I see no evidence in the article that supports the proposition "Bette Midler Couldn't Cope" and there's something about that locution — the form as well as the substance — that really annoys me. I'm not sure if I'm just really tired of websites that try to sound like overexcited teenage girls or if I'm still feeling uneasy about a language usage controversy that was big in the 1960s: Whether you can use "cope" without "with [something]."
Researching this old usage question, I learned that one meaning of "cope" (now obsolete) is to sew up the mouth of a ferret (which was done to keep them from biting rabbits they were driving from their holes). The word, with this meaning, was then used figuratively. For example (from the OED):
1601 J. Deacon & J. Walker Dialogicall Disc. Spirits & Diuels 214 It shall not be amisse to cope vp your lips a little...."Cope" also has a meaning in falconry (to cut back the beak and talons) and in architecture (to cover with coping).
1672 J. Eachard Mr. Hobbs's State Nature Considered 126 Roger has a vocal instrument..called a mouth, and being not muzled, gagged, or cop'd..May stretch it out as wide as he please.
But the "cope" we're talking about in "Bette Midler Couldn't Cope" comes from "coup" in the sense of "coup d'etat" or "coup de grace," which means to deliver a blow. To cope was to compete in a well-matched physical fight, and that became figurative, as in "His nature was too gentle to cope with the bold and fiercer temper of his brother" (1847).
The usage without "with" — meaning "To manage, deal (competently) with, a situation or problem" — is traced back to 1934. You can see that it was originally intended to be jocose:
1934 E. Bowen Cat Jumps 248 Angela rang the bell wildly for someone to come and cope.I'm still trying to cope with cope in general.
1955 Ess. in Crit. 5 62 More confidence might be placed in the writer did we not find on the same page a typical shift of tone to this, on Romeo and Juliet: ‘the kids get involved in a lively way, but then they cannot cope.’
1958 I. J. C. Brown Words in our Time 41 ‘She suffers from copelessness.’ I have heard this said of an unsatisfactory employee. The use of cope as a verb by itself to describe dealing with all kinds of situations is a recent usage. In my youth we tried, or were told to try, to cope with this or that problem. We were not required to cope in general.
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108 comments:
The use of cope is not copacetic .
Cope is an over-the-counter medicine, aspirin + caffeine. I remember it as for menstrual cramps.
To cope is a method of woodworking joinery, usually effected with a coping saw.
You need a coping strategy.
Hillary is still loved by the idiots in NYC.
Another reason to avoid the place.
Never mind “Lock her up.” The better idea is “Cope her up.”
Based on the crowd reaction, Hillary still has the magic that propels liberalism. Clearly, she is the one that can defeat Trump in 2020. Plus, she navigated to her seat without assistance!
Imagine, if you will, a world where Hillary Clinton names the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE) is a partnership with the Navajo Nation Community Health Representative Outreach Program to improve the lives of those living with chronic diseases in Navajo."
So Midler couldn't cope unless she's living in Navajo.
Where's the civility bullshit tag?
Jeopardy claimed a few days ago that "copper" (and "cop") came from the metal of the shields the police originally wore.
Cops coping, or not, with personal trauma is required in every modern cop show.
Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly. How gay is that ?
I just used a coping saw yesterday. My son's sweetie is getting a jewelry or notions box shaped like her adopted State of Ohio for her birthday.
Yes, the Ohio jokes write themselves, but I'm sure she can cope.
Imagine, if you will, a world where Hillary Clinton names the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Imagine, if you DARE a world where Hillary Clinton named the replacement for Scalia and Kennedy; and THEN names the replacement for the reanimated corpse of Darth Bader Ginsburg
According to LIFE LONG REPUBLICANS like George Will, this would have been defined as GOOD
According to LIFE LONG REPUBLICANS that post here, this would have been So BAD that they dedicated themselves to trying to make it happen
#nothingbutrespectformypresident
#youreacompleteidiotarentyou
I'm sure Midler couldn't cope because the presence of America's chief harassment enabler, the protector of Bill and Harvey and other sleaze balls associated with the Clinton machine who attacked harassed women as "bimbos," was just too unsettling.
As Bette realized, being close to Hill makes a mockery of #MeToo.
I give this a C- for using "jocrose".
You know who else got lots of standing ovations despite being a lousy leader?
That's right.
Ahh, nothing like liberal white elites celebrating their own....
I'm glad Hillary is enjoying her time as not our President. I know I am.
