[Ads-l] QOTY? "It was not my first sword dance." --- Rex Tillerson.

[Laurence Horn]

> On May 24, 2017, at 12:19 PM, Marc Sacks <msacksg at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> There are lots of sword dances in the world. I'm most familiar with the
> English (longsword and rapper) and Scottish varieties. I've never done or
> seen a sword dance from the Arab world, so I have no idea what they look
> like.
> 
> I never knew that the phrase had a gay connotation, and I doubt that
> Tillerson does either.

It doesn’t, I’m pretty sure.  “Sword fight” does, as noted with the reference below to the jousting shenanigans—not a *gay* connotation necessarily, but that’s in the ballpark. (See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sword%20fighting for details.)  Even urban dictionary doesn’t have anything racy on sword dancing.   

LH


> 
> On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 11:07 AM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: QOTY? "It was not my first sword dance." --- Rex
>> Tillerson.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>> 
>> It was response to a comment comparing and contrasting Tillerson's smooth
>> p=
>> erformance in an actual Saudi sword dance to Trump's less skillful
>> performa=
>> nce.
>> ________________________________
>> From: Shawnee Moon<mailto:moon.shawnee at GMAIL.COM>
>> Sent: =FD5/=FD23/=FD2017 23:23
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: QOTY? "It was not my first sword dance." --- Rex Tillerson.
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Shawnee Moon <moon.shawnee at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: QOTY? "It was not my first sword dance." --- Rex
>> Tillerso=
>> n.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------------=
>> ----
>> 
>> Not at all meaning to be crude, but "sword dance" immediately made me
>> think=
>> i=3D
>> t was a reference to gay men dancing, as I have heard "sword fight" used
>> in=
>> r=3D
>> eference to gay male sexual shenanigans.=3D20
>> 
>> Certainly haven't heard that phrase before. Perhaps he was describing
>> fancy=
>> f=3D
>> ootwork in fencing or sword fighting to avoid being struck...?
>> 
>> Mailed from the Moon =3DF0=3D9F=3D8C=3D9C
>> 
>>> On May 23, 2017, at 6:11 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> =3D20
>>> "I hadn't been practicing, Chris, but it was not my first sword dance,"
>>> Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in responding to "Fox News Sunday"
>>> host Chris Wallace, Sunday 21 May 2017.
>>> =3D20
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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> 
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