Ta-Nahesi Coates. Fuckin' Althouse. My name's at the top of the blog and I still can't get Ann's respect.The link on "Fuckin' Althouse" goes to this post of mine:
Hey! That's sexism against Sarah Palin!My post links to Coates calling out Glenn Beck for sounding like a sexist. It's phrased to imply that Coates probably wouldn't call out a liberal for sexism, but now that there's an opportunity to slam Beck, he's up for defending Palin. Now, explain what set Coates off in this new post where he curses me. Maybe he didn't understand my post and thinks I didn't realize I was reading his blog (since I didn't use his name in my post — I just linked). I'm not really sure. Perhaps he's so ready to hate me that he didn't pick up my bloggerly comic concision. But — wow! — there he is on The Atlantic website spewing an obscenity at me for... nothing.
When Glenn Beck says it.
As if to cover up his brutishness, he combed through my comments section and found something offensive that one person said. He quotes someone named "grapp" — with no available profile— who said "I might respect Ta-Nehisi Coates more if he has less of a jackass ghetto name and was more of a serious thinker." Grapp — who claims to be a black woman — wrote at the end of a long thread, and 2 of the 4 comments left on the thread take Grapp to task. Nevertheless, Coates goes on to say "She'd respect me more if I "has less of a jackass ghetto name." He says he finds the comment hilarious — presumably because of the typo/grammar error. Because of the way he began his post by weirdly accusing me of some sort of disrespect related to his name, he's cued his commenters to trash me, which they basically do.
I guess to be like him I should select the nastiest comment to make him look even worse than he made himself look. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to quote a sensible commenter there:
Come on, TNC, just a couple of days ago you rightfully chided people for talking at strawmen, and here you're writing as if Althouse herself, and not a commenter, made the crack about the name. It looks as if a number of the commenters here have not realized it wasn't Althouse herself who wrote it. The commenter is not the blogger.
There's no rule that says a blogger has to police her comment section and delete offensive posts; some like an open comments policy and some like a moderated comments policy. Althouse has an open comments policy and as a direct result attracts some odious commenters as well as some very good ones.Come on, Ta-Nehisi Coates. A very serious apology is in order.
ADDED: Now, I see that the problem was that I had a tag for his name and I misspelled it. That brought an obscenity... and a connection to a commenter who took a racial point of view. What a jerk.
IN THE COMMENTS: AC245 said:
I was curious to see how many other places on the net misspelled his name in the same way (as "Nahesi") that Althouse did.The New Yorker, eh? Ha ha. Apparently, the topic of sexism is like the topic of having your name misspelled for Coates. (AC245 provides links for his 6 items. Go inside if you want that.)
1. Salon's Glenn Greenwald has it spelled that way on his blogroll.
2. Here's a post by "Bitch Ph.D." praising him as wise.
3. Mark Hemmingway has a post on The Corner mentioning Coates, Obama, and hip-hop.
4. This post on Pandagon "corrects" Coates that one cannot be both a feminist and a PUMA.
5. It's also spelled "Nahesi" on the blogroll of The New Yorker.
6. There's a post by Enchanting Juno who says "Ta-Nahesi Coates - who may just be my favorite blogger of all time..."
And that's when I got bored, after browsing through just the first 3 pages of the over 20,000 Bing results for "Nahesi".
I didn't go through any of the 256 instances of "fuckin'" on ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com that Bing found, so it's possible that he's also hurled the vulgarity he graced Althouse with at every other person on the internet who's dared to dis him by unintentionally misspelling his name when linking to his blog. But for some reason, I rather doubt it.
And grapp came back and said:
Althouse, I apologize for leaving a comment that caused Ta-Nehisi Coates to cuss you out.And:
Yes, I am a black woman. Really. Moreover, I'm heartily sick of names that no one can pronounce, and fed up of people in the community who get angry cuz they seem to think that ALL blacks automatically know how to pronounce the crazy names.
Coates has demonstrated to you why I have no respect for him as a thinker. Ah, there I go, marching out of lockstep again!
I had a typo with 'has' which should've been 'had', I think. Coates, that great mental giant, seems to think that a typo is worth crowing over. Lame.I assume he found it funny because it gave you the appearance of speaking like a stereotypical black person while you were making fun of his name for being stereotypically black. It's like correcting spelling while making a spelling error.
AND: My own first name is also hard to spell, even as it is easy to spell.
IN THE COMMENTS, PART 2: Susan said:
I'm a TNC reader, but what a weird issue for him to flip out over, given that his grammar and spelling are atrocious.Jim Treacher said:
[Link.]
[Link]
Ann, I can't believe you showed such fuckin' disrespect to Ta-Tasilly Coat.
Posts
172 comments:
An apology would be in order if you weren't a complete cunt.
But you are.
So, uh, he shouldn't!
Enn Elthousa, there is nothing wrong with your post. Nothing at all.
You spelled his name wrong (and are continuing to do so). Isn't *that* why he was offended?
I think it's because Althouse spells his name Ta-Nahesi, and he spells it Ta-Nehisi.
But certainly that small error doesn't excuse him for thowing a "Ne-hisi fit" though, does it?
An apology would be forthcoming if he weren't a complete Coates.
But he is.
So, uh, he won't.
Spelled it wrong in an old tag. I've removed the tag.
Methinks Ethan wouldn't know a cunt if he saw one, much less a complete one, nor what to do with it.
Sometimes it's not so much the correction that is needed, but rather the formal acknowledgment that a correction is needed [especially when a mistake was made].
***
"I goofed! It's not just for pussies, anymore."
***
(As if it ever was, for the most part, even among the truly great alphas.)
I am shocked, shocked! that anyone would ever accidentally misspell Ta-Nahesi Coates. An f-bomb to all of you out there who have ever misspelled a name, including typing May for my niece, Mae, or Stephanie for my friend, Steffani! Millions of curses be heaped upon you! Rage, rage against the misspelling of the name!
Kaus says no one reads anyone at "Atlantic" except Sully. Guess that's why Althouse spelled his name wrong. And if Coats' first name was 'Tennessee' this wouldn't have happened.
It's reasonable to want a correction. Don't get the cursing and having a fit about it though.
"You spelled his name wrong (and are continuing to do so). Isn't *that* why he was offended?"
I'm sure Randie Bardette is about to cuss her too.
How then, rcocean, to explain your "... And if Coats'... ." rather than "... And if Coates'... ."?
Curious minds want to know.
How then, rcocean, to explain your "... And if Coats'... ." rather than "... And if Coates'... ."?
Curious minds want to know.
Tomatoe ....Tomato ....Potatoe....Potato....let's call the whole thing off.
So... who is this Nehi Cokes guy anyway?
There is a special place in hell for people who affect a confusing name and then feign insult every time someone fucks up the spelling.
The Atlantic is becoming the home of the pseuds.
In all seriousness, I think Coates was trying to kid around.
