Apparently, Jeb thinks the old sexy nurse trope works today. The audience warmly chuckles, and Jeb thinks he's cute, because his dad is so old and sweet. But that doesn't play with me or, I suspect, with many modern women. Old men in the hospital leering at the nurses. Ugh!
"After two days in the hospital, I took a turn for the nurse." That was typical humor in the days of W.C. Fields.
Nurse humor was typical Playboy humor for years and years. Example:
I believe the new nurse is going to do wonders for him. He’s already learned to count to two…
UPDATE: In October 2017, HW apologizes for groping a woman in a photo op.
Posts
112 comments:
Quelle horror!
Where's the fainting couch?
Telling a "semi-dirty" joke does not imply the recipient is sexy, or the brunt of the joke, but part of the gang.
In the case of a nurse, it can be an ice-breaker when she has to see your junk or poo.
The sexy nurse joke is told when the nurse leaves the room.
Seems more sexist to assume the nurse is a woman!
See, in Althouse's (now) two examples, the nurse is being talked about not included in the joke.
"Seems more sexist to assume the nurse is a woman!"
BANG!
What constitutes a semi-dirty joke?
Thank God most women are normal and have a sense of humor and are able to hear and laugh at a corny joke without thinking that it is "sexist." Normal women tell blonde jokes. Normal women roll their eyes at the other type.
Chip wins.
I know the distinctions you're trying to make, but it doesn't play. Jeb gives the impression of using an old sexist trope of the elderly/sick person doing well because the nurse provides sexual healing.
And though a nurse could be male — something I thought about — Jeb is going to that place for his joke because of the stereotype that the nurse is a sexy female.
The nurse could also be very unattractive.
That's not the way joking works. Joking connects with your stereotypes.
"Nurse humor was typical Playboy humor for years and years."
So Ann Althouse read Playboy for years and years.
Presumably for the articles.
And here I was, a Twenty-first Century Metrosexual, presuming that nurses were gay males.
"What constitutes a semi-dirty joke?"
Jeb is assuming he can get right into the zone where it's cute and not creepy. But he doesn't have that kind of control.
Joke: "How many feminazi law professors does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
Punchline: "That's not funny."
(Hell, a lot of gay men of my generation read Playgirl when we were younger. It was the only magazine sold everywhere that had pics of hot naked guys.)
I love to offend the politically correct. Besides, the nurses probably know more jokes than than the patient.
Seems to me that we suddenly have a different standard than for our shooter.
-XC
PS - Yes, I know GHWB was quite a shooter in his day.
Do you know how to identify the head nurse?
She's the one with the dirty knees. Ba-dump-psss....
I remember that one from the 7th grade, 1982.
Nurses are horny. This is a general statement. Maybe not while at work (actually, hopefully not while at work), but every nurse I've dated (all 2 of them, one an ER nurse) has been a wild animal. Whether they appreciate the jokes or not, or whether male nurses are also horny, I'll leave to others. But an old man joking with a nurse, unless she's had a bad day, or he's really tactless and vulgar, is probably one of the parts of their day that they look forward to.
"So Ann Althouse read Playboy for years and years."
As regular readers of this blog know, my father was one of Playboy's original fans. He had every issue, saved, except for the very first one, and was a long-time subscriber. The magazine was left out on the coffee table in the living room, available for anyone to read, and I looked at it before I knew how to read. The cartoons were of special interest to me, since I was very familiar with cartoons from the newspaper, and cartoons seem like something children could understand. The images of bosses chasing secretaries around the desk and so forth are completely familiar to me. I most certainly did read Playboy in the 1950s and 60s.
Sorry Ann, but that is not the trope being presented. It is the one where the male patient is feeling well enough to notice that his nurse is a female and to kind of flirt with her.
@ Gusty Winds,
I'm stealing that. Like, right now. My wife just got home, and my teleconference is over, and maybe I'll get slapped, but I don't think I can resist.
