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Nautikos, wow, I have learned so much from these two posts.
I am absorbing it right now: euphemism comes from the root, "beautiful speech". although as you suggest it is generally used to fog or obfuscate an issue rather than clarify.
i've never heard of "cacophemism", or "bad speech". and I wasn't aware that "neo-conservative" was considered a pejorative. Live and learn.
Also, of course, seeing Professor Peabody in print, reminds me so much of him. Funny how ideas seem different in print, even than hearing them spoken every day. I am still, however, searching for a clearer and more defined version of what constitutes "liberal" "progressive" and "conservative".
Meantime, we continue to discuss what Winston Churchill meant by his phrase and whether he meant that conservatives were heartless and Liberals brainless or not.
posted by
Blanche.
on November 1, 2006 at 1:45 PM
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Prof...
of course, how could I forget! Thanks! But here's another one for you. It's a newAussie term (and they
do speak some version of English, however incomprehensible
), namely 'to bradbury', after one of their Olympic skaters who won a medal simply because everyone else crashed and he was the last guy standing, or I should say, skating! Apparently it's in wide use over there. And I guess to get 'bradburied' would mean that you get overwhelmed by somebody's phenomenal, almost otherworldly luck.
posted by
Nautikos
on February 13, 2006 at 4:45 PM
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Bowdlerize
is the eponym for an effort to censor or euphemize a word or phrase. Rev. Bowdler published a sanitized version of Shakespeare's works.
posted by
Professor_Peabody
on February 11, 2006 at 10:00 PM
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Prof...
I thought of another verb-eponym! Remember the old tune that begins with the line 'Don't bogart the joint, my friend..."? I did a little further digging and found the following, which I quote in full:
From: Chris J. Strolin (haveaknifedayATyahoo.com)
Subject: Bogart - The true original meaning
"While "to bogart" now means "to hog or take more than one's share," (largely because of the song lyric "Don't bogart that joint, m' friend. Pass it over to me again.") this is only because so many people have gotten it wrong for so many years. One of the great misunderstood slang phrases of my youth, "to bogart a joint" originally meant to dangle a marijuana cigarette from your lips in the same manner Humphrey Bogart would do with a regular cigarette while eyeing a sultry Lauren Bacall from across a smoky bar room. With the lit end pointing downward this way, the joint would burn much more rapidly and, worse, would do so to no one's benefit.
Speaking from personal experience, the social crime involved was not in hogging the marijuana but in wasting it! (Of course, should any prospective future employers be AWAD subscribers, this info came from ne'er-do-well friends of my older brother.) "
So there you have it!
posted by
Nautikos
on February 11, 2006 at 5:52 PM
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Thanks for visiting, Jo...
so you have the same contrary streak? By the way I have the (possibly mistaken) impression that in Oz the pc disease has not grown to the epidemic proportions that is has reached in North America, and particularly in Canada...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 11, 2006 at 5:35 PM
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oh oh
I find myself going out of the way to be politically incorrect too
Jo
posted by
brisbane_artist
on February 11, 2006 at 12:50 PM
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Lensman...
Thanks for your comments. This whole 'political correctness' business is a
very interesting issue, and I have been tempted to write on it for a while now. (Gotta find the time! I constantly find myself going out of my way to be politically
incorrect when dealing with people, which I am not necessarily proud of, which bothers me even more...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 11, 2006 at 11:59 AM
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Nautikos
Well, I learned a lot from this impeccably presented and well-written post. Loved the "verbal fig leaf" analogy, too... 
I have occasionally wondered about the term "neo-conservatism," without ever following through on my curiosity. I loosely translated it as "post-conservatism," which made little sense, conservatism being very much still with us. So thanks for clearing that up for me and doing the legwork, so to speak! I probably would never have gotten around to learning it on my own.
When it comes to verbal fig leaves, I can't help thinking of our old friend, political correctness, and how much it has benefited. Nice work, Nautikos
posted by
Lensman
on February 9, 2006 at 5:55 PM
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Prof...
you are making my life difficult! Even though I have plenty of work to do, I have not been able to free my mind completely from the nagging urge to find more verb-eponyms! BTW, I'm not sure that 'shangai' needs to be disqualified, just because it is the name of a city, rather than a person. However, I seem to recall 'stalinize', referring to the process of turning an already odious communist regime into an even more odious one, through repression and terror, with an attendant flowering of a personality cult. Unfortunately, since my library is not exactly up to Library of Congress standards, I have not been able to find the reference. I believe the context was a discussion of Romania under Ceaucescu.
