That's why I've already written 6 posts today, and I've yet to do the 20-year anniversary post. But now it's happened. And all because I wanted to tell you what Theodore Roosevelt said about the 1913 Armory Show, and he'd used the phrase "lunatic fringe."
It turned out he was the first one, as far as the OED has noticed, to use "lunatic fringe" to mean something other than women's bangs. In 1874, someone had used "lunatic fringe" to mean "A woman or girl's hairstyle in which the front is cut straight and square across the forehead":
'Was that why you studied so hard all winter, and wouldn't go to singing-school, you sly thing?’ said Lizzie, eyebrows and lunatic fringe almost meeting again. Our Boys & Girls....
And there it was, the spontaneous thing: a portal back to the first day of the blog, January 14, 2004. There are a number of posts in the 20-year archive that bear the tag "bangs," but click on that and scroll, and you'll get back to...
Next to me at the hair-washing station of the salon was a woman who was ranting about bangs. "I've always had bangs. Then, not having bangs, I was going crazy." Googling "bangs," by the way, is not a good way to come up with websites about the kind of bangs people rave about in hair salons.
That was the fifth and last post of the first day. One thing fell trippingly after another... for 20 years!
How McCain lost me.John Christopher chose...
Althouse unfair to F. Scott Fitzgerald?.Here's the post where I take on Ron Bailey of Reason Magazine.
The Althouse comments persona.
Let's take a closer look at those breasts.Dave Begley chose...
My usual Mendota lakeshore walk takes me into a Bucky Badger photoshoot.
What a man in a United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners t-shirt said to me today.
What happened on Bellyache Ridge.
"Yesterday, Larry Meade, human hot air machine and husband of UW-Madison law professor and pundit Ann Althouse (the Midwest's Michelle Malkin)..."
This is the post where I take a vow of neutrality — cruel neutrality — in the Presidential election.Mutaman and The Vault Dweller chose...
"Why are the letters 'NIG' on the child's pajamas?"Scott Patton chose...
Yes, yes, I'm blogging on Christmas. And I'm suffering from Timeslessness.
At the Rat Café...
"John Lennon died at age 40, 40 years ago today...."George Putnam chose...
I told you I was going to do something today that I've never done before.Mr. T. chose...
At the Wisconsin protest, doctors offer to write excuse notes for teachers who called in sick.Kathryn51 chose...
"You're as cute as me. You are. In some cultures, maybe cuter."
How would you know if you were withdrawing from the visual world?Jim Gust said...
Why I put AdSense ads back on the blog — self-defense.Not Sure said...
Is Obama a gasbag?Mea Sententia said...
Before blogging, there were proto-bloggers....
I haven't kept coming back for two decades because I particularly agree or disagree with your points of view, but because it seems to me that you don't particularly care about convincing your readers to agree with your points of view....
I agree, but only because I really do agree. I used to have this motto in the blog banner: "To live freely in writing." That wouldn't happen if I were centered on persuasion.
Almost all writers of commentary or journalism try to change their readers' minds. Indeed, I think that most people would wonder what the point of commentary was if it didn't try to change minds. But in the end that turns out to be a kind of manipulation, even exploitation: the education or entertainment provided ends up having a hook hidden inside — sure, enjoy what I write, but at some point you owe me an opinion change.
You write of the exploitation of the readers, but writers who do this are also exploiting themselves. They may need to do it for the money, but then it's work. It's a different energy. I don't have a cause. I'm living here, in writing.
Now that's not a big deal and is just the price of reading commentary, and I don't get all worked up when authors constantly try to leverage their relationships with their readers. It's how the system works.
But I appreciate IMMENSELY that the Althouse blog DOESN'T work that way, which, as best I can tell, makes it unique. And THAT is even more of an amazing achievement than posting daily for 20 years (not to mention suffering a few truly obnoxious commenters and what I'd guess has been annoying social pressure in the real world to make your 'platform' serve others' ends).
THANK YOU for creating something interesting and worthwhile and distinctive....
Thank you for noticing. And thanks for reading. And commenting.
"I've always had bangs. Then, not having bangs, I was going crazy."
Not only did bangs recur, but there is a recurrence of the idea that bangs have some connection to insanity. If you have bangs, others might regard it as a "lunatic fringe," and if you don't, you might be going crazy.
Posts
59 comments:
lunatic (adj.)
late 13c., "affected with periodic insanity dependent on the changes of the moon," from Old French lunatique "insane," or directly from Late Latin lunaticus "moon-struck," from Latin luna "moon" (see luna).
