Professor & Madman; F-Word; Cottaging; DWB; Dutch auction

[Barry A. Popik]

     I don't want to say that I've been away a long time, but an AARP
acceptance certificate came in the mail.  And you have to be at least 50 to
get that...The origin of Rip Van Winkle may come from the story of the "Seven
Sleepers"--the cave is located near Ephesus, Turkey.

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THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN

    If any of you are in New York tomorrow, you may be interested in this ad
in the May 3rd New York Observer, pg. 34:

Monday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m.
THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN
A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the _Oxford English Dictionary_
By SImon Winchester
Writers in Performance '99
Manhattan Theatre Club at the
Westside Theatre
407 W. 43rd Street (between 9th & 10th Aves.)
All tickets $12, call (212) 399-3030

    If you can't make it, you can always buy the book, and there WILL be a
movie...My lovable niece absolutely requires me to lecture her fourth grade
chess class at 3 p.m. that day, and my sister needs help on our estate tax
audit, so I might not make it.

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F-WORD (second edition)

    Out just in time for Mother's Day is the second edition of THE F-WORD,
edited by Jesse Sheidlower.  The second edition is vastly superior to the
first--my name is in it.
    THE F-WORD makes an especially thoughtful Mother's Day gift, because
nothing can beat mom's home cooking and all mothers love "Food."

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COTTAGING

    "Cottaging" is not in the RHHDAS.  This is from the VILLAGE VOICE, "La
Dolce Musto" by Michael Musto, 4 May 1999, pg. 12, col. 3:

     What distinguishes _this_ closet-buster is the bawdy bathroom setting
where various blokes pantingly seek out loo-d behavior.  At a dinner for the
movie (_BEAUTIFUL THING_--ed.), its writer _Patrick Wilde_ told my
pretend-innocent ass that such places really exist in England.  "People stand
at urinals and display erections," he said, as I tried to look stunned.  "We
call it _cottaging_.  Very much the _George Michael_ kind of thing.  It's
extraordinary to me that he needed to do that.  He's handsome and rich and
presumably can have any man he wants.  There must be a peculiar thrill about
that kind of behavior which is almost like a narcotic."

     Why is it called "cottaging"?  Is this or will this be an American slang
term?

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DWB

    My DWB (Driving While Black) response became somewhat garbled on the
Turkish keyboard.
    About a year ago, DWB made the cover of the Village Voice, and we
discussed DWB then on ADS-L.  A few months later, I watched a UPN Channel
Nine News report about DWB.  The reporter proudly stated that its newscast
(then WOR, and located in Secaucus, NJ) broke the story about New Jersey's
racial profiling ten years ago (1988).  UPN should be contacted about this--I
believe that a contact number or address is given at the end of each
broadcast.

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DUTCH AUCTION

     We once discussed "dutch" things.  "Dutch auction" appears on page one,
column one of the 3 May 1999 NEW YORK OBSERVER.  Pg. 25, col. 5:

     His approach (the so-called Dutch auction) invites anyone who wants to
buy shares--from the smallest individual to the biggest hedge fund--to log on
to Bill's Web site, fill in a registration form, then enter a bid price and a
specified number of shares.  At the end of the auction, Bill's company will
type up a long list with three columns.
     In column A will go the price-per-share bids, ranked from highest to
lowest.  In column B will go the numbers of shares bid to be bought at that
price.  In column C will go the name of the bidder.  Bill's boys will then
start at the top of column B and. moving downward, tally up all shares until
the total reaches 2.5 million--that being the amount offered in the I.P.O.
According to Dutch auction rules, the price to be found in column A opposite
the lowest bid included among the 2.5 million shares tallied up, will become
the selling price for all 2.5 million shares.

    DARE has Dutch, Dutch ball, Dutch bath, Dutch beat the, Dutch bed, Dutch
beech, Dutch boiled dinner, Dutch cabbage, Dutch cake, Dutch cap, Dutch
caseknife, Dutch cheese, Dutch clover, Dutch courage, Dutch crossing, Dutch
crow, Dutch cuss, Dutch doughtnut, Dutcher, Dutch fox, Dutch fried potatoes,
Dutch goose, Dutch grass, Dutch hawk, Dutch hill, Dutch honey, Dutch hop,
Dutchified, Dutch in, Dutch it, Dutch kiss, Dutch leave, Dutch letter, Dutch
loaf, Dutch love, and Dutch lunch.
    A large Dutch selection is in THE UNDUTCHABLES: AN OBSERVATION OF THE
NETHERLANDS: ITS CULTURE AND ITS INHABITANTS (1989, 1991, 1993, 1995; last
reprinting February 1999) by Colin White and Laurie Boucke.  Pg. 243 uses an
Oxford definition of "Dutch auction" as "an auction that proceeds backwards;
one in which the price is reduced until a buyer is found."
    Others on page 243-245 are Dutch angle, Dutch bargain, beat the Dutch,
Dutch built, Dutch buttocked, Dutch concert, Dutch consolation, Dutch
courage, Dutch defense, do a Dutch, double Dutch, dutching, dutchman, Dutch
feast, Dutch gleek, go Dutch, I'm a Dutchman (similar to I'm from Missouri),
in Dutch, Dutch it, Dutch lottery, Dutch metal, Dutch nightingale, Dutch
oven, Dutch reckoning, to Dutch, Dutch treat, Dutch uncle, and Dutch widow.