Ta-Nahesi Coates. Fuckin' Althouse. My name's at the top of the blog and I still can't get Ann's respect.
In the past, I've started a comment with "Damn you Althouse!" in jest.
I don't think Coates would have said "I still can't get Ann's respect" using her first name in the familiar Dangerfield voice if he wasn't trying to be jocular.
As for Althouse's unprecedented two mispellings today, like my mistakes today, I think it's all due to the distraction engendered by the snow. Schwing!
Freeman: Apart from what you can guess about my mindset generally, see 1) my comment to Althouse (which I think is not just on point, but also entirely fair, and not just in this instance and 2) my comment to rcocean, which I think is also entirely fair and on point.)
Further, I'm pretty sure you'd agree, Freeman, that I'm the first to make point of, and also fun of, my own typos--but also, that I'm pretty damn good at acknowledging mistakes and even (perish the thought!) flat-out apologizing, and even mostly without the weaselly "If you were [xx]" or "If it seemed I was [xx]" & etc. constructions.
Sometimes, there's a fairly simple and straightforward way to try and dial back the conflict. Of course, that assumes a particular goal, which--of course--I, for one, would not assume.
His post hinged on your misspelling his name, and that's all. He should have just called you Anne Althouse and left it at that.
By the way, I didn't read "Fuckin' Althouse" as an insult, but as Coates saying "I can't catch a break." Think of Coates as an assertive Rodney Dangerfield -- denied respect but ready to point out the lack.
And asking "Why does Glenn Beck disrespect his sister in Conservatism, Sarah Palin?" is a reasonable question. Why does he? Aren't they on the same team?
I am a big fan of both your blogs, though I started reading TNC much more recently, and I gotta say that I think TNC was justified (if not perfectly polite) in feeling offended that you spelled his name wrong.
Coming from someone in the same boat, when your name is frequently misspelled, it starts to look like laziness on the part of the spellers. So even when an honest slip-up happens, the emotional reaction is "Come on, don't you respect me enough to put in the token effort to get my name right?"
You don't need to carry the weight for all of that, but you shouldn't expect him to apologize.
Sum1 spilled mie mane Pich end eye got made nd sed kunt. Thats rud end eyem sory.
As someone whose maiden name was misspelled and mispronounced all the time, I can't imagine getting amped up over it.
However, upon reflection I think EDH is right and Coates was kidding.
reader -- I don't see Freeman loosing any of her flaming arrows at you. Are you carrying over a conversation from another comments thread?
It strikes me as shallow to really care if your name is spelled incorrectly unless it is on a legal document. Where does The Atlantic troll for contributors, in the bowels of the earth?
Althouse the lighting rod...never a dull moment.
Rodney Dangerfield
Yes, yes!
He pronounces it Tah-Nuh-Hah-See. Perfectly obvious. As Ralph Augustus, I thought my parents had saddled me with unfashionable names, but his take the cake. Maybe his first name is Joe.
@Dewb, if you're actually "offended" when someone spells your name wrong, you need...well, I don't know what you need. A sense of humor? A sense of humility? I don't know, but boy do people find stupid things by which to be offended.
Althouse doeth protesteth too much. She must be a KKK-style racist. Right FLS? I mean after all, anyone who dares criticize Obama IS a racist.
Given the "standards" at his place of business- at least he didn't demand to see a picture of your 'gina.
The Atlantic sure is packing some intellectual heavyweights these days.
He was clearly kidding. But his name is awfully easy to mispell.
1. If Althouse wants to do something about TNC, catch him in lies and misleading statements and then arrange it so that his readers can find out that he's misleading them. His audience will dry up if they find out that he's lying to them and misleading them.
2. Perhaps instead of going after a lightweight nobody, Althouse could go after those who actually have an impact. Just to choose two names at random, JeffZeleny of the NYT and Anne Kornblut of the WaPo. They've had a far greater impact than TNC ever will have, and I've caught them in misleading statements, smears and so on. If Althouse isn't capable of doing that herself and focusing in on them in a way designed to inform their audience about them, then she should help those few of us who are capable of doing that.
3. TNC is a lightweight who banned me for showing how he was wrong. See the comment here, and scroll down to him admitting he banned me. That's hardly the best comment I've left, but TNC didn't have the capability to even try to present a counter-argument.
No, you didn't just spell his name wrong in a tag - you did it throughout your post. Your original post is even copied and pasted in the post you just mentioned. So, it's a little more than 'just a tag.'
Agreed that the profanity could have been excluded, but the fact that you asked for an apology (while, again, spelling his name wrong) does blow ones mind.
She must be a KKK-style racist. Right FLS?
Althouse is certainly no racist.
But she may be a speciesist. That "Fuck fish" was certainly shocking for a Thursday morning. What did fish ever do to the professor?
No, you didn't just spell his name wrong in a tag - you did it throughout your post AND IN YOUR REQUEST FOR AN APOLOGY. Your original post is even copied and pasted in his post you just linked to. So, it's a little more than 'just a tag.'
Agreed that the profanity could have been excluded, but the fact that you asked for an apology (while, again, spelling his name wrong) does blow ones mind.
I will say that, unlike my real-life first name, my real-life last name has never once been misspelled, in my experience. OTOH, the latter is frequently replaced by my real-life not-actual last name, which is more easily misspelled, though not particularly often.
***
wv: oelogic
How rcocean could submit his criticism of Althouse with "Coates" spelled as "Coats."
---
Oh, c'mon now! Where's the sense of humor?
ta neheshi coates loves them straw men arguments. ann should not bother with these people. they should be ignored.
@Jana, I don't think Coates was actually offended. People with unusual names have thick skin. I second what former law student said about Rodney Dangerfield shtick.
the mistake ann made was linking to coats.
reader -- I don't see Freeman loosing any of her flaming arrows at you. Are you carrying over a conversation from another comments thread?
FLS: I don't either. Also, no.
I wasn't calling out Freeman. Calling on her--now, that's a whole different notion.
OTOH, the latter is frequently replaced by my real-life not-actual last name
Huh? How many fucking names do you have?
Kaus says no one reads anyone at "Atlantic" except Sully.
Perhaps Kaus--whom I like (go ahead: shoot me now)--is right, in a certain context. For my part, I make a point of NOT going to the Atlantic (and of not subscribing to it) on account of Andrew Sullivan. From the start of that stance, I carefully stated exceptions for a couple of people who write there whose work I DO read, online, though not regularly ...
... as I used to do, before I felt I was forced, honor-bound, to as much as possible take leave of The Atlantic, which I had read, until then, since damn near early childhood.
1. Misspelling the name in this post occurred because he misspelled his own name, which I didn't notice.
2. The R Dangerfield tone is undone by the hostility of the word "fuckin'" and the effort to connect my name to a racial comment. That is not lighthearted stuff. It is meant to hurt my reputation, not to say that he just can't catch a break.
3. I'm so sorry I wasted my time and your time on this. I need to resist reacting to this sort of cheap shot.
We are easily entertained.
