Quoted in New York Magazine.
The sentiment is important and plainly true, but I think what's getting more attention is her use — in a public setting — of the word "shit." I think it's interesting that she said "that shit doesn’t work all the time" and not "that shit don’t work all the time." This wasn't a descent into the vernacular. She was keeping it lofty, but choosing to deploy the expressive, valuable word "shit."
The WaPo article on the subject is titled "Michelle Obama swore when criticizing Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘lean in’ mantra, and the Internet lost it." (I think it's illiterate to use the word "swore" to refer to excretion-related words. Swearing is a solemn declaration to God, and the bad kind of swearing takes the Lord's name in vain. "Shit" is not the Lord's name.)
[I]n what may be an unprecedented slip-up, Obama said the line that threw the audience and Internet into a frenzy. Upon hearing her utter a profanity...I wouldn't call "shit" a "profanity" either. ("Profanity" is desecrating something holy, and shit isn't holy at all, though sometimes it made sacred, by saying "holy shit," but that proves my point: It starts low and can be elevated. What's profane is to say "God" as an expletive, which people do all the time without setting the internet atwitter.)
... the packed 19,000-seat arena lost it, erupting in cheers and laughter. Many on social media praised Obama for being “real” about the struggles working women face.... The uncharacteristic remark even appeared to catch Obama off-guard. Author and political commentator Touré Neblett tweeted that “everyone freaked out ... Michelle, too.” Neblett added that Obama quickly apologized before saying, “I forgot where I was for a moment. I thought we were at home, y’all... I was gettin’ real comfortable up in here.”Oh, I don't think she "forgot." She was taking a little risk, but she was doing something Trump does all the time, saying something short and striking that will get everyone talking about her. It's perfectly fine. It's America.
And now that we're paying attention, we will need to talk about whether Sheryl Sandberg is full of shit with her "Lean In" book. Getting after Sandberg was already something that was happening, so Obama did a fine job of making herself part of that trend. Now, Sandberg has been in trouble lately because of a revelation that she "and other Facebook executives had tried to cover up Russians using the site to promote propaganda." (I'm quoting the WaPo article). That has nothing to do with Sandberg's 5-year-old best seller and her advice to women to "lean in." But Obama chose this moment to denounce Sandberg's much-touted advice as "shit." That shit sticks.
I googled "shit sticks" in an effort to get to the most common phrase about shit sticking, but I ended up at a Wikipedia article, "Shit stick":
Shit stick means "a thin stake or stick used instead of toilet paper" and was a historical item of material culture introduced through Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism. A well-known example is gānshǐjué/kanshiketsu (lit. 乾屎橛 "dry shit stick") from the Chan/Zen gōng'àn/kōan in which a monk asked "What is Buddha?" and Master Yunmen/Unmon answered "A dry shit stick".The illustration is mindbending:
"Gaki zōshi 餓鬼草紙 "Scroll of Hungry Ghosts", a gaki condemned to shit-eating watches a child wearing geta and holding a chūgi, c. 12th century."
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"Shut your motherfucking mouth and pass me the goddamn mashed potatoes."
--Michelle at home.
I think they used "profanity" correctly, because they see Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" as holy. These are the same people that loved the photos of Barack with something circular behind him looking like a halo. They are just shocked the high priestess doesn't think the same way. That's why the internet broke because of the shock.
The low stands for the high, and vice versa. They're both about hierarchy.
Also there are direct links: her royal highness, heard by any kid, means ass. The link is permanent.
That Michelle Cunt is really rocking!
Michelle is not good at evaluating self-worth, is all.
I wouldn't call "shit" a "profanity" either.
I would. As would most of society. I suspect if Trump used the term in a public speech you'd have a very different take.
It's always like Michelle is an actor playing an important person. You wonder if they couldn't have gotten somebody better for the role.
Its seems that "Leaning in" is some corporate/feminist shit.
No wonder some Cunts hate it.
Many on social media praised Obama for being “real” about the struggles working women face...
Lucky for me I'm a guy. We never have to struggle. We get to have it all. It's enough for us to lean in, because that shit works all the time. /sarc
The shit schtick.
