"No anthrax for you!"

October 30, 2001 2:39 AM

"No anthrax for you!" It's official. We're pussies. A classic "Seinfeld" pulled from syndication
posted by RavinDave (83 comments total)

Vigilance and concern is appropriate, but this is just getting silly.

Total anthrax deaths: 3
Total anthrax infections: 13
Total anthrax exposures: 32

Current US Population: 285,455,680
posted by RavinDave at 3:14 AM on October 30, 2001 [1 favorite]

can you catch anthrax through television broadcasts?
will prat-fall jokes be the next comedic casualty of TWAT?
political humour is ailing, or at least it's representation in the mainstream press.
with all this war going on should not mash, it ain't half hot mum, bilko, dad's army etc. be pulled?
to quote eddie murphy 'ha, ha very funny motherlover', or something.
posted by asok at 3:23 AM on October 30, 2001

That distant thunder in the distance....approaching...approaching....I think it's clichekitty.jpg! All hail the pussy!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:29 AM on October 30, 2001

Okay, I'm no fan of the PC talk, but could we please shitcan the "pussy" references? It makes us sound like a bunch of ninth graders.
posted by Optamystic at 3:42 AM on October 30, 2001

Come to think of it, ninth graders deserve more credit. It makes us sound like morons.
posted by Optamystic at 3:45 AM on October 30, 2001

I originally thought of saying: "Henny Pennies", but it sounded too quaint. People are freaking out over powdered doughnuts; please feel free to suggest a more apt word.
posted by RavinDave at 4:15 AM on October 30, 2001

That brings to 2 the number of "Seinfeld" episodes pulled from syndication...seem to recall the next-to-last episode, concerning the Puerto Rican parade in NYC, was pulled immediately after broadcast due to apparent "insensitivities." Feh.

Hell, why don't they just pull ALL episodes -- they all serve to remind us of pre-9/11 irony in NYC, which will only make us all nervous and fearful that we haven't "learned" from 9/11. Bastards.
posted by davidmsc at 4:44 AM on October 30, 2001

Ostrich Management Techniques to the fore. Or are they convinced that if every vague reference to terrorism is taken off the screen, that it'll all go away?
posted by holgate at 4:48 AM on October 30, 2001

have you bozos ever considered that people who have LOST LOVED ONES or work in post offices, etc might find this particular episode upsetting?
Last time I checked tv comedies were supposed to be FUNNY not upsetting....
I am sure eventually this tacky little episode will find itself back on the small screen...but for now I believe this action was appropriate.
meanwhile,
"NO SOUP FOR YOU!"
posted by bunnyfire at 5:23 AM on October 30, 2001

Just because a show makes a coincidental sideways reference to something bad that's happening in real life doesn't mean that it should be tanked. My God, they were making WAR MOVIES during WWII, and nobody thought that was wrong!

If we're going to carry this to the logical conclusion, then every episode of Cheers should be removed from TV syndication, since Cliff Claven will just remind everyone about the post office and mail and anthrax and...
posted by Grum at 5:39 AM on October 30, 2001

have you bozos ever considered that people who have LOST LOVED ONES or work in post offices, etc might find this particular episode upsetting?

And we should care why about those poor, poor people who have this strange genetic inability to push "NEXT" on their tv remotes?

Let's see...3 anthrax deaths...that's not a lotta loved ones. Better we should remove all programming that shows an automobile (much LESS an automobile that crashes!), since thousands of times as many "loved ones" (what an icky term) are affected by losing people in wrecks each year.

Methinks it is you who seek to be the clown here, hamming it up for attention as the absurd contrarian....
posted by rushmc at 6:05 AM on October 30, 2001

Seinfeld wasn't about safe humor, for goodness' sakes. See the last episode? Lots did (and didn't like it) but the point was that Jerry and his cronies were terribly insensitive human beings. Which they were. Which is part of what made the show amusing.
posted by hijinx at 6:20 AM on October 30, 2001

RavinDave -- Yer anthrax stats are out of date. That's the whole problem, isn't it? Tell us about how the chances are small, tell us about how lightning is more dangerous, and then tell us about today's new victims. The water-torture of new victims and exposures every day is a big part of the fear here.

