in "Bad Teacher?"

Isn't it all about acting - being convincing in the role, showing the right emotion, etc? Other than when two actors play the same role (and even then, there will be differences do to who are the other actors, etc.) don't all acting awards require us to compare acting skills in non-similar roles?

Again, acting performances, with few exceptions, are intrinsically gendered. There's nothing wrong with judging women and men in separate categories for performances which are built on a gendered foundation, and no one that I know of has ever seriously argued otherwise. That being so, I was kind of miffed that Jared Leto wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the last Oscars.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Lizzie I think you know "politically correct" originally meant that your opinions were identical to the Communist Party's official position.

As in "Comrade, have you ever deviated from the party line?"

"No! no! no! I have always deviated WITH the party line".

Ha ha ha old Trotskyite joke.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Browder and Foster walked into a bar..."

 

[tonyb]

...

The misuse of "PC" is a symptom of modern linguistic laziness in action. Rather than precisely identify what the problem is, just throw a cheap talk-radio catchphrase at it and feel like you've taken a bold stand.

Tell it, sister.

I'd take it a step further and call it a sure sign of intellectual laziness. I can't say that this habit is any more prevalent now than it was historically (although it may indeed be; I'm not prepared to make the case either way), but I surely do hear people from all political perspectives throw out catchwords and phrases in such a way as to suggest that's all there is to say on the subject. They become thought-terminating cliches.

Alas, people are lazy. We want to feel good, and if that feeling comes at the expense of actual substance, well, in the absence of anything better, we'll take it, be it from a automobile advertisement or a political campaign.

 

[skydog757]

Ummm . . . Getting back to "Terms which have Disappeared"; I have not heard the phrase "boarding house reach" used since my grandmother died.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Ummm . . . Getting back to "Terms which have Disappeared"; I have not heard the phrase "boarding house reach" used since my grandmother died.

I use it every so often.

 

[skydog757]

How about "Brand spanking new"?

 

[dh66]

How about "Brand spanking new"?

I still hear that one occasionally.

Was reading some posts in a thread about ghost stories this morning and it reminded me of one. My grandparents would always referred to anything ghostly or supernatural as a " haint". As in "I don't wanna go up in that old barn, there might be a haint livin' in it." or "Uncle Marvin swore he seen a haint when he was out bushhogging by the old graveyard."

 

[skydog757]

The only time I hear that word anymore is when they play Jumpin' Gene Simmons' song Haunted House around Halloween.

" . . . ain't no haint gonna run me off." Probably my favorite Halloween tune.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That's about as useful as a glass hammer.

 

[cw3pa]

Haints and boogers are used in this neck of the woods for ghosts and spooks.

 

[Shangas]

How about "Brand spanking new"?

I have not heard that one in a LONG time!!

That's about as useful as a glass hammer.

"An aristocrat without servants is about as much use to the county as a glass hammer!" - Dame Maggie Smith - Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham - Downton Abbey.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

When was the last time you heard of someone being "gaslighted"?

 

[Shangas]

I feel like I should know what that means. But I can't remember.

 

[Stanley Doble]

From the movie Gaslight.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It means to convince someone they're sick or crazy in order to mulct them out of their money.

Nobody ever says "mulct" anymore, either.

 

[Fading Fast]

When was the last time you heard of someone being "gaslighted"?

Good one, my 82 year old mother uses it all the time.

 

[HeyMoe]

I few I picked up from my Grandfather:

"dumber than a bag of busted hammers"

"Worthless like a screen door on a submarine"

"Made a bigger mess than a soup sandwich"