It's just what I expect from the ghetto-minded Obamas. And yes, Steinberg and the Obamas are full of you-know-what.
Michelle isn't properly called a cunt. She was chosen for being black, not for being female.
One more journalist to put on the 'don't bother reading anything they write, life is too short' list.
Or the 'shit list' for short.
Then there was Lieutenant Scheisskopf. All his friends wondered what he was planning. "I wonder what shithead is up to."
If Michelle wasn’t married to Barack and if she wasn’t a flaming liberal, I might actually like her. She sees through the Barack mythology and let’s her disdain for it and progressives slip sometimes.
Is that a slight against RAchel Maddow and Hillary? Lean In.
Lean in - isn't that the Rachel Maddow-Hillary Clinton theme song?
In the words of the late Joan Rivers, "Oh, grow up!"
Sometimes you need a good cuss word. I also agree with her in this instance.
Sandberg is expendable now.
The "dry shit stick" or "dry shit on a stick" is one of the most famous comments about Buddha in zen.
I understand what "shit" means. Now can somebody explain what "lean in" means?
Is there any public person more overrated than Michelle Obama? Diversity admission to Ivy League schools, worked for a few years at a white stocking law firm and then a gravy train ever since. That University of Chicago Hospital General Counsel job was a real cakewalk.
Did she ever try a case? Close a deal? Attract a client? Grade law school exams? Publish law review articles?
What has she ever accomplished other than marrying Barack? Any great statements?
She's famous for being famous.
"That whole 'so you can have it all.' Nope, not at the same time. That’s a lie. And it’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time."
There's a difference between slogans and facts? Who knew?
a frenzy
Holy smokes, a frenzy! There hasn't been a well publicized internet frenzy for several minutes.
"I forgot where I was for a moment. I thought we were at home, y’all... I was gettin’ real comfortable up in here.”
More shit.
RH: I'm just keeping it real.
What "struggle" has Michelle Obama ever faced? Handed a Princeton slot, handed a law school slot, handed a high powered law firm slot, handed a no work $300k hospital "job" and handed multi-million dollar book deals. That's some adversity.
#Bring back our s**t.
I can't help but filter everything Obama says through her Duel-Purpose Target Anecdote.
As First Lady, she once went incognito to shop at Target. A short women, not recognizing her, asked if she could pull down an item on a high shelf.
On David Letterman's late night show, she relayed the story as a humorous tale about trying to live a regular gal life as First Lady. Later, to People Magazine, she made herself the victim of racism, a black woman treated as "the help." She is very good at playing that con.
It has always been well known to anyone who wasn't a moron that nobody can "have it all". It doesn't become profound or holy because Michelle says it.
She got it wrong anyway. It's not that you can't have it all all at the same time; you can't have it all ever.
@Curious George I agree. "I was gettin’ real comfortable" is a way to say: I want the audience to imagine that they are my intimate friends.
Public figures do that all the time, but I hear the phrase "I was gettin’ real comfortable" as revealing that she knows she's bullshitting. I heard "that shit doesn’t work all the time" as a calculated sound bite. I think "I was gettin’ real comfortable" is totally untrue. I think she knew what she was doing and it did not slip out! Anyone who thinks that seems naive to the point of incompetence. How can democracy work?
When her 300 k job at u Chicago hospital consisted of forcing people to other facilities when she would spend 3 months in marbella every year
Wasn't there a post just the other day about people speaking down to their audiences?
I think it's illiterate to use the word "swore" to refer to excretion-related words
Lighten up, Francis.
Try using the word "shit" in a court of law.
CJ said: "As First Lady, she once went incognito to shop at Target. A short women, not recognizing her, asked if she could pull down an item on a high shelf."
I think her point in that story was that no salespeople offered to help her with anything. In the story, it came right after the trouble Barack had getting cabs in Chicago.
Shit stick - What Mueller's team is trying to accomplish by throwing massive amounts of it at a wall.
"good for her". Nah. I liked living in a world where people weren't supposed to swear in public. I liked living in a world where people dressed normally in public. I liked living in a world where people had some manners in public.