Also -- people are not afraid of everyday risks that they are familiar with. Look at fatal car crashes versus fatal airplane crashes -- which are you more afraid of? We have no experience with this kind of threat, greatly increasing our fear.

Frankly, I think a lot of this "anthrax is just like sharks" business is just deliberately obtuse. Someone has a freaking fatal disease in a powdered form engineered to make it stay airborne and get into human lungs! The part that makes people afraid isn't the tiny number of people who are so far sick or dead; the part that scares the hell out of people is that someone has announced that they have the means to do much much worse.

How much more do they have? Can't tell you. Will they keep doing this? *Shrug* What's to stop them from just throwing it up in the air in a crowded NYC subway train, or slipping it into an office building's air supply? No clue.

This, unsurprisingly, makes people afraid.

(I know Dave was not the Anthrax=sharks poster, and I don't really care about the Seinfeld thing, sorry.)
posted by Mid at 6:21 AM on October 30, 2001

have you bozos ever considered that people who have LOST LOVED ONES or work in post offices, etc might find this particular episode upsetting?

You're not being serious right?

I see movies/tv shows all the time hamming it up over some testicular cancer. As funny as some folks think it is to get cancer there, people still really do die from it. Should we be crusading to have all of these TV shows pulled as well? No doubt there are people who have lost loved ones who are upset by these jokes.

Everybody knows someone who's died. When a friend of mine died a few years back, I saw things on TV all over the place--both comedy and drama--that upset the hell out of me at the time. I suppose I could have written a letter to the networks and said, "Hey, I've just lost my best friend--can you please broadcast exclusively sunsets and waterfalls for the next few weeks?"

But I didn't. I switched the channel or I turned off the set. The Seinfeld folks need to remember that those offended by their stamp licking episode are free to do the same.
posted by Swifty at 6:25 AM on October 30, 2001

"have you bozos ever considered that people [...] might find this particular episode upsetting?"

Some people will find anything upsetting. I'm offended by the idea that we need to reorder television programming for the benefit of people who are unable to deal with tragedy. Shit happens little bunny. To all of us. We grieve. We adapt. We get on with our lives. We don't ask others to banish anything that might remind us.

I'm offended by the idea that thought police, PC enforcers, and overly sensitive hand ringers are going to help the grief stricken by making sure all of us (all of us) never see anything that might remind someone of something bad.

The grieving process will not be helped by sanitizing and censoring life.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:33 AM on October 30, 2001

well, first off let me confess that i have NEVER seen a Seinfeld episode in its entirety...

but this anthrax crap is in a class all its own. People have been dying of cancer, in auto crashes, etc...for a long time. We are used to it-whereas up till now the simple act of going to get the mail has not been something we have had a reason (however small) to freak over.

As I said, this episode will be back i am sure-but right now the timing would be totally insensitive...
(not that I would ever find the death of a prospective bride amusing....but that is just me...)

I once had a pretty sick sense of humor-in private I still do but in public i am feeling it is inappropriate....

SO DEAL WITH IT!

thank you.
posted by bunnyfire at 6:40 AM on October 30, 2001

Oh one more thing-tv shows are there to sell advertising.....if this were ad-free tv that episode would be on next week.
Or do I need to spell that out to yall?
posted by bunnyfire at 6:44 AM on October 30, 2001

Should have pulled that episode of the news....... the one where people were getting blown to bits by our brave boys', due to it not being vindictive enough.
posted by johnnyboy at 6:48 AM on October 30, 2001

I just listened to Lenny Bruce's "nigger" routine this morning as part of a documentary on Radio 4. Sure, there's snuggly-wuggly cocooned comedy designed to ensure that you feel alright with the world and buy the things being shilled to you in the commercial breaks, but there's comedy that confronts the real, the bad, the shitty. And I'll have that, please. Count me among the adults. Dear God, I'll even take Denis Leary's "poodle block" skit right now: "'I served in Vietnam.' 'Yeah, well I live in New York City.'"

My plans to make a pilgrimage to Bill Hicks' grave gather speed.
posted by holgate at 6:49 AM on October 30, 2001

This is about as ridiculous as some radio stations pulling songs like "Ruby Tuesday" and "New York New York." And even "Walk Like an Egyptian." I understand we need to be sympathetic, and it's still a delicate time, but is the American public really that stupid (many times I think we are)? They won't catch on that Susan died from licking envelopes because George is cheap, and they'll think she died of anthrax?
posted by gramcracker at 6:57 AM on October 30, 2001

(not that I would ever find the death of a prospective bride amusing....but that is just me...)

