Dating in the Dark

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:18 AM -0500 11/24/09, Wilson Gray wrote:
>When I was stationed in Berlin in the '60's, I used to hear white GI's say:
>
>"It's *all* pink on the inside."
>
>Times were such that this struck me as being evidence of a
>refreshingly-liberal attitude toward race.
>
>-Wilson

Here too, as with the "all cats are gray" adage below, I think the
key concept is not "indecisive" as much as "indiscriminative".

LH

>On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:26 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Dating in the Dark
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  At 4:54 PM -0500 11/23/09, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>At 11/23/2009 12:31 PM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>>>The practice goes back to Ancient Greece. I believe it was Socrates
>>>>who said (rough translation), "When the lights are out, all women
>>>>and most guys are sexy hot"!
>>>
>>>For every adage, one can find its contradiction.  "In the dark, all
>>>cats are gray."  Dating in the Dark must be ideal for the indecisive.
>>>
>>>Joel
>>
>>  I was thinking of that one too in connection with the new dating
>>  craze about whose existence Jon enlightened (or endarkened) us.  But
>>  I don't read the "all cats are gray" adage as a negative and thus a
>>  contradictory of the phenomena under consideration here--it's more
>>  like a way of emphasizing the lack of any differentiating principle,
>>  hence consistent with the goal of the social gatherings mentioned
>>  below.  If all are gray, one's as lovely as another.  (Grope-a-hope?)
>>  It's also used to urge against judging a book by its cover, on the
>>  theory that inner beauty (or at least the outer feel of that cover
>>  with eyes wide shut) is what counts, and hence precisely that it's
>>  better, in the words of the master, to "interact at a more profound
>>  level than mere appearances".
>>
>>  Then, of course, there's the related principle of "beer goggles", and
>>  country songs to the same effect, but that's more a matter of
>>  threshold than parameter setting.
>>
>>  LH
>>>
>>>>------Original Message------
>>>>From: Laurence Horn
>>>>Sender: ADS-L
>>>>To: ADS-L
>>>>ReplyTo: ADS-L
>>>>Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Dating in the Dark
>>>>Sent: Nov 23, 2009 11:20 AM
>>>>
>>>>At 7:55 AM -0500 11/23/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>>>CNN ran a story today on "Dating in the Dark," a social event at which
>>>>>singles mingle in pitch blackness so they'll interact at a more profound
>>>>>level than mere appearances. Outside, they see who's who.
>>>>>
>>>>>At the bottom of the screen appeared a panel reading "Grope-A-Dope."
>>>>>
>>>>>Which is the real message of this post.
>>>>>
>>>>>JL
>>>>>--
>>>>
>>>>I've heard about parties like that, except for the "outside" part.
>>>>Maybe those are the "Ignorance is Bliss" parties.
>>>>
>>>>LH
>>>>
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>>>>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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>
>
>
>--
>-Wilson
>---
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-Mark Twain
>
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