Althouse: Putting the ointment in appointment.

July 10, 2005

Putting the ointment in appointment.

I don't know. I just thought of that title. Don't really have a post to go with it. Any ideas?

UPDATE: I'd also like to copyright the phrase "a fly in the appointment ointment."

20 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: Mark: Thanks for the conundrum.; 7/10/05, 10:36 AM
Steven Taylor said...: Makes me think of a trip to the dermatologist...; 7/10/05, 10:55 AM
Contributors said...: Hopefully it won't become, "Putting the disappointment in appointment."; 7/10/05, 10:58 AM
Shmuli said...: Doesn't Ashcroft anoint himself with oil? You're just 5 1/2 years late.; 7/10/05, 11:00 AM
Rick Lee said...: Steve Taylor beat me to my comment.; 7/10/05, 11:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Yeah, maybe it would be a cute slogan for a dermatologist.

I was thinking of the Supreme Court appointment(s). Maybe if someone ever acts unctuous. Or if there's some sense of greasing the political wheels. I'm just staking my claim to this title, to be used when somebody does something greasy or oily at some point.; 7/10/05, 11:14 AM
Tim said...: Perhaps you would have been better off by just putting the point in appointment!; 7/10/05, 12:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Mark: I was in the middle of my fly update when I got sidetracked by a phone call -- before I read your post.; 7/10/05, 2:13 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Noumenon: I've noticed the third one before. Love the warmonger one.; 7/10/05, 2:23 PM
amba said...: Putting the "oy" in appointment is gonna be more like it . . .; 7/10/05, 2:24 PM
Meade said...: Hey! Arlen Specter, don't be a fly in Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment!; 7/10/05, 2:27 PM
Troy said...: You could say someone put the "firm" in confirmation, but you might get sued for sexual harassment (or at least pilloried for being suggestive).

It sounds like something Clinton might've said. Ladies and Gentlemen of the press I'd like to introduce my nominee for AG -- she put the "firm" in confirmation -- Zoe Baird!

Or it could be a "bulking agent" for those who get upset stomach during the arduous confirmation process. Metamucil puts the "firm...."; 7/10/05, 3:29 PM
Ron said...: You can't say "crass" without "ass."; 7/10/05, 4:42 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Sorry Ann, can't copyright it. Too short. Copyright requires original expression, and there is a lot of precedent out there that short phrases don't qualify. Personally, I think it wrong - but precedent is precedent, and the Copyright Office is almost guaranteed to reject an application for registration.

Also note that "copyright" is no longer really a verb in the U.S., or, indeed, throughout most of the world - in our case probably since the 1976 Copyright Act, or at worst, when we joined the Berne Convention a decade later.

Rather, copyright is automatic, by operation of law, as a result of the fixation of original expression. Thus, you can have a copyright in a work, but you really can't copyright it any more.

What you can do is register your copyright by observing the formalities required by the U.S. Copyright Office. However, as noted above, they have a policy of rejecting simple phrases (which is not determinitive of lack of copyright, but rather highly suggestive).

Sorry.; 7/10/05, 4:52 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Unprotected sex: putting the risky in frisky.; 7/10/05, 5:26 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Bruce: I was speaking metaphorically and in web lingo.; 7/10/05, 6:30 PM
Ann Althouse said...: MarkT: Trademark would have been a worse choice for a metaphor, because I wanted to claim to own it. Trademark would require that I use it all the time and do business under it. Hard to picture me doing that!; 7/10/05, 6:36 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Ann is right. The problem with trademark is that a mark needs to identify a good or service.

And, Ann, sorry about getting technical on you. The use of "copyright" as a verb is a hot button with me - even some IP professionals do it.; 7/10/05, 7:06 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Bruce: Mellow out. Not everything is to be taken literally. What if I had said "I own that"? Would you pedantically point out reasons why I don't and can't?; 7/10/05, 7:11 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: No.; 7/10/05, 7:45 PM