As to Miers: I think it wasn't so much who she was, but who she wasn't. As far as I recall, she did not have any solid credentials as a conservative, in spite of being close to Bush. And the Republicans insisted on a true, dyed-in-the-wool conservative this time around, understandable from their point of view, since it may well be their last kick at the can for a while. That she also lacked experience didn't help. Directors of FEMA come and go with administrations (and sometimes sooner, ) Supreme Court judges get tenure automatically!
Hillary? I'm not sure why a lot of people hate her, and not just Republicans, as far as I can tell. Personally I find her grating. There is something shrill about her, that seems to turn people off. And some of her utterances, "...it takes a village to raise a child...", give me a bloody break!
posted by
Nautikos
on February 9, 2006 at 1:46 PM
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Close, but...
I don't think "Shanghai" applies, since it is a city, not a person. Harriet Miers wasn't "Borked" so much as she was thrown under the bus. Judge Bork was savaged by the Dems during the confirmation hearing; MS Mier(s?) didn't make it that far. She was also mauled by her own party.
It's a little bit off-topic, but I extremely curious about why Miers was treated so roughly by other Republicans. Of course, she had no judicial experience, but that hasn't made a lot of difference in this administration. (to wit, FEMA Director Mike "You're doing a heckuva job" Brown was former head of the Arabian Horse-owners Assn or something, and the HHS Undersecretary for Women's Health is a veterinarian!)
But man oh man, did they tee off on her! Is it sexism? The right's hatred and I use that word advisedly, of Hillary never made much sense to me. From the comments I hear & read, if a rightie was locked in a room with President Clinton & Senator Clinton, and had a gun with only one bullet, Bubba would walk out unscathed. Is it sexism? Or are they still mad for Hillary working on the NIxon impeachment? That's why I find it laughable to even suggest, as Dick Morris' new book does, that the Republicans run Condie Rice.
posted by
Professor_Peabody
on February 9, 2006 at 10:29 AM
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Thanks for the comment,
Prof. I have a certain sympathy for your political stance, being a conservative with a 'libertarian streak'. Living in what at this time of year is the 'Great White North', I am also not beholden to the various parties that clutter our own political landscape, even though I do have my preferences. And whenever it's time for a decision, rather then decrying the absence of perfection, I opt for the least imperfect.
I am familiar with eponyms, although I had not heard of 'borked'! Thanks for that! Was Bush's first choice this time around 'borked', the lady who preceded Alito and whose name escapes me?
Another verb-eponym that comes to mind is to 'shanghai', as in replenishing your crew by force, usually by dragging drunks out of pubs, as practiced in the port of that name. The term has been used in a slightly more figurative sense when, for example, one political party 'forces' or at least entices a member of an opposing party to cross the floor, as happened very recently in his country after the election.
posted by
Nautikos
on February 9, 2006 at 5:29 AM
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Today's word is...
Thanks for the vocabulary lesson. Enlightening. But may I respectfully disagree? Remember, I am a micron more objective, being a Libertarian and not fawning over either party or side of the political spectrum. But I haven't heard "neo-con" used specifically as a pejorative ("Liberal" is so vilified that even the liberals are running from it; they often label themselves "Progressives"), just a descriptive. And there are differences; neo-cons say things like "budget deficits don't matter". It gives traditional conservatives like Buchanan & George Will fits!
My contribution to your lexicon is eponym. An eponym is a word, usually a noun, with it's root in someone's name. Leotard was a French acrobat, Cardigan was a British officer, Chauvin was a French patriot (his excessive loyalty toward Napoleon coined the word chauvinist, which begat male chauvinist).
There's the rare verb-eponym; my favorite being "He was Borked!" referring to Judge Bork's contentious confirmation hearing. Anyone have any interesting ones?
posted by
Professor_Peabody
on February 9, 2006 at 1:15 AM
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Thanks, justso...
I like compliments, I'm getting enough of the other stuff as well!
posted by
Nautikos
on February 8, 2006 at 4:49 PM
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Thanks, blogflogger...
even if my post changes only
one person's speaking habits, it's been successful! (Of course, I may have to look for other sign-posts,
)
posted by
Nautikos
on February 8, 2006 at 4:46 PM
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Excellent talent. I am envious of one who is able to put things, ideas and
people in their place without stirring up a dust.
posted by
Justi
on February 8, 2006 at 3:55 PM
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Nautikos - Interesting. I'm an etymologist too. So is Lensman. I have
found myself tossing this term around a few times, which isn't like me. I usually know my words. But won't any longer thanks to your research. Thanks!
posted by
blogflogger
on February 8, 2006 at 2:18 PM
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