"rude and inappropriate"
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Thu Nov 16 16:44:45 UTC 2006
Value judgments being discouraged throughout our educational system, almost no matter what, it's no surprise that well educated people are often tongue-tied (from a traditionalist perspective) when called upon to make them.
Yesterday Court TV asked a Yuppie-looking chap what he thought of OJS's 3.5 million smackeroo book deal for _If I Did It..._ He looked disapproving. "Oh, that's rude ! That's so rude! It's just rude and inappropriate !"
I think he meant "wrong and disgusting," or possibly "evil and revolting," etc., but "rude and inappropriate " must have seemed more "appropriate."
This may be an important development in the evolution of Inglish (or maybe Newspeak, hard to tell) by infantilization ("Don't make those noises, little Sluggo ! They're _totally_ rude and inappropriate !")
JL
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