neat phrases from Kent Desormeaux

[Wilson Gray]

Unfortunately, there are some poor people who are so lacking that they
will go for the same kind of okey-doke. I guess that not everybody is
as mentally alert as I am. For example, have you ever known me to
publish a personal message for my wife to the list? :-(

-Wilson

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Doug Harris <cats22 at frontiernet.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>
> Subject:      Re: neat phrases from Kent Desormeaux
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  I never heard the term 'real george', but I've been using a variation
>  on it for a year or so now in reference to, and when talking to, one
>  of my basset hounds.
>  Unlike his sister, Gracie, George is what we refer to as 'doggily
>  challenged' -- literally too dumb to come in out of the rain. On
>  occasions such as that, and in a number of others, I tell him, "You're
>  _such_ a george." The meaning is not complimentary, but does suggest, I
>  guess, that this 18-mo-old is sorta kinda cool in his very own special
>  way.
>  Oh, and FWIW, I am aware that I could say far unkinder things to him
>  and get the same, innocently loving, reaction -- so long as I speak in
>  a kindly tone of voice. ;)
>  dh
>  -
>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>  Subject:      Re: neat phrases from Kent Desormeaux
>  ---
>
>  Those are neat, George! I also find your use of "neat" neat. Are you
>  likewise a man of mature years? When I was a teenager in the 'Fifties,
>  "neat" was really neat. Not even "real george" was able to dislodge
>  "neat" from its position of power. Indeed, I didn't even know that
>  "real george" was real slang till someone mentioned it here in a post.
>  An ad for a local DJ went, "The teenagers say that he's 'real george,'
>  but his name is really [forgotten]." Nobody in Saint Louis, black or
>  white, considered "real george" to be neat. [Oh! Your name is
>  "George"! Sorry about that. :-)]
>
>  -Wilson
>
>
>
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--
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.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

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