Two disgusting old lefty hags. One who played a witch in hocus pocus, one who is a witch in real life.
Was that Mark Steyn two seats down?
Jeopardy claimed a few days ago that "copper" (and "cop") came from the metal of the shields the police originally wore.
Imagine those Jeopardy! producers falling for such just-so bullshit. Another symptom of the dimming of America.
Correctly identify this Underground Grammarian and win a free issue of the Estrogen Post:
The bullet is part of the cartridge
The cartridge goes into the breech
As you take pains with your rifle
Take equal pains with your speech
She found some friends to make her look thinner.
Real men don't quit, they Cope.
Copenhagen smokeless tobacco.
"You know who else got lots of standing ovations despite being a lousy leader?"
Kim Jong Un. Everyone stood for him. No one wanted to be the first to sit down.
Bette Middler is fine with me. I will just listen to her sing. But Broadway has driven out a large part of their potential audience with their politics. I actually like musicals, for example. It’s just that they have become so political. Actually, Hamilton has been one of the better musicals I have seen, up there with The Lion King, if you ask me. And had it been written by a white person, with a similar level of quality and insight, it would have been panned as right-wing claptrap.
The other evening I was trying to explain who Bette Midler was to my millenial daughter. I might as well have been talking about the king of megaphone crooners, Rudy Vallee.
I can understand and sympathize with those who are simply unhappy that Trump is our president. It does seem like a reality TV show sometimes.
I still cannot imagine the mindless partisanship or complete lack of principle or even basic sense that would allow you to wish that Hillary Clinton were president.
Hillary gets a standing ovation from wealthy theater goes in Manhattan, Trump gets a standing ovation from the workers in a steel mill in Illinois.
Hillary’s message to those displaced workers? America is already great! Trump’s message, “I am fighting for you!”
What happened to the Democratic Party?
Ugh, click bait style headlines. You want to know in what way could Bette Midler not cope? It is doubtful Bette was enraged with Hillary Clinton's support of Bill, Harvey, and Anthony's philandering that Bette wouldn't perform for Hillary.
We were not required to cope in general.
There's a kernel of truth to that, which isn't a major revelation. Those who captain their lives but left tenets of stoicism behind warrant a second look. Yet they prefer to remain private to retain their corporal essence.
"Adolescent binge drinking disrupts mouse memory in adulthood."
Do NOT forget the mouse.
Do you cope with a coping saw?
Cope is a loose cloak with a hood. Monks wear copes.
Hillary has a lot in common with Kim Kardashian:
both seem to have made a great living off of nothing but being famous.
both are attracted to cads
both make powerful statements with their fashion sense
and both have a lot of junk in the trunk.
Bleat.
To get more attention, I'm getting a hat that says:
"You won't believe what Trump told me today!"
or
"I know the top 5 reasons you're not getting laid."
Leftwing fascists adore their corrupt leaders. Especially the most elite and bubble dwelling of the leftwing fascists.
"We love your Private Server, Hillary! How much cash did you rake in from the Russians? Oh that's so wonderful!"
Bette Midler was kinda hot 40 years ago.
Bette Midler was kinda hot 40 years ago.
Loved her in Rochelle, Rochelle.
That was Johnnie Woodward.
I don't consider these Hillary worshipping goobers as citizens of any country I would want to share with them. They clearly arent aware enough to understand how Hillary blew the election for them.
Bette Midler could't cope because she was having a Hillarygasm.
Besides all of that, why is the audience smiling wide, cheering, and whooping? It's like they are tree monkeys in the zoo.
It's obscene. I wanted to climb in and slap them back to their senses.
Blogger Bay Area Guy said...
Bette Midler was kinda hot 40 years ago.
She was good as the ditsy wife in "Down and Out in Beverly Hills."
Bette Midler has an honest to God musical gift. So does Barbara Streisand. So many musicians are put in front of us because they have a certain look that appeals, and their music is just a “permission structure” for us to ogle them for a coupe of hours at a concert.
Myron Cope.
It wasn’t all adulation. I swear I heard someone moo.
After a second listen, it could have been a donkey braying. That makes more sense.
People are such human animals — especially the ones who go for anal sex.