"Sorry Ann, but that is not the trope being presented. It is the one where the male patient is feeling well enough to notice that his nurse is a female and to kind of flirt with her."
Well, that's my point. You have a tin ear too. Jeb is running for president. He needs to raise his game.
My Dad's second wife, who was rather wild, actually worked at a sperm bank in the 1980's. She once told me the nurses (all women at the time) would joke and make bets on how long it would take the guy to complete the donating process.
This stuff cuts both ways. It sucks when feminists decry any type of sexual humor as one way sexism.
Sex jokes aren't sexism. Ding-bat jokes are sexism.
Making excuses for Jeb is beside the point. The GOP is looking for its best candidate. If Jeb doesn't know how to talk around women, he's not very good. This was an unforced error, and this is the kind of thing that will be used against him. This kind of humor, to me, makes him sound like throwback to the 1960s.
I think it shows unconscious sexism on the part of Althouse to assume that the nurse is a woman. I don't see why a male nurse wouldn't enjoy a "dirty" joke told by an ex-president.
Or are gay male nurses effeminized?
I wonder if he asks how they can walk around the hospital in those crocs.
Nurses still wear crocs, right? When I was in college, a lot of the nursing majors were wearing them.
I think Jeb was attempting to make it sound like a cool old guy play-flirting, but it definitely fell flat. I don't think I'd be upset/concerned/worried/whatever, but yeah. I see that his attempt at humor didn't connect.
"The nurse could also be very unattractive."
At GHWB's age, he may have a different standard of attractive.
The humorless Professor.
"But this decision will establish a clear standard for future stories. It is not enough for them simply to be true. They have to reveal something meaningful. They have to be true and interesting. These texts were interesting, but not enough, in my view."
Oops, wrong thread...
Wow, Professor. Give your sanctimony a rest.
JEB related a story about his 91 year old father telling an off color joke, as an indication his father is feeling better. Relatable to/by anyone who has ever been around a 91 year old.
But not you. All you see is the "sexism" (not of the 91 year old, mind you, but of JEB in telling the story).
Good Grief.
I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril.
Ann can detect sexism 10 out of 8 times.
"Apparently, Jeb thinks the old sexy nurse trope works today."
First installment of "how Jeb lost me."
Of course, I don't believe you believe Jeb has a tin ear for sexism. Jesus taught me.
Thanks for the "concern," Althouse.
I'm interested in your advice for the other party, which loses men by larger margins than the Republicans lose women.
Or perhaps for your advice to the Democrats as to why they lose married white women?
Demographic games cut both ways.
I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril.
Isn't that cute?
Like there is anything a Republican could do or say that wouldn't be turned into a war on women.
For Christ's sake, Romney made a comment about how he was preparing to hire women to work for him in his administration, and this was turned into an attack on women.
The dirty old man telling dirty old jokes is so yesterday. Today, we have class diversity, selective exclusion, and indiscriminate killing and parts trafficking for profit. Dirty [insider] jokes. Progress.
Sounds like somebody is "ready for Hilary"
Post menopausal shrews need to stick together.
Republicans ought to factor mild political incorrectness (of the Jeb Bush nature) into their decision for primary votes. See how the person stands on taxes, immigration, military, spending cuts, and also whether they're too pussy (SEXISM ALERT!!!! RED ALERT!!!!) to crack a joke or two that normal Americans would chuckle at, or at least not vomit upon hearing.
If Carly wants to crack a joke at the expense of men, I'm game. I actually watched the video our esteemed host posted about workplace sexism, and while it was presented without much in the way of humor, it could have been made funnier. I thought Carly stealing that late-night talk show host's name and redirecting the URL to her campaign site was brilliant.
If it comes down to it, I'll cast a vote for Trump. His political incorrectness isn't of the funny sort, but he's getting the message across. And for those of you concerned that he donated money to Hill-dawg in 2008, all I can say is "of course he did". A lot of rich folks donate to both parties to curry favor with whoever wins. I actually believe he's sincere this time. I could be getting suckered. But I really don't think so.