Why inflict your pathologies on other people? Why celebrate it?
I think Trump and Michelle would make a great act.
rhhardin said...
"Michelle isn't properly called a cunt. She was chosen for being black, not for being female."
I'm fairly sure Barry checked both boxes before he offered her the position.
I'd missed the 'Internet frenzy'. I feel so out of touch.
Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair - Sept 2011:
Published in 1984 by a distinguished anthropologist named Alan Dundes, Life Is Like a Chicken Coop Ladder set out to describe the German character through the stories that ordinary Germans liked to tell one another. Dundes specialized in folklore, and in German folklore, as he put it, “one finds an inordinate number of texts concerned with anality. Scheisse (shit), Dreck (dirt), Mist (manure), Arsch (ass).… Folksongs, folktales, proverbs, riddles, folk speech—all attest to the Germans’ longstanding special interest in this area of human activity.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/09/europe-201109
Rory said...
"I think her point in that story was that no salespeople offered to help her with anything"
No, it's clear her ire is directed at the (presumably) white shopper. Here are the two versions:
On the Late Show with David Letterman, Mrs. Obama laughed as she said, “I have to tell you something about this trip though. No one knew that was me. Because a woman actually walked up to me, right, I was in the detergent aisle, and she said, I kid you not, she said ‘Excuse me, I just have to ask you something.’ And I thought cover’s blown. She said, ‘Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?’ I kid you not. And the only thing she said, I reached up cause she was short, I reached up and pulled it down. She said ‘Well, you didn’t have to make it look so easy.’ That was my interaction. I felt so good. She had no idea who I was. I thought as soon as she walked up I looked my, I was with my assistant, and I said this is it. It’s over. We’re going to have to leave; she just needed the detergent.”
Mrs. Obama told [People] magazine, “…the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new.”
Her husband then mentioned his own bouts with racism.
Why inflict your pathologies on other people? Why celebrate it?
It's not a pathology. It's a celebration of the performance of great words, shit, fuck, cunt.
Nevertheless there's an art to using them.
Headline in the Telegraph today:"Why Michelle is now the only Obama people want to see". The article, which is an extravagant love letter to Michelle, does not support the "only" in the headline.
" This wasn't a descent into the vernacular. She was keeping it lofty, but choosing to deploy the expressive, valuable word "shit."
Well, after all the bitch is a Princeton graduate.
"the trouble Barack had getting cabs in Chicago."
Why should he culturally appropriate the automobile? He didn't build that.
Wm. Empson said some dictator was invited to Britain and was accompanied by his mistress. "How awful for the Foreign Office," some person remarked. Empson wondered who this person might be who thought it was actually awful for the Foreign Office.
It's a what-you're-supposed-to-think thing. Tyranny takes over. PC isn't the only form it's taken through the ages.
Stay classy, Mooch.
I had the same thing happen in my grocery shopping trip last Thursday. The only difference was that the woman didn't have to ask. I saw she couldn't reach the item and I asked if she would mind me getting it for her.
Michelle thought it was funny that a little person didn't recognize Her Majesty, and she bragged about being tall.
The word, "shit," seems like the quintessential "dirty word." Why not just call it that?
As for the content, this is the most intelligent thing I have ever heard Michelle Obama say and my respect for her, previously almost nonexistent, is now measurable.
Demolition (2015), hero to teen kid of girlfriend:
You say "fuck" a lot.
So?
So you're just not using it properly.
The fuck does that mean?
That's what I mean. "Fuck" is a great word, but if you use it too much, then it just loses its value. And you sound stupid.
Fuck you.
Exactly.
Shit is not a profanity or a swear? Another post that needs the grammar bullshit tag. Are there any old YouTube or blogginhead videos where Althouse uses cuss words? Althouse presents herself as an afficiando of dirty words, but can she talk the talk?
Oh shit is the most popular last words on cockpit voice recorders.
Shit is not a profanity or a swear?
Shit is an obscenity.
Shit is an obscenity.
Shit is a necessity.