Compare Old English monseoc "lunatic," literally "moon-sick;" Middle High German lune "humor, temper, mood, whim, fancy" (German Laune), from Latin luna. Compare also New Testament Greek selēniazomai "be epileptic," from selēnē "moon."
Lunatic fringe (1913) was popularized and apparently coined by U.S. politician Theodore Roosevelt.
Then, among the wise and high-minded people who in self-respecting and genuine fashion strive earnestly for peace, there are foolish fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always discrediting it — the men who form the lunatic fringe in all reform movements. [Theodore Roosevelt, autobiography, 1913].
Earlier it was a term for a type of hairstyle worn over the forehead (1877). Lunatic soup (1918) was slang for "alcoholic drink" or several different alcoholic drinks taken together.
- etymonline.com
Barbara Felton said somewhere "bangs is me."
Then there's Mireille Mathieu.
Hunter Biden likes to bang prostitutes. ah - but his parents still wuv him.
Lunatic Fringe by Red Ryder, theme of the 80s teen movie Vision Quest, filmed in Spokane, home of future wife…
Congrats on the epic milestone!
Gen X remembers Lunatic Fringe for "Hey Louden, kick his ass!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwtCGISqmu4
Because of my amateur historical work, I've paid a lot of attention to clothing and hair styles fro about 1855 to 1905. Women in the early 1870s commonly sported inward-curled bangs, then known as the "donkey fringe", like the forelock of a donkey. Straight bangs were, apparently, a "lunatic" departure from that norm.
Mote interestingly, women of that era spent gobs of money on hair "extensions". Very few "fashionable" women of that era did *not* incorporate a lot of other women's hair into their own designs.
I started reading the blog sometime during 2004- probably Summer of that year. I don't really remember how I got here- probably followed a link from somewhere else. I wasn't a regular reader until about 2010 or so and only a very infrequent commenter until about 2015.
Congratulations on your 20th Blogiversary. Your body of work has been astonishing and valuable. There was one post I think would be fun to revisit, because so much changed since then. It was back in the very early days of blogging when bloggers left and right found a kinship. You went down to Chicago to some kind of conservative bloggers' gathering. They said stuff, then you said what you described as (paraphrasing here) the most ordinary everyday idea that everyone in Madison Wisconsin took as gospel. You were surprised that they were surprised. You went home.
Just some posts I can remember.
~Marie Kondo
~Trypophobia triggered by iPhone's three lenses
~caffein nap
~dock collapsing
~you described symptoms that would lead to your cataract surgery
~and (my very least favorite in twenty years of admiration) when your elitist academic arrogance won out and you agreed that Sarah Palin was dumb.
Lester Bangs: That reminds me, Dick. Whadda you think of fag-rock?
Dick Clark: He gets a worried look. "Do you think this is going to be widespread?"
Lester Bangs: Sure! David Bowie, Lou Reed, all those guys at the top of the charts, the queers are taking over the country!
Dick Clark: He chews on that one a minute, and comes back typically unruffled, reflective: "Anything that's new takes a while before it gets disseminated across the country. You get the JC Penney versions of fashions of what the style leaders are wearing. There's an interesting premise in all of this, in the youth world, you take the lunatic fringe, the avant-garde, the style leaders, the nuts. And if you are careful enough to determine what they come up with that's a legitimate trend, then you'll be able to figure out eventually what the people in the middle, I don't mean necessarily geographically but in the case of our country it is pretty much the middle, will be doing in the next number of months.
“ In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.”
One up from the bottom of the "bangs" tags is John Kerry saying he has better hair than Edwards. They had no idea the turn hair would take in presidential politics.
Is this the post? I can't tell!! Is this the Anniversary post or a post telling us the Anniversary post is coming? How Alhousian of you to leave us guessing.
But happy 20th Anniversary! While you've blogged and I've read, I've lived in 4 countries and 9 cities. How cools it that the internet exists so I've been able to follow you all that (or most of that) time! Congratulations on your achievement(s)!
I particularly liked this post about the Branch Covidians....or rather, a comment that our hostess made in that post, I thought at the time that the quality of her writing of that comment was "fresh, inventive, and perfectly communicates the thought with a very balanced rhythm".
- Krumhorn
The first commenter on this blog was aptly named.
I scanned the posts after it, and the earliest commenter whose name I recognized was Kirk Parker. There was an anonymous commenter who was active that first week you had the comments turned on, but did he/she ever take on another moniker?