I think Mr. Coats and Anne are both used to misspelling of names.
Ralph: I'm referring to my husband's (and child's) legal last name, which is mostly my last name in practice, though not legally.
Sense of humor, please.
wv: serinit
Althouse is certainly no racist. But she may be a speciesist. That “Fuck fish” was certainly shocking for a Thursday morning. What did fish ever do to the professor?
We are fish — one of the two major branches of fish, sarcopterygians or lobe-finned fish, like lungfish and coelacanths. It's interesting that the two fishy branches contain nearly the same number of species, but the other group, ray-finned fish or actinopterygians constitute almost all the fishes that swim in the sea, while except for the groups already mentioned (constituting a mere four genera, three of lungfish and one coelacanth) all the surviving sarcopterygians walk around with four legs on land (tetrapods), or once did (e.g., whales and snakes).
Sense, please.
WV - ressolaw - What Althouse doesn't teach her students
He sounds Hawaiian.
Althouse has no problem heaping abuse on an entire taxonomic class as in "fuck fish", but when one of the guppies bites back it's an entirely different story....This is why life among the pixels is so pleasant. Whether the conflict escalates or is resolved amicably, it will make no difference to the life of anyone on this planet, least of all the principals...Most of our conflicts among the carbon based life forms while equally inconsequential have real consequences. I wish I could accept the pointlessness of real people with the equanamity that I do of you dear spectral presences.....But I suppose the point of the abuse, the humor, the heroic poses is to engender a physical response in the reader. It's sort of like God and the void. We struggle to be aloof from what we wish to connect with.... In real life, there are voices raised, seductive laughs, yawns stifled, etc etc and we struggle to rise above it. But here on the internet we struggle to duplicate it.
Who gets to invite Althouse and Coates over for a beer?
I've been reading Coates pretty much since he started at the Atlantic. He uses the f-bomb frequently enough that it's not remarkable in and of itself.
By itself, it can be read as an offensive attack or as a playful jab. I can hear it in either voice.
Like "What the hell," the words on paper hold many possibilities that would not be considered if one could hear them spoken.
rhhardin: The only way I can make sense of--and sense of humor of (Hey,Ralph L,hi there!)--your comment is to link to this.
***
wv: outersed
Coates' comments are like what Anrdew Sallivun's would be like if had the guts to have commenters - all sycophantic, all the time - and if you dare to step out of line, you're gone.
I sometimes rif on Megan McArdle for her faux-libertarianism, and basically just denying her fundamental liberalism, but she is really a pretty good sport and takes a lot of crap from her comments section without getting all hissy. Coates' regular commenters are scary in their level of groupthink.
I used to think that it would be great to have an exotic name that the teacher would stumble over the first day calling roll.
*sigh*
I also used to think I'd be taken more seriously if I wore glasses.
I went to school with a guy last named Boen who said his family was Johnson or Johanson but wanted something less common. I also went to school with a guy last named Unverzaght (hey, I'm *pronouncing* it right) who'd give his name as Jones if he expected to have to be called when his order was ready.
In any case... I still think it would be nice to be *taller* even if I've given up on the romance of an interesting name and glasses. ;-)
Raritan (Winter 1992) had an article by Kothar Wa-Khasis, "Choosing Your Names," that recommended author names for getting respect in humanities journals under modern cultural studies policies.
You will note that such journals bold the authors' names but not the titles, as the first clue.
Ah, here it is, touched off by an ad in the NYRB for Yale Journal of Cricitism
Jeff Nunokawa, AIDS and the Age of Mourning
Gauri Viswanathan Raymond Williams and British Colonialism
Joan DeJean Marriage and the Novel in Crisis in France (1690-1715)
Christorpher Norris Heidegger, de Man, and Lacoue-Labarthe
Wai-chee Dimock Rightful Subjectivity
Dudley Bromwich Edmund Burke, Revolutionist
Ngugi wa Thiong'o English: A Language for the World?
Akeel Bilgrami Rushdie and Postcolonial Defensiveness
Wa-Khasis notices the elegant sandwiching of Anglo/WASP names and multicultural names.
What name should you use yourself?
For certain applications obscure street names in Paris will suffice.
But I'd favor his/her use of non-Latin alphabets and sounds, as in the suggested thematic journal issue devoted to an experiment giving camcorders to Bushmen
N!ai The First Tribal Cinema
Bayly Spawforth-Jones Can Tribal Cinema Stabilize San Culture?
Marie Desséchée The Male Gaze in Tribal Cinema
A principle of "indeterminacy within multiculturalism" avoids spelling fashion pitfalls. It must not be entirely clear what language your author speaks, or what their gender might be. "Toril Moi" is the perfect mix.
Ta-Nehisi Coates would seem to fall under Wa-Kathis's early "Strategy 1," like Jeff Nunokawa and Wai-chee Dimock above; names that are multicultural unto themselves.
Raritan XI:3 Winter 1992, p17ff.
Anyone who's ever read Coates' blog would know that 'fuckin' Althouse' was meant in a completely tongue in cheek way, and the call-out of that idiot commenter was in the same spirit.
Really Ms. Althouse, if you think he's 'brutish', you should read his writing and think again.
But that's entirely up to you.
Good grief, "fucking" popped your virgin ears, Ann? Get past your shock over a gerund and realize the point of his post: he's just joking about his name being misspelled. And as he makes abundantly clear in a comment to his post, he considers the comment you've now deleted as separate entertainment.
Instead of calling him a jerk, which to me is much more negative than the more ambiguous word "fucking", just admit you didn't get the point/nature of his post, and retract your request for an apology.
Also, grow up.
"I went to school with a guy last named Boen who said his family was Johnson or Johanson but wanted something less common"
Boen isn't unusual really. I was quite friendly with a Richard Boen. Sadly, I lost touch.
wv: itinge
Whoops, for the record, I was searching this post for "grapp", but it was the older post that had the comment. So I realize the comment wasn't deleted.
I was curious to see how many other places on the net misspelled his name in the same way (as "Nahesi") that Althouse did.
1. Salon's Glenn Greenwald has it spelled that way on his blogroll.
2. Here's a post by "Bitch Ph.D." praising him as wise.
3. Mark Hemmingway has a post on The Corner mentioning Coates, Obama, and hip-hop.
4. This post on Pandagon "corrects" Coates that one cannot be both a feminist and a PUMA.
5. It's also spelled "Nahesi" on the blogroll of The New Yorker.
6. There's a post by Enchanting Juno who says "Ta-Nahesi Coates - who may just be my favorite blogger of all time..."
And that's when I got bored, after browsing through just the first 3 pages of the over 20,000 Bing results for "Nahesi".
I didn't go through any of the 256 instances of "fuckin'" on ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com that Bing found, so it's possible that he's also hurled the vulgarity he graced Althouse with at every other person on the internet who's dared to dis him by unintentionally misspelling his name when linking to his blog. But for some reason, I rather doubt it.