Ugh. Now I've got to wipe that illustration out of my memory bank before lunch time.
As the Hive 's "Keep the Wookie in the Public Eye 24/7" campaign keeps rolling . . .
Reminds me of Ellsworth Toomey's campaign on behalf of the Gallant Gallstone. (Some of you should get the reference.)
Words like shit, piss, cunt and fuck are old Anglo-Saxon terms meant to be used in their literal form but we have, for some time, used them as expletives.
"She was keeping it lofty, but choosing to deploy the expressive, valuable word "shit.""
Lofty, eh? Right.
Anyway, good to remember next time people complain about a Trump rant.
We are allowed to judge everyone by the same standards, aren't we?
The way the Obamas won is that America views Barack as Denzel Washington and Michelle is Oprah Winfrey. Or the Black Kennedys. In fact, there was a great WSJ piece on how Michelle's fashion followed that of Jackie Kennedy.
I would bet good money that the Obamas were coached up on these points.
The Religious world sees the common word "shit" as the ultimate bad word. Actual curses uttered in anger can mainly be overlooked, but condemnation the S word is the first rule taught to children and can never, ever be uttered by an adult. Which makes use of the descriptive " Bullshit" equally dangerous around Church Ladies.
Shit is a necessity.
And if you don't think so, try not to take a shit. On the plus side, shit is natural and can be used for sculpting.
I would call it a vulgarity.
I find it strange, Ann, that you are so pedantic about “swearing” and “profanity” but then at the same time imply that words have the meaning we give them, no more and no less. Is using vulgarity/swearing/profanity proper or just a way to talking in the vernacular? I think the day of getting apoplectic about such words has passed a very long time ago, and the media that wants to make a big deal of it are really intentionally playing it up because she’s probably considering running for office and likes the attention.
How about calling it a cuss word?
I regularly hear and use this sort of language. My profession and industry are full of foul-mouthed folks. I do change my word choice depending on my audience and my perception of the likelihood they will be offended, or impressed, by the language I use. I think Michelle did the same thing and quite rightly read her audience who cheered and complimented her on getting 'real'.
Michelle is a fairly normal person for an Organization princess from South Chicago.
Except when she herself "goes political," give her a break and let it ride.
I forgot where I was for a moment. I thought we were at home, y’all... I was gettin’ real comfortable up in here
Do people from the south side of Chicago usually use "ya'll?" I really don't know. She's a Princeton undergrad and Harvard Law graduate, isn't she? Do people in those schools, or from those schools, use "ya'll" or "up in here" frequently? I don't personally know many, so I don't know.
Impossible to not link: YT: DMX - Up In Here
[Story includes both "up in here" and discussion of people "losing their minds" so the song had to be associated.]
Feminism sold them a bill of goods. She finally came to this realization?
'Do people from the south side of Chicago usually use "ya'll?'
Ebonics is Southern in origin.
Many on social media praised Obama for being “real” about the struggles working women face...
Michelle whined it was tough sending the girls to ballet on $300k/yr.
I hear all sorts of nIon-Southerners using "y'all" these days. It's like the non-Southern musicians and singers who adopt the speech patterns, slang and pronunciations of Southern rednecks. I believe it's supposed to convey authenticity. When I hear it, it often conveys the opposite.
2020 dem nomination Michelles if she wants it. All the good press, rich people behind her. Political machine in place. Young, black, female.
Clinton is done, bad health, negative stories occasionally.
Bill And Hillary Tickets, six dollars
“I forgot where I was for a moment. I thought we were at home, y’all... I was gettin’ real comfortable up in here.”
I prefer the word crap. I wonder how old Sasha and Malia were when Michelle started talking shit at home?
Whatever she's doing, she's doing it right. I read that her book has sold more copies than any other book published in 2018. WTF. The Obamas are raking it in. They've got a fair chance to make more money than the Clintons. I'm not sure how I feel about that. .....Michelle is more likable than Hillary, but I'm not sure her life has been more interesting.. Given a choice between Hillary's book and Michelle's I'd probably choose Hillary's, but I'd pick a Barbara Cartland novel over both..........Has anyone here read Michelle Obama's book or do they know anyone who has? Do people who buy the book actually read it, or is the purchase made as a token of support?
