Terms Which Have Disappeared

Don't we do the same comparison to say if George Clooney played a spy better in "The American" than Christian Bale played Batman as when we compare Clooney playing the spy to Cameron Diaz playing a teacher in "Bad Teacher?"

Isn't it all about acting - being convincing in the role, showing the right emotion, etc? Other than when two actors play the same role (and even then, there will be differences do to who are the other actors, etc.) don't all acting awards require us to compare acting skills in non-similar roles?

 

I think the reason I object so strongly to the use of "Political Correctness" in such a context is that it implies that some actual, identifiable political force is at work in such instances. Nobody's *political* agenda is served by calling a washing machine a "laundry room improvement." A corporate agenda might be served, a business agenda might be served, but the use of "PC" in this context implies, no, it's all really *politics* at work, it's the sinister hand of the Dreaded Minions of Bureaucratic Orthodoxy who Demand That Every Knee Should Bow To Their Master. When, in fact, it's just some jackass landlord trying to sugarcoat a price hike.

The misuse of "PC" is a symptom of modern linguistic laziness in action. Rather than precisely identify what the problem is, just throw a cheap talk-radio catchphrase at it and feel like you've taken a bold stand.

 

Again, acting performances, with few exceptions, are intrinsically gendered. There's nothing wrong with judging women and men in separate categories for performances which are built on a gendered foundation, and no one that I know of has ever seriously argued otherwise. That being so, I was kind of miffed that Jared Leto wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the last Oscars.

 

Lizzie I think you know "politically correct" originally meant that your opinions were identical to the Communist Party's official position.

As in "Comrade, have you ever deviated from the party line?"

"No! no! no! I have always deviated WITH the party line".

Ha ha ha old Trotskyite joke.

 

"Browder and Foster walked into a bar..."

 

Tell it, sister.

I'd take it a step further and call it a sure sign of intellectual laziness. I can't say that this habit is any more prevalent now than it was historically (although it may indeed be; I'm not prepared to make the case either way), but I surely do hear people from all political perspectives throw out catchwords and phrases in such a way as to suggest that's all there is to say on the subject. They become thought-terminating cliches.

Alas, people are lazy. We want to feel good, and if that feeling comes at the expense of actual substance, well, in the absence of anything better, we'll take it, be it from a automobile advertisement or a political campaign.

 

Ummm . . . Getting back to "Terms which have Disappeared"; I have not heard the phrase "boarding house reach" used since my grandmother died.

 

I use it every so often.

 

How about "Brand spanking new"?

 

I still hear that one occasionally.

Was reading some posts in a thread about ghost stories this morning and it reminded me of one. My grandparents would always referred to anything ghostly or supernatural as a " haint". As in "I don't wanna go up in that old barn, there might be a haint livin' in it." or "Uncle Marvin swore he seen a haint when he was out bushhogging by the old graveyard."

 

The only time I hear that word anymore is when they play Jumpin' Gene Simmons' song Haunted House around Halloween.

" . . . ain't no haint gonna run me off." Probably my favorite Halloween tune.

 

That's about as useful as a glass hammer.

 

Haints and boogers are used in this neck of the woods for ghosts and spooks.

 

I have not heard that one in a LONG time!!

"An aristocrat without servants is about as much use to the county as a glass hammer!" - Dame Maggie Smith - Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham - Downton Abbey.

 

I feel like I should know what that means. But I can't remember.

 

From the movie Gaslight.

 

It means to convince someone they're sick or crazy in order to mulct them out of their money.

Nobody ever says "mulct" anymore, either.

 

Good one, my 82 year old mother uses it all the time.

 

I few I picked up from my Grandfather:

"dumber than a bag of busted hammers"

"Worthless like a screen door on a submarine"

"Made a bigger mess than a soup sandwich"