" I'm so sorry I wasted my time and your time on this. I need to resist reacting to this sort of cheap shot."
No, Althouse, you need to resist athletic endeavors like snow shoeing after shoveling snow. It can make you cranky, not to mention creaky, by crikey!
"But I suppose the point of the abuse, the humor, the heroic poses is to engender a physical response in the reader."
Reader_iam had a physical response?
Very cool.
Perhaps I should read more.
Mary wrote:
"As for your obscenity complaint, weren't you the one writing "F*** Fish" just yesterday on your main page?
"It jumped out then, and your complaint here is puzzling."
Are you really puzzled by the difference between hurling an obscenity at fish and hurling an obscenity at another human being, or are you just being a fucktard?
(See what I did there!?)
Maybe Kurt Cobain can help you figure this one out.
Althouse, I apologize for leaving a comment that caused Ta-Nehisi Coates to cuss you out.
Yes, I am a black woman. Really. Moreover, I'm heartily sick of names that no one can pronounce, and fed up of people in the community who get angry cuz they seem to think that ALL blacks automatically know how to pronounce the crazy names.
Coates has demonstrated to you why I have no respect for him as a thinker. Ah, there I go, marching out of lockstep again!
I had a typo with 'has' which should've been 'had', I think. Coates, that great mental giant, seems to think that a typo is worth crowing over. Lame.
Ann Althouse - The Aggrieved.
You're beginning to rival S. Palin.
As a long-standing grognard of 'the Althouse commentors community', I would like the post of Major Domo of Chocolate Sundaes, Pizza, and Nuclear Weapons...for when Ann, eventually, acquires them. If you prefer, ACORN will lobby on my behalf...
I used to think that it would be great to have an exotic name that the teacher would stumble over the first day calling roll.
My name is not exotic at all, but people still mispronounce it all the time. And they misspell it, but I can't imagine making a big deal over it. Geez.
I was beginning to think this guy was joking, but I'm not sure why he would go hunting for comments to bitch about if he was being tongue in cheek.
Of course, out of the crowd of 30,000 name misspellers, goes after the beautiful, extremely white, blond chick.
What a Tiger Woods.
^ See, I didn't even use his name.
Sorry for my poor proofreading...I restructured my sentence and left "Coates" out entirely.
I am such a racist!!!!
"Say my name, bitch!"
McCardle, Fallows, and Goldberg are the only columnists over there who are worth a damn anymore. TNC is lost in his continued Black Outrage, even though his Party and his Regime are in fucking power. All Republican Opposition to Teh Won is racist and based in the Klavern with the Kleagle.
Meantime, Sullivan can't break away from Substitue Mommy Sarah's One True Vagina (by the way, is anyone here half convinced that Palin is on her way to becoming the new Judy Garland to some quarters in the gay community? Discuss...), and Ambinder is a bootlicking toady for Axelrod and Plouffe.
I mean, you could actually put a fax machine in your home and get the press releases from Gibbs, or you could read Ambinder. It's just that reading Ambinder is a bit more entertaining to watch Marc live up to his new moniker from Mickey Kaus: the "Draedel".
Anyway, please try again, TNC. The partisan stooges over at Media Matters already went after the Professor, but they get Soros Money to do that. You don't get sewer money from Dr. Evil, do you?
Speaking of trashy ghetto names:
Have you noticed the new trend of white girls teasing each other by calling each other LaQueesha and other trashy ghetto names?
Pretty soon the multiculti's will say that is as bad as calling something queer or teen boys calling each other fag.
"I'm so sorry I wasted my time and your time on this. I need to resist reacting to this sort of cheap shot."
Ah, the sound of scales falling...
Neil Young was quite wrong.
Sometimes it's better to have a heart of stone.
I spelled Ann Althouse "Anne" and she tried to run over me with her car. Don't fuck with the spelling of bloggers!
Incidentally, "Andrew Sullivan" is pronounced "Throat-Wobbler Mangrove."
Who founded The Atlantic? I want to measure how fast they're spinning.
When I cannot think of a worthy comment, I bitch about spelling and grammar. Then I go after photographs and favorite movies. Failing those, fisking some throw-away comment on a post remains useful. Attacking minor errors of fact as proof of idiocy or deception is a hoot. Finally, when all else fails, a snide swipe at an entire category of people is rather fun.
Come to think of it, I don't really ever do anything more than that.
Gosh.
I know I must be a culturist pig, but I think Tanehisi Coates is a weird name. Looks like an anagram. That's it! It's an anagram for "I Hate Canoeists".
@Micheal
"Throat-Wobbler Mangrove"
Without the benefit of Google or Bing, I'm wondering how many people get that oblique reference.
40 years and counting...
tanahesi
Looks like something that Word Verification would come up with.
I haven't heard "Throat-Wobbler Mangrove" in years.
Misspellings also brings to mind this Slaughterhouse Five line:
"Oh, Daddy ! There is nos such planet as Trilaflamaduke!".
It's only that Faulthouse Blog stirring up the fatuous, frantic, and fevered Atlantic gang again. Nothing to see here, please move on.
Please misspell my name at the top of your blog list. Please!!? As long as the link fits, I will acquit!
:o)
Since Ann thinks I am sensible, am I allowed to come back and say now that TNC's blog is a very good one in general, with a lively and interesting set of commenters not dissimilar to the set of Ann's non-odious commenters, and that if this is your first exposure to his blog you might take a second look? Everybody writes something wrong from time to time.
Peace, dammit! Feuds between blogs I like force me out of lurkdom every time.
My name got misspelled! Fuckin' cable company, bank, credit-card issuers, Amazon, junk mailers, every magazine I ever subscribed to, everyone I ever ordered mail-order from, electric company, gas company, and blog commenters.
Thanks, bearing, but I'm going to have to pass on that. Putting that obscenity in front of my name and then not even apologizing is pretty much distances him for me.
"I'm so sorry I wasted my time and your time on this. I need to resist reacting to this sort of cheap shot."
Kind of a half-assed amend, don’t you think (i.e ‘cheap’ as a qualifier)? Anyway, you made your own trouble here, Althouse . Cheap shots (if they are that) are just that, cheap. You’re the one that increases the value.
“Moreover, I'm heartily sick of names that no one can pronounce” – geez, sorry about that. Are there other rules we should know about?
How do you pronounce k*thy?
In the comment thread on his site, Coates is saying that the entire post was meant as a joke. Ok, but most of his own regular commenters didn't get the joke & took his post as a cue to bash Althouse. In other words, it was a very poorly told joke (one that resulted in some pretty strong insults being hurled at his target). So Coates should at least own up to a small piece of really crappy writing. He should also consider whether it's wise to tie someone to racism as part of a joke.
It's rude to correct a person in public. If I notice a typo, I'll send an email rather than leave a comment that calls attention to the error in perpetuity. It's a small courtesy that not too many people observe these days, and that's a shame.