I don’t give a shit about this woman.
SWIDT?
But seriously, I don’t care. I’d be happy if she went away like prior First Ladies did. Well other than “she who can’t fill arenas” but that woman may NEVER go away.
William Chadwick:
I went tubing in the Nebraska Sandhills a few years back and all of these Nebraskans were talking like they were from Bama. Really weird.
She's the balls in that marriage. Just sayin'.
I'm glad she said that.
I get a lot of schadenfreude when I think of Sheryl Sandberg's predicament. When your own pack turns on you with bloodlust like this, you probably deserve it.
"The shit schtick."
Some folks think their schtick don't schtink.
Michelle Obama is going to get used.
If she does not give them something, they will just make "shit" up.
Like Scheryl. And Faschebook.
And Mischelle.
Hold on, I just barely recovered from today's daily horror at how "vulgar" Trump is.
Ah well, when I think about Queen Moochie and the way she looks down on little people, I'm reminded of the old country lyric that goes, "If I can't be Number One in your heart, then Number Two on you!"
Keep on keepin' on Moochie; if I see your name at the polls in November 2020, I'll be sure to remember.
Schitt.
Little Adam
I hate the Obamas so much...so fucking much. They are the worst and young enough that we'll never be rid of them.
Saw a car the other day with a 'Michelle 2020' sticker on it. White lefty chick, of course. I can't imagine anything worse than the Obamas back in the WH. Maybe the daily lectures on what a disappointment we are would be more pleasant from dipshit affirmative action hire Michelle but I doubt it.
FUCK. HER. (And all the braindead assholes that love her).
"Michelle thought it was funny that a little person didn't recognize Her Majesty..."
Because real life Michelle doesn't look like Photoshopped Michelle, which is the one we peons know from the media.
I think it does qualify as potty mouth.
The personification of shit.
Lean in works with people who are hearing impaired, but not deaf. Lean in, lean on violates personal space. Outside of a few mutual interest contexts, or a low SNR environment, it is an aggressive stance. Lean in with the intent to dominate. Lean in with the intent to intimidate. That said, lean in when when defecating. Do not lean in when flinging poop.
Having been at one of her book tour stops, to her credit Michelle Obama has a high likability factor in the story she has to tell.
That is you really have to peel the onion layers to see that she has a lot of blind spots about herself and the way the world works.
Ignorance is Bliss wrote:
Lucky for me I'm a guy. We never have to struggle. We get to have it all. It's enough for us to lean in, because that shit works all the time. /sarc
Exactly.
Speaking as a woman, former FT housewife/mother, now breadwinner... (harking back to an older post of Ann's), I'm mystified at all this lean in/having it all nonsense. And all the anger that women can't do something it turns out men can't/don't do, either (have it all, at the same time, etc.)
If a woman really *wants* to have kids and have a competitive career, she can do that. She just needs to (desire in the first place), then marry a man who wants to take on the lion's share of child rearing and traditional woman-stuff. Those men aren't easy to find, but they do exist. The question is: how many hard-charging career women want a man like that?
Personally, such a man sounds wonderful to me. But did I ever want to be exactly like my husband (focus first and foremost on my career and leave all that child-rearin', home-makin', family-buildin' stuff to someone else?). Did I want the first person my sons cried for when they fell down to be Dad (not Mom)?
Nope. Which is not to say I didn't have to defer any career/educational aspirations I had so I could be the go-to person on the home front. I did, and there were times that bugged me. But to pretend my husband didn't give anything up to live his life the way he chose to - and be the primary breadwinner - requires a kind of blindness that seems delusional to me.
Even if men and women started valuing the same things (to the same degree), there's still biology to reckon with. But I don't see any evidence that women DO value the same things men do, to the same degree.
If we can't even be trusted to make our own value judgments and then live with the consequences, we're not truly adults. Everyone faces tradeoffs. I often feel that women complain about them an awful lot.
Men complain about things I personally thing are dumb, too, because we're all human. But then I'm not a man, so what do I know?