AA: "I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril"
In baseball perspective, I'd say that Althouse is a very steady .305 hitter with good power, but today she's 0 for 4, with 2 strikeouts, and a pop-up.
Hey, it's a long season -- you're allowed a few off days:)
"I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril."
In my best Maxwell Smart voice: Ah, the old cruel neutrality gambit.
I don't understand why this is a sexist remark. If anything, he's making fun of dirty old men - he just lost the male AARP vote!
My personal scale of what offends me is set pretty high. Casual discussions about baby body parts and the best harvest techniques are up on the scale. ISIS using a baby to blow up in a demonstration on detonations also ranks up there.
Somebody joking about a 90 year old man making semi-dirty jokes to someone (who may or may not be a female nurse) doesn't even register.
"This was an unforced error, and this is the kind of thing that will be used against him. This kind of humor, to me, makes him sound like throwback to the 1960s."
I get that it's what you believe, but I find it hard to see how this is a big deal for him or his campaign in general. I don't think most primary voters (male or female) believe as you do.
Question: have you ever had an older male hospitalized or put into a nursing home situation?
Most of the time the "semi-dirty" jokes are good natured ribbing between nurses (most of whom are pushing 60 themselves) and their patient population. It's a back and forth that suggests trust and openness, rather than sexism. In fact, the nurses themselves often initiate the joking.
I fear you've been affected by academia long enough to not understand how the world works between most people. Life is hard enough, especially in these situations (convalescent homes are the last stop before death) that humor is a coping mechanism for all involved.
Althouse has a tin hear for racism. You don't hear me making a federal case out of it. Ooh wait, maybe I do. Still, she should raise her game.
President-Mom-Jeans said...
Joke: "How many feminazi law professors does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
Punchline: "That's not funny."
---------------
Not only is that not funny, it's hostile and rapey. But expressions of that kind of humor, from mobys like president-mom, should be encouraged by anyone who doesn't mind getting a President Hillary.
Jeb is assuming he can get right into the zone where it's cute and not creepy. But he doesn't have that kind of control.
Feminism has found its Al Haig!
Not only is that not funny, it's hostile and rapey
Rapey? telling a joke is like rape?
Well, at least now we know why the Left continues to claim that 1 in 5 women will be raped......
Tell you what. Since Althouse is nice enough to give us poor ignorant rubes on the Right election advice, I'll return the favor.
Words have meaning. Don't define them down. Offensive jokes are in no way, shape or form rape.
"Rapey? telling a joke is like rape?"
Telling? No, telling the joke is not what is like rape.
Such precious snowflakes in their ivory tower hothouses.
This post from Althouse and its "concern" exemplify first world problems.
What is "feminism" without everything being made into "rape?" Nothing more than the neurotic obsessions of a particularly hysterical class of upper middle class white women.
Good God, you're sheltered, Althouse. I know you're trying to provoke discussion but the examples you're using lately make you seem hopelessly isolated from the give-and-take of the real world. Like someone's housebound, maiden, Victorian aunt. Even the liberal women I know don't obsess about this kind of thing.
As for nurses, I've known a boxcar load of them, too. They were, almost without exception, some of the most tough/dirty minded women I've come across. Another stereotype that has a basis in fact.
Telling? No, telling the joke is not what is like rape.
Then what is?
Women should raise their voting intelligence. There's a feminist goal to try for.
No more Obamas.
Don't pander to women. Isn't that feminist?
Althouse is taking the women are idiot voters line. It happens to be true, but why not try for better.
Girls! Raise your game. You're morons.
AA: I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril.
I'm afraid all the positions for concern-trolling the GOP are overfilled and then some. Oddly, there's a wide-open field for aspiring concern-trollers over to the left, full of Dems who can't stop alienating millions of ordinary American with their tone-deaf bigotry, and no one wants to help them learn how to "reach out" to these demographically significant voters. Are there no compassionate trolls out there to warn them about the dangers of not pandering to Anglelyne?