Coates could have shot a quick email to Ann asking her to correct the spelling, and she would have updated her post(s) to do so without a fuss. Choosing to post on the topic, while bringing in an implied accusation of racism, was (as I say to my children) not a good choice.
Apologies from both are in order, Ann for the spelling error, and Coates for his rudeness in pointing that error out.
(I consider that I am too old-fashioned when it comes to things like this, but I'll stick to my guns.)
It's rude to correct a person in public.
So true. Sadly, many people on the internet feel free to leave manners far behind.
tempest meet teapot
speaking of teapots i hate tea
have you ever thought there
was some yummy maple syrup
in a saucer and found out it
was nearly dried up
tea
yecch
w a y too astringent for my
nutritional needs but then
most people aren t cockroaches
which i have the misfortune
to be this time around
having the transmigrated soul
of a 12 tone composer which i
guess is sin enough without my
having been a lech in my last
life and i sure hope poor ms
coates upthread doesn t suffer
the same fate but she doesn t
look like the type to carry on
with grad students anyway
tommy who s the boy whose
computer i use is only 13 but
he goes to a snooty school here
in cambridge mass and he has
subscriptions to the atlantic
and the new yorker and even he
was wondering what was different
about the atlantic these days
from a lot of other blogs that
don t have andrew sullivan
messing them up and was really
curious when his english teacher
who lives in a house owned by
longfellow and who has been
teaching at the school since
about 1931 told him that william
dean howells and oliver wendell
holmes and ralph waldo emerson
all used to write for the atlantic
but what tommy really wanted to
know was how come writers in
those days all had 3 names
Juan Cole misspells his name on purpose. It's John.
Justin Raimondo does too. It's Dennis.
Glenn Greenwald has misspelled his as many times Ellers, Wilson, Ellison, and others.
I always thought Coates was a woman until today. Ta-Nehisi sounds feminine. Did he make it up? Good job.
I'm not going to deny that the professor was right to feel offended --- offense is in the ear of the listener. But I originally wrote to point out that had Coates really meant to give offense, he would have said, "Fuck you, Althouse." Instead, he said "Fuckin' Althouse." It could even be a term of endearment, as when my grandfather referred to me and my brother as little shitters, back when we were rug rats. In my (non-ghetto) dialect, what Coates was saying was akin to Reagan's "There he goes, again."
Which all reminded me of the famous proposition in Owen Wister's The Virginian , (now in the public domain): context can remove the sting of an obscenity. Coates should have smiled when he typed that. Note that here Trampas wanted to give offense but the Virginian was loath to take it:
There had been silence over in the corner; but now the man Trampas spoke again.
"AND ten," said he, sliding out some chips from before him. Very strange it was to hear him, how he contrived to make those words a personal taunt. The Virginian was looking at his cards. He might have been deaf.
"AND twenty," said the next player, easily.
The next threw his cards down.
It was now the Virginian's turn to bet, or leave the game, and he did not speak at once.
Therefore Trampas spoke. "Your bet, you son-of-a--."
The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas: "When you call me that, SMILE." And he looked at Trampas across the table.
I always thought Coates was a woman until today. Ta-Nehisi sounds feminine.
I did until I saw the bit about his wife on the tiger thread the other day. It is a pretty name, isn’t it? But it also reminds me of Nehi Soda.
It's a legitimate African name (Swahili/Tanzania), and you are behaving in a racist, Western-chauvinist, and ethnophobic manner for not treating it as such. THAT'S why it comes up in counterpoint and comparison ina discussion on sexism. That's why it says something significant about you.
"I need to resist reacting to this sort of cheap shot."
Sounds like masthead material to me Althouse.
People who get upset about casual profanity are not moraly superior to people who get upset about spelling. Each of you managed to tweak the other's peeve.
This exchange makes you both look like punks in a chest poking contest that everyone in the school-yard knows is not going to end in a fight.
@FLS
Fuckin' Althouse :)
Hmmmm.
It's a legitimate African name (Swahili/Tanzania), and you are behaving in a racist, Western-chauvinist, and ethnophobic manner for not treating it as such.
Or, maybe it was a typo? I mean, come on.
Anyone who can get that worked up over something so trivial as a mis-spelling of their name derves no apology, only derision, or at the very least, a good long mocking. Clearly one so easily offended over something so trivial has never had to deal with something truly unfortunate in their lives.
He should be on his knees thanking whoever or whatever he believes in that his life is so blessed that he has to invent things to be upset about.
Wow! Racist, ethnophobic and western Chauvinist all in one push back. IMO it's all because there are no Swahili Teachers and Great Books of the African Outback Courses required in our ethnic centered curriculum. The guilt from that is so oppressive...how much money and obeisance paid to the Kings from Kenya will that guilt cost us? Or we could just say no to their attempts at ethnic cleansing here.
Anthrophile:
Swahili? Oh, really? His father, who gave him that name, thought it was the ancient name for Nubia. So was his father an idiot, a racist or, like you, a clown on stilts?
althouse you idiot. you got one of the roman alphabet characters wrong in spelling his authentic given swahili/tanzanian name. this says something significant about you.
Fo sheezy Ta-Nehisi!
Fo sheezy Ta-Nehisi!
LMAO
Dew knot trussed yore smell checquer two fined awl you're missed takes.
Ann, I can't believe you showed such fuckin' disrespect to Ta-Tasilly Coat.
It's a legitimate African name (Swahili/Tanzania), and you are behaving in a racist, Western-chauvinist, and ethnophobic manner for not treating it as such.
Most African-Americans, at least those descended from slaves, are of west African descent. Mr. Coates has the physical appearance of a west African and it is most likely that his African ancestors never spoke Swahili, which is an east African language. Tanzania is on the east coast of Africa.
If Mr. Coates' ancestors spoke Swahili it would have been because Swahili speaking tribes captured and enslaved them.
It's rather interesting how Europeans and Americans get blamed for the slave trade but little mention is made of the role of Africans and Arabs, who made it possible by enslaving and selling west Africans.
As for Mr. Coates' petulance at the misspelling of his name, my legal English name is Ronald Joel Schreiber (a tri-cultural name actually, English, Hebrew and German/Yiddish). I go by Ronnie and spell it the same way Pres. Reagan did. Many people assume Ronnie is short for Veronica, thinking that Ronny is the standard male spelling. When people online see my name and assume that I'm a female, I just laugh.
I dunno, but it seems to me that if I can laugh over people thinking I'm a girl, Coates can get over an incorrect vowel or two. I know that I never get upset when people switch the E and I in my last name or spell it without a C.
Besides, if the name is truly a traditional Swahili name, Ta-Nehisi is a transliteration. Unless you are talking about academic conventions, there are no real rules for transliterating. My son and my first cousin's son are both named after my maternal grandfather, whose Hebrew name was Yoseph Chanoch. Yoseph is the original Hebrew for Joseph. My son's name is spelled Yoseph on his birth cert. His cousin's name is spelled Yosef on his brith cert. Does it really matter? Should I get upset because lots of non-German Goyim have trouble with the gutteral CH in Hebrew and can't pronounce Chanoch? Hell, the English version of Chanoch, Enoch, turns the gutteral ch into a k phoneme.
