Re: Honorifics in The NY Times (notice that spell check capitalized the “The” as that is how The Times would do it). I am a subscriber and find the usage quaint at best. I have seen an “Mx.” show up recently as the preferred honorific of a particular person, so I guess they have decided that you get their honorific unless you tell them you want another? The Times needs to join the 21st Century and drop them altogether, as many of us have in real life.
Re: legistlatures and guns. Soon after the 2010 elections, when Wisconsin became a wholly-gerrymandered subsidiary of the Republican Party, someone in the visitors gallery of one or the other house took pictures of legislators napping. Now it is illegal to bring a camera into either chamber, but you can bring in a gun.
I don't know if this is appropriate here or not. I guess if it isn't, Meat will take it down. But if you'd like to help Wisconsin become a purple state again, we have a unique chance to flip the State Supreme Court after years of disastrous 4-3 decisions. See Janetforjustice.com. And please notice that the election is in April (because it is nominally non-partisan), so don't delay. We fled Wisconsin a decade ago, but we all have a stake in how its U.S. House districts are laid out and in its voting restrictions.
To the writer who doesn't use any pillows: Stop doing that. When you get older, you will develop neck issues. You need to keep your spine correctly aligned when you sleep.....
My wife has just pointed out to me, a real estate listing a $12.8 Million mansion in Nashville. It consists of four bedrooms and EIGHT (count 'm, 8!) bathrooms. How much pooping is going on in that house?
As a public service on this Day of Hallmark --- for readers who have become frustrated with dating apps and online ‘meet-and-cheat’ dating platforms and are now seriously considering kissing frogs, I offer this cautionary verse from a former contestant on the ill-fated ‘So You Want to Kiss a Frog!?’
About this business of kissing a frog,
Allow me to tell you of my hard slog,
The sad fact is, I’ve kissed four so far,
And gotten three toaster ovens and a brand new car.
I would feel remiss (similar to the feeling of trying not to fart at an inopportune time) if I did not point out amidst the outpouring of 24 hours of love and like named after two martyrs (some say) called Valentine dispatched in the 3rd c. AD, that tomorrow is National Singles Awareness Day and yesterday (thanks to "Parks and Recreation") was Galentine’s Day--- a day for women to celebrate their friendships with female friends. Although, in the interest of transparency, it must be pointed out that singles somehow not being aware that they are, is probably a major reason why they are.
National Singles Awareness Day sounds like a backhanded way to honor(?) people, regardless of how they feel about being single. Does that work out well for anyone? Valentine's Day is a nice sentiment, but could more realistically be called Arm-Twisting Day or Festival of Pressure. I'd like to see devoting Feb. 14 to not doing anything you don't want to do. The middle of February is a good time to take a breather and reboot a new year that's already begun going downhill.
I clicked the "Ask a question" link and it took me to Twitter! Can we no longer ask questions anonymously? I have a poo question and although I only have maybe 10 followers, I'm not sure I want it to be entirely public!
I don't know how, without being able to post a screenshot, to show you the place I clicked and where it led! But yes, ditto, I've been enjoying your lovingly exasperated critique of my now former profession of newspaper copy editing for years, too. I still have fries in my nose, but I'm older and less hot so it doesn't have the same effect.
And my question is, of course, a poop question: What the aitch e double hockey sticks do you do when you are in the middle of chewing a tasty morsel and are suddenly overcome with the urgent call of nature? (If the answer is to hop foot to foot while frantically chewing because it's completely unacceptable to have the input and the output overlap in any way, then hmm I guess never mind I'm on top of it)
Well, Meat, I just recently discovered your Gene Pool column and really like it.
I shared your wonderful piece on the neighborhood cat with my wife. So now she likes you, too, although addressing you as "Meat" would offend her sense of propriety.
The results of Invitational Week 5, the one for certain people's "circle of hell" and appropriate punishment, run this Thursday. Since Gene chose that contest, he also got to choose the inking entries from my first cut of about 125 that I sent him. While it's not a wordplay contest, take a look at the results on Thursday and see if the results seem different from most weeks'. -- The Empress
The NYT was half-right and half-wrong. I got to be friends with Meat Loaf near the end of his life. Since that was his legal name, Mr. Loaf would have been the proper usage if the Times followed its usual standard. However, Mr. Loaf much preferred to be addressed simply as "Meat."
