X marrying Y <> Y marrying X?

[Wilson Gray]

I'm surprised by Monica's opinion of the BJ. I didn't know that she
also considered it not to be sex. However, I know what every good
Southerner knows, that unless a penis enters a vagina, it's NOT sex,
which is f***king and nothing else. (When I was young enough to have a
personal interest in the BJ, the average colored fellow was completely
unaware of the term "BJ" or of its expansion. We *were* aware of the
existence of the act, but only as a thing that someone could do, but
which no one would do. I heard the phrase, "polish knob," used by
black GI's, but that's it.) Starr, being a home boy / good ole boy
himself, would have known the same thing. Hence, I've always
considered him to be about a hypocritical melon farmer. Mutatis
mutandis, Starr would have testified exactly as Clinton did.

-Wilson

On 9/11/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: X marrying Y <> Y marrying X?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 9/11/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> > At 2:44 PM +0000 9/11/07, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
> > >One would think this would have applied to sodomy laws as well, but
> > >I know of at least 2 cases of consentual sex in which the man was
> > >found guilty and the woman was not.
> >
> > But as President Clinton taught us, "have sex with"--in at least one
> > sodomy-relevant context--is not a symmetric predicate even if "marry"
> > is.  After all, he explained, Monica Lewinsky had sex with him, but
> > not vice versa.
>
> Was that really how it all went down (so to speak)? My recollection
> was that both parties tried to claim that the relevant acts didn't
> constitute "having sex", so there was no asymmetry. Let's go to the
> tape...
>
> -----
> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/10/03/archive/main19029.shtml
>
> LEWINSKY: We didn't have sex, Linda.
>
> TRIPP: Well, what do you call it?
>
> LEWINSKY: We fooled around.
>
> TRIPP: Oh.
>
> LEWINSKY: Not sex.
>
> TRIPP: Oh, I don't know. I think if you go to if you go to orgasm,
> that's having sex.
>
> LEWINSKY: No, it's not.
>
> TRIPP: Yes it is.
>
> LEWINSKY: No it's not. It's
>
> TRIPP: It's not having
>
> LEWINSKY: Having sex is having intercourse.
>
> TRIPP: Oh, you've been around him too long. That's his
>
> LEWINSKY: Nuh-uh.
>
> TRIPP: rationale.
>
> LEWINSKY: That's well, that's my then I've had sex with a lot more people.
>
> TRIPP: Oh? (Laughing).
>
> LEWINSKY: Having sex is having intercourse. That's how most people would
>
> TRIPP: Oh, so (REDACTED) jobs and all of that don't count?
>
> LEWINSKY: They don't count.
>
> TRIPP: Oh? Well, see? You have to inform me
>
> LEWINSKY: Those are guys that you just fool around with.
>
> ... TRIPP: You mean it's less personal to give a (REDACTED) job than
> to have intercourse?
>
> LEWINSKY: No, not necessarily. Sometimes. It depends.
>
> TRIPP: I guess it depends.
>
> LEWINSKY: It really depends.
>
> TRIPP: Yeah, I'm getting an education late in life.
> -----
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>


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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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