Swahili comes from the Arabic word for coast and the earliest Swahili texts that are extant (18th cent) were written in Arabic script. Through the influence of colonialism, the Roman alphabet was adopted and adapted with unique characters, but the notion of a "correct" English spelling for a Swahili name is rather silly.
the notion of a "correct" English spelling for a Swahili name is rather silly.
Which reminds me that the correct English spelling for Althouse would be Oldhouse. And the correct German spelling would be Althaus. "Althouse" is neither fish nor fowl. But that is the way the professor chooses to spell it, so that spelling must be respected.
Someone please explain to me why anything that's put out under The Atlantic's banner these days is worth of spending the time to read, much less comment?
Mostly, they seem to have gone over the edge into silliness.
Putting that obscenity in front of my name
Obscenity in front of your name? I thought it was part of Meade's job description.
I keed, I keed.
Try the veal.
Help me out here. Who names their child "Ta-Nahesi"?
I mean, if you were given that name, would you not be throwing the same hissy fit (pun intended)?
On behalf of the universe, I apologize to Ann for her perpetual sense of imaginary victimhood. We are very sorry.
Does that about cover it, Ann?
"...what tommy really wanted to
know was how come writers in
those days all had 3 names".
They all aspired to be serial killers.
Otoh, I'm pretty sure I would double-check the spelling of Ta-Nehisi before I wrote it down anywhere if I valued correct spelling at all.
"So Coates should at least own up to a small piece of really crappy writing. He should also consider whether it's wise to tie someone to racism as part of a joke."
Without "ist's" and "ism's", there are no jokes.
Ta-Nehisi eats fish sticks.
When Ta-Nehisi was first learning how to spell, I wonder how many times he got it wrong.
I'm a TNC reader, but what a weird issue for him to flip out over, given that his grammar and spelling are atrocious.
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/a_rambling_post_about_typos_misspellings_and_david_carr_not_the_quarterback.php
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/on_grammar.php
He should be on his knees thanking whoever or whatever he believes in that his life is so blessed that he has to invent things to be upset about.
Looking for scape-Coates, perhaps. Ahem.
Mr. Coates posts a new item in which he explains "the gathering [sic]" of his name.
So his name was gathered, not given. How special.
Mr. Coates posts a new item in which he explains "the gathering [sic]" of his name.
I saw the comment quoted and in all the talk abuot Phineas, I sadly saw no mention of Phineas and Ferb.
Professor Althouse, you're human trash. My goodness, what a horrible prissy wreck you are.
Jackass Ghetto Name?
More like a Kickass Jedi Name!
If you're a black man who wants his name to be pronounced properly, then perhaps you should get a real name.
Guy needs to man up. I grew up with a surname shared by fewer than two dozen people on the whole planet. It isn't some exotic spelling but it induces dyslexia in nearly of the people who see it for the first time, leading to mispronunciation and incorrect spelling that follow me around for years if they get into a mailing list.
It just doesn't merit any public displays if you want to be taken seriously.
Children, children, settle down. I'm not a frequent reader of either of your blogs, but in this case I definitely find myself on Ta-Neheisi's side, since he seems to have a sense of humor about all this ridiculous punditry/bloggitry, while you clearly don't. Also, it is pretty amusing that the commenter who is so offended by TNC's given name is also gushing with praise for Sarah Palin, who names her kids things like Trig and Track and Bristol.
Worth repeating, despite the typo ;-)
"People who get upset about casual profanity are not moraly superior to people who get upset about spelling. Each of you managed to tweak the other's peeve."
This post is based on with completely false premises, beginning with the idea that 'fucking' immediately connotes hostility when all it really does is connote emphasis. While, granted, 'fuck' is clearly combative, 'fucking' in its adjectival form is more of an intensive proclitic particle, which is clear in its insertive clitic form, e.g. 'abso-fucking-lutely' and 'Massa-fucking-chusetts'. These do not connote 'fuck absolutely' indicating hostility to the adverb, nay rather 'very much absolutely.'
Take 'Ala-by God-bama', for example as a corollary to 'Massa-fucking-chusetts', although disrespect can be inferred, they are by no means instrinsic, and these terms can be used instead to connote any range of feelings even affection. Although the word remains taboo, it is through breaking that taboo that the word derives its intensive property.
In brief, the idea that 'fucking' connotes clear hostility is plainly misguided and requires emendation.
'Fucking Althouse' does not mean 'Fuck Althouse', 'Fuck you, Althouse', 'Fuck you, you fucking fuck, Althouse,' or any variations of that theme.
Meade should write a post about Ta-Nehisi Coates' favorite pastime, just to get even.
It's rather interesting how Europeans and Americans get blamed for the slave trade but little mention is made of the role of Africans and Arabs, who made it possible by enslaving and selling west Africans.
Good point. Ignoring the situation in West Africa, the East African slave trade mediated by Arabs was itself basically as bad in both numbers and severity as the entire North and South American transatlantic slave trade.
As Richard Hellie (Professor of Russian History, University of Chicago; author of Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725 and others) writes in Encyclopædia Britannica's article “Slavery”:
“Slaves were owned in all Islamic societies, both sedentary and nomadic, ranging from Arabia in the centre to North Africa in the west and to what is now Pakistan and Indonesia in the east. Some Islamic states, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and the Sokoto caliphate, must be termed slave societies because slaves there were very important numerically as well as a focus of the polities' energies.
“Slaves have been owned in black Africa throughout recorded history. In many areas there were large-scale slave societies, while in others there were slave-owning societies. Slavery was practiced everywhere even before the rise of Islam, and black slaves exported from Africa were widely traded throughout the Islamic world. Approximately 18,000,000 Africans were delivered into the Islamic trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trades between 650 and 1905. In the second half of the 15th century Europeans began to trade along the west coast of Africa, and by 1867 between 7,000,000 and 10,000,000 Africans had been shipped as slaves to the New World. […]
“The relationship between African and New World slavery was highly complementary. African slave owners demanded primarily women and children for labour and lineage incorporation and tended to kill males because they were troublesome and likely to flee. The transatlantic trade, on the other hand, demanded primarily adult males for labour and thus saved from certain death many adult males who otherwise would have been slaughtered outright by their African captors. […]
“Some lesser Islamic slave societies are also of interest. One is the Baghdad caliphate founded in the 7th and lasting through the 10th century. Many tens of thousands of military captives were imported from Sogdiana, Khazaria, and other Central Asian locales. In the 9th and 10th centuries several tens of thousands of black Zanj slaves were imported from Zanzibar to Lower Iraq, where they constituted more than half the total population and were put to work to clear saline lands for irrigation and to cultivate sugar.