I can see why she keeps at it. That wasn't applause. That was adulation she was receiving. Me, I like to stay in, sleep late, and spend as little time negotiating with the world as possible. But that's because I don't get much or, in fact, any adulation when I go out........I wouldn't mind paying absurdly high prices to see a superannuated star perform in a second rate musical if I could receive a side order of adulation. I'm not knowledgeable about adulation, but it looks like a heady substance. ......There must be quite a bit of Venn overlap between fans of Bette Midler and Hillary Clinton. I don't think Midler engenders the same amount of hostility though. It's probably better to have Midler's life. Some of the adulation and none of the antipathy.
Talented entertainers have ethical blind-spots. Heaps.
Back in the 80"s, I used to work in a vertically integrated factory. In our foundry, the terms cope and drag referred respectively to the top and bottom parts of a two-part casting flask, used in sand casting metal.
The use of the terms has expanded a bit.
Another indication that Clinton is running in 2020- count on it! She is already positioning herself to try to reach the point that all other women bow out before next Summer.
Did Midler serenade Clinton with "Wind Beneath My Wings"?
Is a coping saw a coping mechanism?
I'd expect an entirel different response from Bill Clinton to the old adage: "other than that, Mr. Clinton, how was the play?"
The GOP Mid-Term ads write themselves.
""It was in stark contrast to the treatment David Ben-Gurion received on attending 'Triumph of The Will’ in 1935, when he was 'booed like crazy.'""
OK, that’s a bit Godwinish, but it captures the flavor nicely.
tim in vermont said...
Hillary gets a standing ovation from wealthy theater goes in Manhattan, Trump gets a standing ovation from the workers in a steel mill in Illinois.
What happened to the Democratic Party?
George B. McClellan gets standing ovation from the wealthy copperheads in Manhattan,
Lincoln gets a standing ovation from the troops in the field
What happened to the Democratic Party?
Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was
Hillary certainly feels the need to stay publically relevant. Will she run in 2020? She certainly wants the option to remain open. If she runs, how will the Bernie Bros and young Señorita OC respond?
Run, Hillary, Run - the people love you!
Why would these people cheer a criminal that lost twice with the second time giving them Trump?
Pence learned from his experience. He left the NFL game before it even started.
"Pence learned from his experience. He left the NFL game before it even started."
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine ....."
Common practice is to plant people in the audience. They start cheering, others join in. Watch how crowd grows as some stand up and cheer. It is not spontaneous, it is like a wave. Guy next to you stands up , you do the same.
Pics on internet of same people at various Hillary events starting the applause.
An audience of faggots and their Moms are overwhelmed by an appearance of Felonia Von Pantsuit?
Dog bites Man.
On the cock.
Big whoops.
Common practice is to plant people in the audience
It's called a Claque. Oldest trick in the book.
After reading this missive from AA, I'm trying to "cope" with why I read this article?
One of my favorite Seinfeld scenes is when Bette Midler gets trucked by George Costanza. Just because.
I'm seeing "cope" used more and more frequently as a noun, as in someone having a certain amount of cope available in any given day, and needing to spend it wisely.
While I dislike his politics and found the hissy fit thrown at our V-P simply pathetic, I can't help but have a begrudging respect for Lin-Manual Miranda. Not for constructing an incredible soundtrack (though it is); rather, for having the chutzpah to pitch a rap musical about a founding father. Those had to be some interesting meetings.
As Tim in VT said Hillary gets the applause in Manhattan and Trump gets applauded in the steel mills. Unless Trump really blows it, he is getting reelected in 2020.
Unless Trump really blows it, he is getting reelected in 2020.
Democrats will be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.
Even some I know who should know better and even a few who call themselves "conservative" will obstruct and cause as much damage as they can.
If the GOP can hold the House in November, it will be easier.
I Hope this is the beginning of a 2020 Hillary Run. C'mon Hillary. if The Broadway Audience of a Bette Midler Show, loves you - you're a shoo-in!
Some of you Neanderthals, may call that audience nasty names like "fags" and "Liberals"- but I know them by their true appellation:
"Our betters".
Its interesting that like the Republican Power Elite, the Democrats have doubled down on "Open Borders" and "Free Trade".
They've made is quite clear they don't want ANY immigration laws (Abolish ICE)
Crooks, Gang Members, Terrorists, Drug Dealers, People with TB, Morons and Illiterates - Come to America!
The Democrat Party welcomes you. You don't even have to become a US Citizen - just vote Democrat!
C'mon!
Nobody had a bucket of water?
You've got to give it a shot--and take her broom!
Blogger Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Talented entertainers have ethical blind-spots. Heaps.
Exactly, fits Trump like a small glove
I can't help but have a begrudging respect for Lin-Manual Miranda.