That's an extraordinarily beautiful photo. Congratulations on your anniversary!
Happy Blogiversary, Althouse! Thanks for providing interesting commentary on the world and allowing us to have our say as well.
Speaking of that "Let's take a closer look at those breasts" post, I was listening to an outlaw country singer named Creed Fisher yesterday, including a song called "Girls With Big Titties." I'll let you find that one on YouTube yourselves.
I remember reading this blog when it first came out. But you know, life happens.
I don't know how but around 2020 I somehow found that this blog had been going the whole time. Was a lovely surprise.
Happy Birthday and Anniversary.
Also do you still have the Audi you bought way back when?
Kathryn51 chose...
"You're as cute as me. You are. In some cultures, maybe cuter."
I had no idea what you meant, but checked the link and after years trying to recall whether it was yellow shoes/red socks or red shoes/yellow socks I believe I will now be able to remember.
Red Shoes. Yellow Socks.
Red Shoes. Yellow Socks.
That should do it for the next 10 years.
Happy 20th Anniversary. And it was the Jessica post that brought me to Althouse. I don't comment much, but it's my first read every day with my first cup of coffee.
I have gratitude for your blog... and your blogging, and your wisdom, Ann.
Thank you.
A song for the occasion.
I've often wondered why Althouse seldom grants us a full frontal view. Usually, she is seen, if at all, from the rear or in profile, making it difficult or impossible to judge the cognitive stability of her forehead tresses. That said, as long as the fringe is a color found in mammalian nature (we synapsids seem to have lost the blue, green, and purple genes way back in the Permian) hair sanity is assured. However, concerns about the lunatic fringe are overblown like those big 80s-style coiffures. Now that the X-59 has debuted, bangs may be a thing of the past.
Those doctors writing the excuse notes from school. As I recall Ann got them professionally scolded. Flash forward that incident a few years- there would be doctors but no writing of notes, promotions for everyone who skipped work and Ann would be audited, have FBI at her door and Antifa in her face…
One of our granddaughters came home with bangs during Christmas break from school. Surprised one and all. Something old is new again, I guess.
Neglected to wish you a happy birthday a few days ago, so Happy Birthday!. And congrats on the blog anniversary as well. Always learn something here!
Happy 20th anniversary - not a day goes by that I don't visit your blog and find something of interest.
Well done Prof. M. Drout. You nailed the essence of the Althouse blog.
I find this site to be a calming influence on me. Even when I find myself outraged by some recent event or outrageous lie - usually spoken by a gaslighting democrat - the humorous comments made by many lighten the mood considerably.
I am grateful for that… very grateful. Thank you.
Happy Blogaversary!
I read an article a day or so ago about Lauren Sanchez and her new look with bangs supposedly as part of celebrating Jeff Bezos' birthday, Jeff being her boyfriend (inadvertently typed at first as boyfiend, which might be more accurate) (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12959399/Lauren-Sanchez-hairstyle-Jeff-Bezos-Amazon-birthday.html). I read the most ridiculous, over the top articles about those two, like that one, and I don't know why I bother because I find them both grotesque. Maybe that's why.
I just saw an ad for St Judes with Marlo Thomas who has to be in her 80s now, I think, and she talks with this gravelly voice (a smoker's voice?) but I thought to myself about how I used to love watching That Girl with her cute little face and the big eyes peering out from under her bangs. Donald, the perfect boyfriend, not like Jeff Bezos at all! How long ago that was. She's actually aged really well I think.
In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic “bangs” translates as “pollina (o)” but “pollina (o)” has, to put it delicately, very uncomplimentary connotations. (See 5 female below)
From La Real Academia Española (RAE) y Asociación de Académias de la lengua española (ASALE) page
pollino, na
Del lat. pullīnus 'perteneciente a un animal joven'.
1. m. y f. Asno joven.
Sin.: buche, boche.
2. m. y f. asno (‖ animal).
Sin.: asno, burro, borrico, jumento, rucio, rozno, rucho.
3. m. y f. Persona simple, ignorante o ruda. U. t. c. adj.
Sin.: asno, burro, borrico, ceporro, bruto, ignorante, torpe.
4. m. Hond. Burro semental.
5. f. P. Rico y R. Dom. flequillo.
Sin.: flequillo.
6. f. desus. Cría de aves o cuadrúpedos.
After further review, my favourite posts were the moderation free posts. A couple of times, we were briefly back to the good old days roaming on the Althouse range.
Lovely!
Oh, to be 73 again...