“More long-term was the slavery practiced in the Crimean Khanate between roughly 1475 and its liquidation by the Russian empress Catherine the Great in 1783. The Crimean Tatar society was based on raiding the neighbouring Slavic and Caucasian sedentary societies and selling the captives into the slave markets of Eurasia. Approximately 75 percent of the Crimean population consisted of slaves or freedmen, and much of the free population was highly predatory, engaged either in the gathering of slaves or in the selling of them. It is known that for every slave the Crimeans sold in the market, they killed outright several other people during their raids, and a couple more died on the way to the slave market.”
Continuing…
“It is probable that the Ottoman Empire, and especially its centre in Turkey, should be termed a slave society. Slaves from both the white Slavic north and the black African south flowed into Turkish cities for half a millennium after the Turks seized control of much of the Balkans in the 14th century. The proportion of the population that was slave ranged from about one-fifth in Istanbul, the capital, to much less in remoter provincial areas. Perhaps only people such as the slave owners of the circum-Caribbean sugar islands and the American South were as preoccupied with slaves as were the Ottomans. […]
“Other prominent Islamic slave societies were on the east coast of Africa in the 19th century. The Arab-Swahili slave systems have been well-studied, and it is known that, depending on the date, 65 to 90 percent of the population of Zanzibar was enslaved. Close to 90 percent of the population on the Kenya coast was also enslaved, and in Madagascar half the population was enslaved. It may be assumed that similar situations prevailed elsewhere in the vicinity and also earlier, but studies to verify the proposition have not been undertaken.
“Another notable Islamic slave society was that of the Sokoto caliphate formed by Hausas in sub-Saharan Africa (northern Nigeria and Cameroon) in the 19th century. At least half the population was enslaved. That was only the most notable of the Fulani jihad states of the western and central Sudan, where between 1750 and 1900 from one- to two-thirds of the entire population consisted of slaves. In Islamic Ghana, between 1076 and 1600, about a third of the population were slaves. The same was true among other early states of the western Sudan, including Mali (1200-1500), Segou (1720-1861), and Songhai (1464-1720).
“It should be noted that slavery was prominent in Ghana and Mali, and presumably elsewhere in Africa in areas for which information is not available, long before the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade. The population of the notorious slave trading state of the central Sudan, Ouidah (Whydah), was half-slave in the 19th century. It was about a third in Kanem (1600-1800) and perhaps 40 percent in Bornu (1580-1890). Most slaves probably were acquired by raiding neighbouring peoples, but others entered slavery because of criminal convictions or defaulting on debts (often not their own); subsequently, many of those people were sold into the international slave trade. […]
“Among some of the various Islamic Berber Tuareg peoples of the Sahara and Sahel, slavery persisted at least until 1975. The proportions of slaves ranged from around 15 percent among the Adrar to perhaps 75 percent among the Gurma. In Senegambia, between 1300 and 1900, about a third of the population consisted of slaves. In Sierra Leone in the 19th century close to half the population was enslaved. In the Vai Paramount chiefdoms in the 19th century as much as three quarters of the population consisted of slaves. Among the Ashanti and Yoruba a third were enslaved. In the 19th century over half the population consisted of slaves among the Duala of the Cameroon, the Ibo and other peoples of the lower Niger, the Kongo, and the Kasanje kingdom and Chokwe of Angola.”
The foregoing provides merely the slightest introduction to slavery in Africa in particular as well as elsewhere, but it will serve to establish the point that, contrary to modern day mythmaking, the evils of slavery extended far far beyond the transatlantic slave trade of the last half millennium.
Ta-Nehisi is not swahili. It is the ancient name of Nubia per the father of Ta-Nehisi as described in a book by Ta-Nehisi. It is not swahili. It is either as Paul Coates, the father, thought it was or it is made up. Either way, it probably has caused him, Ta-Nehisi, plenty of trouble over the years and he is rightly exasperated over its mispronounciation, misspelling, and general mangling.
But it is not, repeat not, Swahili.
It's not Swahesi?
"You're a very silly man, and I'm not going to talk to you."
Hey cockroach, the period and comma are to the lower right.
THIS sounds like a job for . . .
Nonsense Rhyme Cheerleader Man!!!
(a copyrighted feature of this blog):
Border collie, sailfin molly, sow some wild oats.
Send a volley, Christmas holly, Ta-Nehisi Coates!!!
Gooooooooooooo TEAM!
And as usual, Althouse's commenters are keeping it just as classy as the lady herself.
LOL@you clutching your pearls at being referred to as "Fuckin' Althouse" when your peanut gallery is 10 times more offensive. But with the level of discourse here, it's be to expected. Continuing wallowing in your victimhood.
Regards,
A woman laughing her ass off at you
Honestly.....with the exception of those folks encouraging Ann and her fans to chill out, the commenters on this blog, and the blogger herself, seem very determined to take offenses and talk past anyone who points out that in all likelihood the allegedly shouted obscenity was not intended to be hostile.
And it's bizarre how many folks see fit to get snotty about someone else's name. What the heck? As if it isn't possible to be snotty about any name whatsoever. Why not just try to understand and appreciate where people are coming from?
And yet...I myself have a hard time appreciating or understanding folks whose main purpose seems to be snark. Help me get it. Am I misreading you all?
If Coates opened a factory that made coats and branded them Ta-Nehisi, maybe the NYT would put the coats on its segregated gift list next year.
Honestly.....with the exception of those folks encouraging Ann and her fans to chill out, the commenters on this blog, and the blogger herself, seem very determined to take offenses and talk past anyone who points out that in all likelihood the allegedly shouted obscenity was not intended to be hostile.
you fuckers can't take a joke
And it's bizarre how many folks see fit to get snotty about someone else's name. What the heck? As if it isn't possible to be snotty about any name whatsoever. Why not just try to understand and appreciate where people are coming from?
And yet...I myself have a hard time appreciating or understanding folks whose main purpose seems to be snark. Help me get it. Am I misreading you all?
It's not funny!
Comrade X, I find you to be cryptic!
Melissa, are you a feminist?
My goodness. The point of TNC's post was that (A) your critically linked to one of his post's and inferred that he was sexist, (B) that you repeatedly misspelled his name, and (C) that, hilariously, a commenter who referred to his Egyptian name (given to him at birth) as "ghetto" ACTUALLY MANAGED TO SPELL IT CORRECTLY.
Also, use of that curse word as a gerund before someone's name, while certainly not always pleasant or endearing (but said lightly in this instance, in my reading), is, in any event, very, very far removed from saying f--- you. Might want to dial it down. Or just email (or, gasp, call) him directly next time.
What a jerk. And ethan, too.
Haha. Scroll down on TNC's front page right now.