Cultural appropriator.
Better Midler?
I thought she was dead.
Anyway, she's the sexiest 72 y/o singer ever.
Did the show ticket come with a free of bottle of geritol and a depends diaper?
It continues to astound me how our "culture" (if you can call it that) - is so stuck in the past.
Why in the hell is Bette Midler on Broadway?
When Micky Rooney did "Sugar Babies" it was criticized for being Backward looking and "nostalgia". Rooney was only 58 at the time. Now, we have 72 y/o's recycling crap from 40 years ago, and everyone is OK with it.
Exactly, fits Trump like a small glove
If the glove don't fit, you must acquit.
Exactly, fits Trump like a small glove
Yet he lives rent free in your head. Ethics is a large subject that you seem to examine, like most liberals, through a straw. Unless you take the side of European auto workers over Americans, Chinese robber barons over US steel workers, and illegal border crossers over legal American workers, black, white and Hispanic.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6881644/costa-del-sol-nudist-beach-migrants-north-africa/
Somebody should ask Hillary why people are still fleeing Libya when American and NATO bombers solved all of their problems years ago? “We came! We saw! He died! (chortle, guffaw)” - HRC
Maybe they are fleeing the slave markets that ISIS set up in the vacuum she created? Maybe they are trying to bring those slave markets to Europe? Who knows? Nobody can “vet” them.
"Why would these people cheer a criminal that lost twice with the second time giving them Trump?
Because the Left needs their symbols and virtue signaling.
It has replaced rational argument for their views.
In other words, they are members of a cult.
I have no problems with Hillary enjoying a moment with her adoring lefty and LLR fans.
@rcocean,
"Anyway, she's the sexiest 72 y/o singer ever. "
Too bad Jane Fonda doesn't sing. She is a sexy 80 year old, but she has closed up shop down there, which is probably a good thing.
Hillary has probably closed up shop down there too, but I don't want to think about such treacherous images.
Sorry Tim, I forgot how sensitive you are about small hand remarks.
Drago sees Chuck people...
rcocean: "Why in the hell is Bette Midler on Broadway?"
For the same reason shows/movies/documentaries on the 60's and The Summer of Love and Woodstock etc., keep getting churned out: the lefties and LLR's cant let go of the time period when they first convinced themselves completely that they had ALL the answers and didnt have any history behind them which showed that they literally had none of the answers...(unless you were looking for answers that ended up with mass graves, complete deprivation of all basic needs and totalitarian thought-control fascism and oppression).
"Why in the hell is Bette Midler on Broadway?"
For the money, what else? A piece of cornball hokum like Hello Dolly, which was old-fashioned when it opened in 1964, is just the thing to put the rubes' butts on seats without exercising their heads.
rcocean said...Why in the hell is Bette Midler on Broadway?
People don't realize that singers, who don't write their own material, are only as wealthy as their royalties on record sales. It's a small royalty at that - 3% or so.
As the years go by, the royalties diminish, and they may have to go back to work if they have a high maintenance lifestyle.
Howard thinks Trump is a talented entertainer.
Good to know!
Blogger rcocean said...Better Midler? I thought she was dead. Anyway, she's the sexiest 72 y/o singer ever.
I'd say she more resembles the waxy and cadaver-like look that Bill, Republic of Texas used to describe Faye Dunaway a day or two ago.
Is Kramer still her assistant?
As I recall, he was low overhead.
"Sorry Tim, I forgot how sensitive you are about small hand remarks"
Try to stand up for the little guy...
Is anyone else shocked that no Broadway Producer has not put together a "Golden Girls" Musical starring Bette Midler, Babs Streisand, and Hillary Clinton**?
Talk about a Gold mine!
** = maybe Goldie Hawn could substitute for Hillary!, since she will be POTUS in 2021.
Why in the hell is Bette Midler on Broadway?
Broadway functions as a retirement home for reliably activist left wingers. We aren't going to see Tim Allen on Broadway.
NGOs work the same which is why we still hear about Susan Sarandon and other talentless but politically correct actors.
I would like to Betty White on Broadway.
Call me Citizen Cope.
“Its interesting that like the Republican Power Elite, the Democrats have doubled down on "Open Borders" and "Free Trade".”
I believe that many of the Hillary voters are not OK with Open Borders and unfair trade. But none of their DNC leaders will even begin to go there. The DNC utterly lacks leadership. Eventually, someone unfraid to confront Trump must emerge.
The fuck is an LLR?
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