MSM. was Re: TMI

[Herb Stahlke]

So what's the origin of "right of/left of Attila"?

Herb

On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: MSM. was Re: TMI
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:22 AM -0500 10/25/09, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>>MSM? Hey, that's the former name of my institution (Missouri School
>>of Mines, which in the 1960s became University of Missouri-Rolla,
>>which two years ago became Missouri University of Science and
>>Technology).
>>
>>The old alumni never did get over the change of name of their
>>beloved MSM.  I'm still having withdrawal symptoms from UMR.
>>
>>Gerald Cohen
>
> MSM is also the standard label for "men who have sex with men" or
> "males who have sex with males", a cover term used by those dealing
> with HIV/AIDS and other STDs (it focuses on the relevant behavioral
> component, what one does, as opposed to the self-identificational
> component, who one is, that's irrelevant in the medical context).  I
> keep doing a double take when I pass a bottle in our medicine shelf
> labeled "Glucosamine Sulfate with MSM for Healthy Joints", where the
> reference is neither to men who have sex with men, nor to the
> mainstream media, nor to the Missouri School of Mines, which I didn't
> even know was an option.
>
> LH, wondering if Fox and friends are aware of the sexual reading of
> their initialism for the mainstream media--essentially picking out
> any source to the left of Attila--and revel in it.
>
>>
>>________________________________
>>
>>Original message from Jonathan Lighter, Sun 10/25/2009 9:30 AM:
>>
>>CNN asks this AM whether some politician is "giving us a bad case of TMI."
>>
>>That means "too much (disagreeable or distasteful) information."
>>Nearly 100,000 RGs.
>>
>>Guests on the same show also spoke without explication of "the MSM."  That
>>means "the mainstream media," i.e., anything  other than the blogosphere and
>>Fox News, the marketers who popularized the phrase "mainstream media."
>>
>>"MSM": Three and a half millions RGs.
>>
>>JL
>>
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