I have a thought.
How about what Jeb said is true?
Trot your butt hurt over to HW and tell him to clean up his act. Explain to that man he has to change his ways.
Jebs just the messenge
Or are we all resposible for our aging parents words and actions?
"Then what is? "
You're a pretty smart guy, a teacher, right? I'd be surprised if you can't figure it out for yourself. But if you truly can't, then feel free to email me and I'll do my best to help you.
So basically anything that acknowledges or adverts in any way to the topic of sex or sexual attraction is "sexism"?
If so, it's a useless word.
My dad had a deer hunting lodge in northern Wisconsin. The place had playboys everywhere in huge stacks, playboy calendars, playboy placemats, dishes, etc.
I would help my mom wash the playboy tit dishes while staring up at July 1979 playmate of the month.
He also had stir sticks with profiiles of women's tits. The stir sticks were titled 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's etc. Every decade the tits got more and more saggy.
One time when I was up at the cabin I darkened all the nipples on the calendar with my mom's lipstick....and then drew in little milk droplets coming from the tits. I was like 6; my mommy was furious.
My dad used to call me a "suck-a-titty"; I thought that meant he was calling me a pussy.
When my mom would spil food on her tit he would say, "are you trying to feed it"?
Tits.
I don't think it's sexist or offensive. I think it's a microaggression to call a foul on such an innocuous comment. The nuance and subtlety of this type of offense seem to be directed almost exclusively against Republicans. The cause of feminism is too noble and pure to ever allow it to be used for narrow political advantage.
"concern-trolling the GOP"
I admit I am a GOP concern troll. Like President Reagan. We both used to vote for Democrats. But the Democratic Party left us. And, like President Reagan, I now want only the highest quality GOP candidates.
"Jeb gives the impression of using an old sexist trope of the elderly/sick person doing well because the nurse provides sexual healing. "
Althouse hasn't spent much time in hospitals. In the step-down unit of the CCU, some of the nurses used to jerk off the old guys to make it easier to put a condom catheter on them.
I'm not sure Jeb is high enough quality.
JEB related a story about his 91 year old father telling an off color joke, as an indication his father is feeling better. Relatable to/by anyone who has ever been around a 91 year old.
This! The 90+ I know have completely lost their filter (my grandmother--my husband's father, my own grandfather before he passed). If GHWB was 65, he'd be mortified he told that joke to anyone. But he's 91 and it seems like the funny thing to do.
I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril.
The people who will willfully misinterpret what Bush said so they can feel the thrill of false outrage are Democratic voters anyway.
Reason number 90000000000 why women shouldn't vote.
Lighten up.
Sinead O'Connor called Kim Kardashian a cunt. Is that a sexist comment? It's so hard to keep up.
"JEB related a story about his 91 year old father telling an off color joke, as an indication his father is feeling better. Relatable to/by anyone who has ever been around a 91 year old."
"JEB related a story" is the key to understanding AA's (and my) concern. I don't know if you've heard or not, but Jeb is running for President. And it's no longer the 50s, the 60s, or 1992.
You guys do want the next president to be a Republican. Don't you?
Blogger Meade said...
President-Mom-Jeans said...
Joke: "How many feminazi law professors does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
Punchline: "That's not funny."
---------------
Not only is that not funny, it's hostile and rapey.
Wow...oh.."screw"..rape..got it. I'd hate to hear your take on "knock, knock".
Personally, I think you'd have to hear the joke to know how offended to get.
Oh, I remember my elderly father in the hospital. FEMALE nurses making regular compliments on his looks. If only he had known how "rapey" that was. He seemed to enjoy it and joke about it.
Jeb gives the impression of using an old sexist trope of the elderly/sick person doing well because the nurse provides sexual healing.
You mean you got that impression, which says more about you than Jeb. Eye of the beholder and all.
What makes you think the nurse a woman? Stereotypical.
I'm a guy. Several years ago, I was in a hospital, recovering from heart surgery.
