[Ads-l] Shoulda seen it coming....

Stanton McCandlish smccandlish at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jan 18 15:09:28 UTC 2018


No doubt.  I'm just trying to do some armchair and hypothetical
psychological analysis of "Trumpthink", which is notably divorced from
reality.  He has a very hazy conception of when he's being offensive or why.

--
Stanton McCandlish
McCandlish Consulting
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On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 6:47 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> That plumbing explanation is the rather implausible spin that some
> Republicans have been putting on Trump's comment:
>
> https://twitter.com/scottwongDC/status/953305502183763969
> Scott Wong of The Hill: "Why are some Trump allies arguing that POTUS said
> 'shithouse' rather than 'shithole'? Some Rs say 'shithouse countries'
> refers to poor countries w/no plumbing -- places where u have to walk out
> to the shithouse -- and therefore the phrase is NOT racist."
>
> But as I wrote for the Atlantic, "shithouse" has long been used to demean
> people and places, with a general meaning of "disgusting, contemptible," so
> it's in no way better than "shithole."
>
> https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/01/
> a-linguistic-guide-to-donald-trumps-scatological-insults/550589/
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 9:38 AM, Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com
> >
> wrote:
>
> > I'm no apologist for Trump, but *if* he really did say "shithouse
> > countries", the intended implication could be "poor places where most
> > people don't have indoor plumbing and have to go to an outhouse", while
> > "shithole counties" might more directly imply countries that are
> shitholes.
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 6:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > None, except that believing that the word was "-house," at least two
> GOP
> > > senators can angrily insist that 45 "did not use that word" (i.e.,
> > "-hole,"
> > > the version quoted by Durbin and Graham).
> > >
> > > But if "-house" was really uttered, nobody has so attested in public.
> So
> > > it's all pretty magical.
> > >
> > > BTW, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, under senate questioning by
> Durbin,
> > > Graham, and others, claimed under oath that while everyone in the room
> > was
> > > using "tough language," she certainly didn't hear either "-hole" or
> > > anything like it. Could she name even a single offensive word of the
> > "very
> > > tough language" that she did hear?
> > >
> > > Nope. Just couldn't remember. Nor was Nielsen entirely sure if Norway
> > was a
> > > "majority white" country.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 11:16 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > > he referred to Haiti and the African states not as “shithole
> > countries”
> > > > but as “shithouse countries”.
> > > >
> > > > Say what, now? I understand the architectural distinction between a
> > > > "shithole," which is found under a "shithouse," but what is the
> > semantic
> > > > distinction between the two as insults?
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 8:03 PM, Laurence Horn <
> laurence.horn at yale.edu
> > >
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > It was “Shitholegate” on either Daily Show or Colbert, I forget
> > which.
> > > > > But now the Republican senators are claiming the it was all a
> > > fabrication
> > > > > on Durbin’s part and that Trump’s language was entirely different
> > from
> > > > what
> > > > > Durbin claimed—he referred to Haiti and the African states not as
> > > > “shithole
> > > > > countries” but as “shithouse countries”.  I guess that means it has
> > to
> > > be
> > > > > “Shitho_(_)egate”, not too catchy.
> > > > >
> > > > > LH
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Jan 17, 2018, at 7:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> > > wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > MSNBC:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "Ess Hole Gate."
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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