As for appropriate honorifics, where would you put such uncategorizable specimens as Gaetz, Taylor Greene and Boebert ? And about the "Tanks for Tots" state of MO, you neglected to mention that the state house did require female legislators to cover their arms. No doubt, the concealed carry of female flesh will catch on elsewhere. Especially in those states where it has already been decided that a women's ability to control her own body is better left to a guy in a shiny suit and a bolo tie.
I remember reading, years ago, that the Times standard had been an honorific for anyone except convicted felons and infamous persons (to cover cases like Hitler, they said--although he was a convicted felon for the Beer Hall Putsch). But when Vice President Agnew resigned and pled to a felony charge, the rule was thrown into chaos until it could be reformulated, and in that confused time, they published a reference to "Mr. Hitler."
I'd prefer to never have to see their names in print, but that dream is out of reach and Mr., Ms. and Mrs. just don't seem appropriate. How about Pos. Gaetz, Pos. Greene and Pos. Boebert? Any need to explain what that abbreviates?
Re: Honorifics in The NY Times (notice that spell check capitalized the “The” as that is how The Times would do it). I am a subscriber and find the usage quaint at best. I have seen an “Mx.” show up recently as the preferred honorific of a particular person, so I guess they have decided that you get their honorific unless you tell them you want another? The Times needs to join the 21st Century and drop them altogether, as many of us have in real life.
Re: legistlatures and guns. Soon after the 2010 elections, when Wisconsin became a wholly-gerrymandered subsidiary of the Republican Party, someone in the visitors gallery of one or the other house took pictures of legislators napping. Now it is illegal to bring a camera into either chamber, but you can bring in a gun.
I don't know if this is appropriate here or not. I guess if it isn't, Meat will take it down. But if you'd like to help Wisconsin become a purple state again, we have a unique chance to flip the State Supreme Court after years of disastrous 4-3 decisions. See Janetforjustice.com. And please notice that the election is in April (because it is nominally non-partisan), so don't delay. We fled Wisconsin a decade ago, but we all have a stake in how its U.S. House districts are laid out and in its voting restrictions.
Gene, have you had a colonoscopy?
The first time I had a colonoscopy, I wore a T-shirt with a full moon on it. The staff loved it.
To the writer who doesn't use any pillows: Stop doing that. When you get older, you will develop neck issues. You need to keep your spine correctly aligned when you sleep.....
Also understand that urologists are now approving Viagra for the off-label use of keeping older men from rolling off their beds.
My wife has just pointed out to me, a real estate listing a $12.8 Million mansion in Nashville. It consists of four bedrooms and EIGHT (count 'm, 8!) bathrooms. How much pooping is going on in that house?
Inversely, I sometimes see listings for houses with 6 or 8 bedrooms and only one bathroom. I shudder at imagining mornings in that home.
Grew up in a house with 3 bedrooms, one bath; two adults, four children. Let’s just say we learned to go fast and shower fast.
A great deal of pooping. Pat will NEVER approve this post.
As a public service on this Day of Hallmark --- for readers who have become frustrated with dating apps and online ‘meet-and-cheat’ dating platforms and are now seriously considering kissing frogs, I offer this cautionary verse from a former contestant on the ill-fated ‘So You Want to Kiss a Frog!?’
About this business of kissing a frog,
Allow me to tell you of my hard slog,
The sad fact is, I’ve kissed four so far,
And gotten three toaster ovens and a brand new car.
But frog after frog, try as I might,
Apart from these things,
There’s no prince in sight.
I would feel remiss (similar to the feeling of trying not to fart at an inopportune time) if I did not point out amidst the outpouring of 24 hours of love and like named after two martyrs (some say) called Valentine dispatched in the 3rd c. AD, that tomorrow is National Singles Awareness Day and yesterday (thanks to "Parks and Recreation") was Galentine’s Day--- a day for women to celebrate their friendships with female friends. Although, in the interest of transparency, it must be pointed out that singles somehow not being aware that they are, is probably a major reason why they are.
