WOT ...? ("Congressional Balcony"?)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/29/2014 05:29 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>More disturbing is Grimm's peculiar "I'll break you in half like a boy!"
>
>What the hell does that mean?
>
>JL

I too found that more disturbing.  My supposition -- Interviewer
Scotto is slight of build, youthful-looking.  Scotto is a former
Marine and FBI agent.  Two agencies with a history of bias against
gays.  (I do not have any information about Scotto's
preferences.  I'm only suggesting what Grimm might have had in his
mind as he lost control.)

Or it could simply be macho Grimm seeing Scotto as weak-looking and young.

Joel



>On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 4:44 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: WOT ...? ("Congressional Balcony"?)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Mike Pesca suggests "demaeniation" (fr. _maenianum_):
> >
> > https://twitter.com/pescami/status/428452196460425216
> >
> > (Or should that be "demaenianation"?)
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > >
> > > What's the matter with debalconization?...
> > >
> > > DanG
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Republican NY Representative Michael Grimm's
> > > > angry interruption, captured on camera, of a
> > > > reporter's attempt to ask a question about
> > > > alleged fundraising violations by a supporter of his 2010 campaign:
> > > >
> > > > [Excerpt from
> > > >
> > > >
> > http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/29/268150418/video-congressma=
> > > n-threatens-to-throw-reporter-off-balcony
> > > > ]
> > > > "I'm not speaking about anything's that off-topic
> > > > =AD this is only about the president," Grimm told Scotto before
> > walking a=
> > > way.
> > > >
> > > > Then, while the camera was still recording, Grimm returned to say:
> > > >
> > > > "Let me be clear to you: You ever do that to me
> > > > again, I'll throw you off this f- - - - -g balcony."
> > > > [End excerpt]
> > > >
> > > > My proposal for WOTCB -- "debalustration".  I see
> > > > I'm slightly too late for a coinage, it's already on the Web --
> > > >
> > > > "Nick Rizzo: Watch: New York's sketchiest
> > > > congressman Michael Grimm threatens to debalustrate NY1's Michael
> > Scotto"
> > > >
> > > > Via GWeb.  Allegedly at
> > > >
> > http://us.trending-topic.com/New+Orleans/topics/%22State+of+the+Union%22/=
> > > ,
> > > > but I don't find the word on that page.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Or for a Gallic influence, "deterrassiation".
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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