"Can I do anything for you?" a young female nurse asked.
"Yes," I answered. "Find a sexy nurse to spend the night with me."
"How old?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Forty," I said
She left the room. A few minutes later, she returned.
"We don't have a forty," she said. "Will you take two twenties?"
There's a word for old men who no longer leer at women: Dead.
"What's wrong with being sexy?"
-- Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap
"Wow...oh.."screw"..rape..got it. I'd hate to hear your take on "knock, knock"."
Okay, "knock, knock" was funny. But are you implying that because it's such a stretch to imagine the metaphor of 2 people forced into a double entendre of "lightbulb screwing" as being "rapey," that president mom jeans' joke WAS funny? Not hostile?
That joke is old enough so as to not be funny. Construing it as hostile is itself perverted.
Scott: "Hell, a lot of gay men of my generation read Playgirl when we were younger."
In the 1978 I asked the publisher of Playgirl about that during a business meeting in Los Angeles. He didn't want to discuss it.
"You guys do want the next president to be a Republican. Don't you?"
Hmm. I don't think it makes much of a difference.
The "dirty-old man" was once an eighteen-year-old torpedo bomber pilot who flew 58 combat missions by the time he was 20, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals.
I think we can spot him a semi-dirty joke without getting huffy and deploying the fainting couches.
Okay, "knock, knock" was funny. But are you implying that because it's such a stretch to imagine the metaphor of 2 people forced into a double entendre of "lightbulb screwing" as being "rapey," that president mom jeans' joke WAS funny? Not hostile?
Oh Jesus..you do realize that your reaction confirms the point of the joke?
If he had said "replace a lightbulb" would the joke have been OK?
This is why Jerry Seinfeld no longer plays college campuses.
You realize, I hope, that Bush did not say his father told dirty nurse jokes? He said he made semi-dirty jokes to nurses - who are the people you are most likely to see if you're stuck in the hospital. He didn't say they were "sexy nurses."
Way too sensitive, Professor.
Althouse wrote: "I'm trying to help the GOP not screw up the gender politics again. Ignore this at your peril."
Jeb's joke is just a throw away line, that probably is not going to offend anyone who would actually support him. Fiorina's lame workplace sexism video, on the other hand, will never go away, will continue to make her look lame, and, continue to annoy any men viewing it who are not Pajama Boys.
My problem with Jeb's joke is that it assumes we all love his dad. I don't; I despise the whole family.
Feminism in three words:
That's not funny!
You're good at eliminating aspects of humor. Pity you can't add any.
Feminists sure are Puritanical when it comes to open heterosexuality.
My girlfriend, who's a nurse, likes semi-dirty jokes. She's also a Democrat.
A very weak effort to invoke the War on Women bullshit.
Try again, Althouse.
"Okay, "knock, knock" was funny. But are you implying that because it's such a stretch to imagine the metaphor of 2 people forced into a double entendre of "lightbulb screwing" as being "rapey," that president mom jeans' joke WAS funny? Not hostile?"
A joke can be funny (this one wasn't particularly funny to me, but it had a point) and still be hostile (seemed that way to me, and deliberately so).
But "rapey"? You bet your ass it is a stretch. Rape is serious stuff indeed. Unless we are using the "I thought about that good night kiss from back in March and decided it was really rape". But, hey, language evolves, maybe faster on campus, right?
How many Californians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Californians don't screw in lightbulbs.
They screw in hot tubs.
badumpbump!
Doug Weber and Julie C have it right. The joke is about 41, not about the nurse. It's trading on the dirty old man stereotype. But "semi-dirty" ruined the joke. Assuming Ann has a sense of humor, she's noticing that the joke isn't funny, them misidentifies why.
The only people who would get offended enough to not vote for Jeb because the joke is sexist would never have voted for him in the first place. But he could lose votes because it's a lame, and somewhat too cautious joke, and an excess of caution over trivia is not becoming in a president.
I'll bet Obama laughed.