Oh. Trumps “bird brain” for Nicky Haley.
Oh my goodness. There’s some kind of cross cultural pollination going on here.
Lunatic fringe
Sonic bangs
Congratulations on the milestone. You're the absolute first thing I go to on the web in the morning. Coffee and Althouse. Thanks for all you do.
Sunset, and the half hidden path through the shrubs into the trees. As long as you write, I will read.
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Thanks for a great blog...
Happy anniversary and thanks for being a place that is always interesting and thought provoking. I haven’t read you for 20 years but it’s gotta be close.
Happy 20th! Have loved reading your opinions and the commenters for many years. Thanks for keeping your blog as a vital gathering place of ideas!
I don't know who that little guy in the red beanie is but the blonde is Ann Althouse!
Happy Twentieth!
I'm not seeing a cafe post tonight, but there is a picture, so I'll post this here, since I said earlier that I would fix the link error from last night's cafe post. I guess it's also appropriate in this context as well.
Fairport Convention - Who Knows Where The Time Goes (with Sandy Denny)
Congrats from a twenty year lurker!
Happy 20th anniversary and belated happy birthday!
I nominate these two posts:
Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the sunrise run, which I will celebrate by making the final categorization of the 10 types of sunrises...
I forgot to notice that yesterday was the 4-year anniversary of my sunrise project.
Congratulations from Down Under - well New Zealand actually. I can't remember when I started reading your blog but it was likely in the late 2000's as a result of an Instapundit link.
Have never left since then, even if I don't read every post, but that's what you expect from being eclectic, yes?
I didn't add a selection of favourite past posts when you requested them because my choice was - and I don't think I'm being salacious here - actually the comment thread where you and Meade first realised that there was something going on between you that was more than blogger-commentator stuff (if there was "one").
I also nominate:
It's the Era of That's Not Funny.
Jerry Jones, the NFL's version of George Steinbrenner, will probably fire a coach or two in the wake of Sunday's choke job. As always, it will be fun to watch.
My Steelers, on the other hand, had their only chance of victory slip away when the the game was postponed. Playing in 5' of snow (I exaggerate) would have been to their advantage.
Tom Hunter:
That was a classic. People just egged Ann and Meade on; a beautiful thing.
The lakeside banshee has returned, as the blogress overlooking the sociopolitical vista.
Thanks for the many many years of smiles, frowns, ruminations, (no, not cow cud chewing), and, sometimes, giving in to reading aloud some scalpel sharp phrasing to my husband at our usually quiet breakfast table. Your blog has enriched my life.
Do your Vlogs still exist for public viewing or are they tucked away in a controlled by you digital vault?
I spoke to God today...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_l4Ab5FRwM
Fani is full of shite. She likely spoke to Al Sharpton for this bit.
Love the picture of Althouse looking out to sea (lake). I guess blondes really do have more fun.
I've been reading you for most of that time. Congratulations on reaching a milestone (Oops, almost wrote millstone!)
Thank you, Ann. I have been here since 2005 or maybe 2006. I very seldom comment, but I have been lurking here and reading posts and comments daily since then. I know I got here via an Instapundit link. The best is when you fisk an article, but almost every post is gold. Thanks again!
Congratulations on a truly unique achievement. You put a slant of intelligence onto otherwise chaotic, mad world.
I thought about suggesting E. Jean Carroll as a theme. But then I thought who am I to suggest something to Ann Althouse, she’s got enough ideas of her own. You blogged about Carroll twenty times or so, and these included feminism, Trump, Bergdoff’s and it turns out banging, allegedly.
Your hair is fabulous!
I'm late to this party but this thread on Antonin Scalia encountering Sarah Jessica Parker has the most hilarious comments. It still makes me laugh out loud.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/06/was-justice-scalia-smoking-cigarettes.html
Gorgeous picture. Congratulations on your dedication I enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!
Congratulations. Persistence has a quality all its own, that adds to your blog's quality as parsley is added to a Porterhouse. You get to the meat of the thing, and do so consistently.
I recall no unique posts as being Althouse-typical. The cake ends up being complete, and completely different from any of its ingredients.
So pulling one almost randomly from the early years, when I read your blog instead of working (I, too, have persisted in some habits): https://althouse.blogspot.com/2006/12/memoirs-cartoons-rotting-fish-peevish.html A post about a podcast about stuff. And the post is just as much fun as the podcast.
Congratulations on your anniversary and accomplishment of 20 years of continuous writing.
Thanks for making that writing public and maintaining this blog and community.
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