---------
This Is Why They Hate You
07 Dec 2009 02:08 pm
This Maureen Down column got me thinking more about my post last week. Dowd is at pains to show us why Tiger Woods is like Desiree Rogers:
Mr.Man said..."My goodness. The point of TNC's post was that (A) your critically linked to one of his post's and inferred that he was sexist,"
Except that I didn't.
"(B) that you repeatedly misspelled his name, and ..."
Yeah, I gave him a tag and once it was in it was auto-completed every time. He could have emailed me and asked me nicely to fix it and I would have done so and apologized. That's what people who aren't trying to hurt you do.
"(C) that, hilariously, a commenter who referred to his Egyptian name (given to him at birth) as "ghetto" ACTUALLY MANAGED TO SPELL IT CORRECTLY."
Big deal. Spelling just isn't that important. And his purpose was also to make her look "ghetto" for using the wrong verb form (ie, making a typo).
"Also, use of that curse word as a gerund before someone's name, while certainly not always pleasant or endearing (but said lightly in this instance, in my reading), is, in any event, very, very far removed from saying f--- you."
Yeah, next time you're out somewhere address someone that way. You won't, fucking Mr. Man, because you know it would be highly offensive.
"Might want to dial it down. Or just email (or, gasp, call) him directly next time."
He should have emailed me. Period. Unless he meant harm, which I say he did. It sure looks like he did. He meant to make me look like a racist. If that wasn't intended, why isn't he backing off and apologizing. He. meant. it.
Now I'm confused. Is this fucking guy Egyptian or Swahili? If he's Egyptian, why the fuck doesn't he have a normal Egyptian name like Mohammed or something?
What the fuck.
Is this fucking guy Egyptian or Swahili?
He's what used to be called a Negro.
It appears to me that once again we have successfully pole vaulted over mouse turds--by all means please continue! These are blogs--is there some sort of nicety that must be preserved? I do on occasion yearn for the wonderful days of usenet. All of this faux posturing is very frankly trivial.
"Yeah, next time you're out somewhere address someone that way. You won't, fucking Mr. Man, because you know it would be highly offensive."
Not sure if this is true. I use language like this sometimes in public with strangers. It's a matter of knowing your audience. And besides, TNC was at his own house when it was said. And the context is very clear in that he's not really directing anything at you in particular, just making fun of the company you keep.
I mean, not respecting someone because of his name? In the same breath praising someone who named her kids Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig? That is hilarious, and why TNC would be laughing his ass off at the airport.
More like a Kickass Jedi Name!
LOL
No faux posturing here! All our posturing is the genuine article.
Have another drink, Ann.
Thread is long dead but I just have to say:
"You say Ta-Nehisi, I say Ta-Nehissy"
Anne, don't worry your purdy li'l head.
Comrade X, you asked
"Melissa, are you a feminist?"
[Sorry, don't know how to italicize here]
Is that a trick question?
You are making me smile.
To be clear, I am not a feminist.
Rather, I am a fuckin' feminist.
Fuck yeah!!! And proud of it.
Fuckin' Feminism is important because, since women have small brains like squirrels (Borat reference) we need an ideology in order to succeed.
Comrade X, I still find you cryptic.
Apologies if this posted twice -- I thought I put it up awhile ago but it's not showing.
Can't you get along with anybody?
Is "Judas Peckerwood" the name that was given to the commenter in question by his parents?
Because, if not, that one is just a-beggin' ...
wv: falsdai
You'd have to Google dai to figure out why that caused to a boggle a bit.
Adele: How's tricks? ; )
A.A. "He meant to make me look like a racist"
This comment took me by surprise. I really didn't get that at all from the exchange. It is a bit childish to make fun of someone's name, but in fairness TNC was very clear that the person who made that comment about his name was not you.
In any case, as for the whole hurt feelings routine…er…didn't you mean to make him look like a sexist, in your original post? Why dish it out if you can't take it?
They are a treat reader. Or you can just look at it as one.
The meaning of words (particularly adjectives) depends on mood and context. Considering his post ended with his comment that he's sitting around laughing, one might take it in a more lighthearted way. It seems as if you are incapable of interpreting that word inoffensively. Looking back, I can think of dozens of instances in my life when expletives were used in jest or, even, with affection. (For instance, the first time I was caught cursing in front of my mother was when I was in the backseat of our station wagon and called my fifth grade best friend (in mostly mock anger) "a f---er." That didn't end well, but not because my best friend was offended. Another example: a well-thought-of partner at the law firm I summered at way back when used to refer to us all, as soon as a few drinks were in his system, as "s---balls.") Have you honestly had no such positive or ironic experiences with profanity? Even so, it's worth remembering that others (with different backgrounds and life experiences) have, and thus it might be worth giving folks the benefit of the doubt. You know, before you start a public pissing match.
didn't you mean to make him look like a sexist, in your original post?
No, I believe she was abusing him for not getting Beck's joke. The goils at Feministing were too easy a target.
It's pretty clear that Ann has problems with black people, in addition to gay people.
M. Bates said...:A.A. "He meant to make me look like a racist" This comment took me by surprise. I really didn't get that at all from the exchange. It is a bit childish to make fun of someone's name, but in fairness TNC was very clear that the person who made that comment about his name was not you. "
Oh? Then his readers are idiots. They picked up the cue. He did something devious and with deniability, which you are helping him with. Read the comments over there and see how they took it and what they say about me.
"In any case, as for the whole hurt feelings routine…er…didn't you mean to make him look like a sexist, in your original post? Why dish it out if you can't take it?"
The answer is obviously no. I intended to make him look like a liberal, interested in attacking conservatives for sexism but not seeing it in liberals, which is a longtime theme of this blog and an interest of mine going back to the Clinton scandals.
Mr.Man said..."The meaning of words (particularly adjectives) depends on mood and context. Considering his post ended with his comment that he's sitting around laughing, one might take it in a more lighthearted way."
Go out and call someone "fucking [name]" and then laugh in their face. See how that works.
"It seems as if you are incapable of interpreting that word inoffensively. Looking back, I can think of dozens of instances in my life when expletives were used in jest or, even, with affection."
Presumably, you are a man. Try addressing a woman that way and passing it off as a joke. Have it be a woman who is not already your friend and in the context where you are not extending friendship or praise but about to connect her to something offensive, in front of your friends who stand by to take cues from you as to how to treat her. See if she finds that funny. But you will only be able to do that if you are a complete asshole and only because you are not threatened by her. So do it when the woman is accompanied by a large strong male friend. Because he will kick your ass and you will deserve it.
Gosh, Meade is really going to be very busy if he has to beat up everybody you get in an argument with these days.
Tell him to watch out for that Andy Sullivan. I hear he bites.
And not in a good way.
No, he nibbles...he knows teeth hurt, when trying to get a milky load.
WV lingo
Have it be a woman who is not already your friend and in the context where you are not extending friendship or praise but about to connect her to something offensive, in front of your friends who stand by to take cues from you as to how to treat her.
Let's take another look at those breasts.
Ouch. Thats going to leave a mark.
Post a Comment