National Singles Awareness Day sounds like a backhanded way to honor(?) people, regardless of how they feel about being single. Does that work out well for anyone? Valentine's Day is a nice sentiment, but could more realistically be called Arm-Twisting Day or Festival of Pressure. I'd like to see devoting Feb. 14 to not doing anything you don't want to do. The middle of February is a good time to take a breather and reboot a new year that's already begun going downhill.
1. AlimEntary. Mint has little, if anything, to do with it.
2. I have noticed that if you remove the vowels from 'Diarrhaoeia," you get Drrh.
I clicked the "Ask a question" link and it took me to Twitter! Can we no longer ask questions anonymously? I have a poo question and although I only have maybe 10 followers, I'm not sure I want it to be entirely public!
Ooops, that's a mistake, Zard. Go with this one:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0DnQCOaQaSRizoEPqFWMb_u1Io0eb6t4ykJo0apFEX4PBvA/viewform
Wait, really? I have to look into this. How did you get this question through? And hello, Elizardbeth. Been following you for years on Twit.
I don't know how, without being able to post a screenshot, to show you the place I clicked and where it led! But yes, ditto, I've been enjoying your lovingly exasperated critique of my now former profession of newspaper copy editing for years, too. I still have fries in my nose, but I'm older and less hot so it doesn't have the same effect.
And my question is, of course, a poop question: What the aitch e double hockey sticks do you do when you are in the middle of chewing a tasty morsel and are suddenly overcome with the urgent call of nature? (If the answer is to hop foot to foot while frantically chewing because it's completely unacceptable to have the input and the output overlap in any way, then hmm I guess never mind I'm on top of it)
Well, Meat, I just recently discovered your Gene Pool column and really like it.
I shared your wonderful piece on the neighborhood cat with my wife. So now she likes you, too, although addressing you as "Meat" would offend her sense of propriety.
She can call me "Dr. Meat." I would be honored.
The results of Invitational Week 5, the one for certain people's "circle of hell" and appropriate punishment, run this Thursday. Since Gene chose that contest, he also got to choose the inking entries from my first cut of about 125 that I sent him. While it's not a wordplay contest, take a look at the results on Thursday and see if the results seem different from most weeks'. -- The Empress
Why do I think laxatives or enemas will figure prominently in his choices ?
Mt. Dogg is wrong. His proper name is Mr. Broadus. I get his mail. I mean, you wouldn't believe the bling that comes through my post slot.
The NYT was half-right and half-wrong. I got to be friends with Meat Loaf near the end of his life. Since that was his legal name, Mr. Loaf would have been the proper usage if the Times followed its usual standard. However, Mr. Loaf much preferred to be addressed simply as "Meat."
I also like to be addressed as "Meat."
I also like to be addressed as "Meat."
Wait. If BOTH exemplars of Gene Weingarten like to be addressed as "Meat," how will we tell them apart?
Offer them Old Bay. The one who accepts is impostor "Meat." You can call them Shamburger.
Yeah, can't beat that "Meat!"
As for appropriate honorifics, where would you put such uncategorizable specimens as Gaetz, Taylor Greene and Boebert ? And about the "Tanks for Tots" state of MO, you neglected to mention that the state house did require female legislators to cover their arms. No doubt, the concealed carry of female flesh will catch on elsewhere. Especially in those states where it has already been decided that a women's ability to control her own body is better left to a guy in a shiny suit and a bolo tie.
I remember reading, years ago, that the Times standard had been an honorific for anyone except convicted felons and infamous persons (to cover cases like Hitler, they said--although he was a convicted felon for the Beer Hall Putsch). But when Vice President Agnew resigned and pled to a felony charge, the rule was thrown into chaos until it could be reformulated, and in that confused time, they published a reference to "Mr. Hitler."
I'd prefer to never have to see their names in print, but that dream is out of reach and Mr., Ms. and Mrs. just don't seem appropriate. How about Pos. Gaetz, Pos. Greene and Pos. Boebert? Any need to explain what that abbreviates?
"Dr. Fart" seems right.
Thank you, Patricia. I rely on you for competence. And everything else.