Jesus fucking Christ Althouse, the "how many X to screw in a lightbulb" joke has been around for decades.
Here are dozens. http://www.lightbulbjokes.com/directory/s.html
Rapey? You have lost your feminazi mind?
The point is that feminists are humorless scolds. Thanks for proving my point.
Ah, my mistake. I see that the post was from your barely literate lawn bitch.
Carry on protecting your mealticket from "rapey" light bulb jokes, Meade.
I don't think Jeb has the tin ear here. It's like you've never spent any time in a hospital.
How many people does it take to screw in (okay you retard, "replace") a light bulb in the Althouse home?
Two. Meade to install the lighbulb, and Althouse to pay for it.
I've been reading Ann's blog for 10 years. I have to believe that she wakes up on random mornings and says "Meade, I think today is a troll day."
My Dad's 89. He's been in the hospital a lot recently. All the women there love him. He flirts with them outrageously. That's why they love him.
I plan on following his example.
I think that Althouse is in a small minority taking offense at Jeb's remarks. If not, it's on Jeb. He wants to be POTUS. He can't tell jokes that aren't terribly funny and offend a large number of people.
As far as the substance of the Jeb's comments, people under the care of the medical profession are in a damned undignified position, and have every right to use humor as a defense mechanism. I can remember my mother's remarks the first time she was attended by a gynecologist who was my age. I had occasion to remember them last month when I was treated by a new (to me) young, female urologist.
I guess what I am saying is that "semi-dirty" may mean the type of Playboy jokes that Althouse has in mind, but that more embarrassed, cynical humor is far more likely. I'm not voting for Jeb anyway, but not because of this.
Althouse evidently does not understand the phrase tin ear.
A bit of daddy deprecating humor is whatever bad thing Althouse said it is. Because it doesn't matter if she's 'right' or not. The way she says she feels about it is all that matters. A lot of voters operate that way, not just women. I think that's the point/warning she was trying to get across.
Or the professor just be trollin'
Now that the low hanging fruit of a humorless scold not getting a joke about humorless scolds has been spotlit, let us run the "you said" Beavis and Butthead parser on "knock, knock" and "low hanging fruit".
Jeh is proving that he is out of touch with modern women, point taken, Ann. I don't think he wants to be potus badly enough. Like Clinton.
I still say Woody Allen's giant boob is hilarious.
Is it fair to compare the University of Wisconsin's uber-concern for its students with a giant boob?
I do not know.
I do think they are treating their students like babies.
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Lil' old Lady
Lil' old Lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel!
(Oppressive Scandinavian stereotype - sorry)
My husband is a still-handsome, still-masculine 87 year old. Jeb's comment was likely what I would say if he were hospitalized and I wanted to reassure our friends he'd be okay, and do so in a light-hearted (and probably truthful) way. It was an entirely human and loving remark, and to come here and see it parsed ruthlessly as offensive makes me realize I've lived way too long.
God bless you and your husband alike, Barbara.
For the record, this is background material for the maybe evitable "how Jeb lost me" post.
Well! I cannot tolerate such a level of sexism. Instead, I should vote for the woman who spent years destroying the reputations of other women who were victims of her sex offender husband.
How do you know the nurse was a woman?
JEB: "Read my lips: NO NEW SEXES"
"JEB: "Read my lips: NO NEW SEXES"
I find that comment to be "rapey" Meade.
How dare you.
I have known and worked with nurses, male and female, straight and gay, since 1978.
There is not a better group of people with whom to share vile jokes. Nothing in a joke can ever be more deeply felt than the everyday working experiences of most nursing staff.
Your microaggression notification on their behalf is neither needed nor desired.
I look forward with eager anticipation to your post on firemen (and women) who are too sensitive to appreciate humor about their jobs.
I'm not sure the politics plays the way Althouse thinks. Perhaps Jeb is (even if inadvertently) baiting feminists into more paroxysms shrillness, which may turn off more toss-up voters than his old-fashioned humor.
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