All of this banter reminds me of George Carlin. I suppose he is G-rated as of today. Of course, George did it for a living, I have no idea why Mooch or anyone else does so (I do not exclude myself, I can out perform any sailor, and frequently practice the trade). In particular, I saw George do a skit before an audience the subject of which was all of the words used in this blog and the comments, and more.
George was hilarious. What are we?
By the way, one can use the foul smelling word in a court -- the times have changed.
You cannot abort your baby and have her, too. That's a political myth that is spread for social progress, exploited for political congruence, told to women and men, and little girls and boys, too.
"Shit" is a vulgarity. Many people do not know the difference between vulgarity, provainity, and obscenity.
X-Ray said... [hush][hide comment]
All of this banter reminds me of George Carlin. I suppose he is G-rated as of today. Of course, George did it for a living, I have no idea why Mooch or anyone else does so (I do not exclude myself, I can out perform any sailor, and frequently practice the trade).
Navy guys and ex-convicts have the most colorful language. Talked with a Navy guy earlier this year, he says rough language not allowed as it may hurt somebodies feelings.
Navy guys and ex-convicts have the most colorful language.
I look to the film work of Joe Pesci.
Def a vulgarity.
Poop is a minced vulgarity. So is "shoot" as an interjection.
I'm suprised we're discussing Sh*t Sticks and nobody's mentioned the Poop Knife (story from reddit)
All this for a shitty, damn flag. - M.O.
Freeman Hunt said...
I'm glad she said that.
I am too, but there is so much that goes along with it.
First of all, if the audience is cheering then it means they agree. They are glad she said it. But why has it been so dangerous to say? Because it seems anti-feminist. Michelle Obama is on the left and it is the left that peddles the lie that anyone can have it all, all at once.
Second, this pile on Facebook and Sheryl Sandburg is so interesting. She was so of the left. She was such a hero. She supported the Obamas. When her husband died, the Obama White House posted a tribute to him. She started the "Ban Bossy" campaign. She supported Hillary for president.
So what is behind all of this from the left against Sandberg? Is it because it looked like Zuckerberg might run for President? Because Facebook won't just admit they threw the election to Trump? Because she's up against one of the biggest financial supporters on the left, George Soros?
Finally, what happened to "When they go low, we go high"? What did Sandberg do to be gettin' Michelle all comfortable enough to criticize her for no apparent reason?
I believe the technical term for Michelle Obama v Sheryl Sandberg is catfight, and there are few things in life that are more emotionally satisfying.
Lot of Michelle Hate.
I like her, mostly. But she's not Presidential material.
I’d rather have Michelle as president over:
Harris, Booker, Warren, Bernie, Hillary, and Biden
And Jeb, Kasich, Rubio, Cruz, Paul, and Romney.
Beto v Michelle would be a helluva matchup. A bizarre mirror of 2008 primary.
Michelle is an angry, spiteful not very smart beneficiary of Affirmative Action. Like her husband but his rough edges have been smoothed out by his pot smoking. Though his anger does percolate to the surface when he has mixed the booze with the pot.
I like her, mostly.
I've never understood this.
She is a snarling, vicious, scolding bitch. Read up on some of the things she's written. She hates you.
There's the punk band The Dyslexic Cnuts.
Does anybody believe that if Michelle were POTUS she would actually be running anything? Bonus question: Was Barack?
Any positive perception was attributed to Obama. Any negative action was attributed to Clinton. It's a neat trick. Hillary not only broke, but smashed the proverbial "glass ceiling".
speaking of trannies...
my old car had a shit-stick.
I heard someone yell "you better get yo muthafuckin ass back here" and feared a gang fight was about to erupt outside my home.
But it was just a woman talking to her 8 year old son.
I suppose people who envisioned the Obamas as classy 'house' folk might be shocked by her use of profanity.
I am not. Generally, all the pictures I've seen of Michelle (Evita) Obama has her with a sour expression on her face (RBF for those in the know). It is all the pent up profanity she wants to hurl at anyone who isn't giving her and her husband adulation.
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