Dating in the Dark

[Wilson Gray]

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

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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