I thought it was absolutely hysterical. But only because it was George. And that he went out for coffe afterwards.
posted by adampsyche at 6:58 AM on October 30, 2001

We are used to it-whereas up till now the simple act of going to get the mail has not been something we have had a reason (however small) to freak over.

One word: Unabomber. 20 people injured, 3 people dead.

I'm not just trying to be contrary for the sake of being contrary here, all I'm saying here is that if there is a way for people to die/get hurt, it's been done. Thus, any humor surrounding the subject of death/getting hurt is going to affect someone in a personal way.

You're right, it will be back, and that's a good thing. I just think it's unfortunate that we've become so concerned about protecting peoples fragile sensibilities that it had to go away in the first place. The real world is hell, and I like being able to laugh at that reality every chance I get.
posted by Swifty at 7:14 AM on October 30, 2001

People have no problem watching the towers fall down 24 million times on TV (which involved real people dying), but they'll have issues with a character on a TV show dying from licking envelopes?
posted by witchstone at 7:28 AM on October 30, 2001

Security procedures apart, we should not let terrorists, murderers and cranks change by one iota the way we live.

*but then I've got that episode on tape, hee hee*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:50 AM on October 30, 2001

Mid: People could throw this powder into the air in a subway and kill you? Hmmm. Did that with Sarin in Japan several years ago. Someone could plow a car into you right now. It could happen when you least expect it, and no matter how careful you're being. Yeah, you can wear a seatbelt, and have a car with airbags, but if the cars are going fast enough and you're at a certain angle . . . Got stuck in a jam last summer because a jackknifing truck had violently pinned a vehicle between his rig and the side of a bridge. That crap happens.

Look, if you're really that worried about dying or even being seriously maimed, you'd be screaming at the top of your lungs, all the time, about our over-dependence on the automobile. But then you'd be reported to authorities after a time, and end up in a nondescript mental facility.
posted by raysmj at 7:55 AM on October 30, 2001

People have no problem watching the towers fall down 24 million times on TV (which involved real people dying), but they'll have issues with a character on a TV show dying from licking envelopes?

If you can't tell the difference between the news and a comedy.....

I know if i were an advertiser and I wanted to buy tv time that George's little honey would have to croak some other time....wouldn't risk my job over it....

Remember, this is Metafilter....Middle America's sensibilities are a lot daintier....
posted by bunnyfire at 7:57 AM on October 30, 2001

Bunnyfire, have you even seen the episode? I mean, you're freaking out over it, but have you seen it? The woman doesn't die of anthrax, she is poisoned by the adhesive on the envelope. It has nothing to do with anthrax. Nothing was mailed to her, either. People in this thread keep making huge stretches of logic because, well, to be offended by this, one has to.
Even if I had a loved one die from anthrax, I don't think this would offend me, or even remind me.
posted by Doug at 8:03 AM on October 30, 2001

On my drive home yesterday, I was listening to a New Jersey talk radio station where "Monsters, Inc." was being discussed.

In the movie, when a monster comes in contact with a human child (the show said 'anything in the human world'), this little monster HazMat team rushes in for sanitation purposes.

Apparently, given the whole Anthrax scare, some parents are feeling this is very inappropriate for children, and there are people who actually want the movie release postponed.

The whole US sensitivity issue has gotten ridiculous.
posted by precocious at 8:26 AM on October 30, 2001 [1 favorite]

adamphsyche: yes it is hysterical! it's the best episode ever.

"wanna go for coffee?"

*shrugs*

"sure"
posted by signal at 8:29 AM on October 30, 2001

NJ101.5? I love Scott and Casey's show.
posted by adampsyche at 8:31 AM on October 30, 2001

RavinDave said: please feel free to suggest a more apt word.

I suggest chickenshit - which indicates lame, cowardly hypocrisy.

On another note - anthrax and bioterrorism are real issues. Just because the numbers of fatalities are low does not mean they're unimportant. My advice - ignore the mass media, and focus on non-inflammatory news outlets - though they be few and far between. And once you get yourself educates on the real risks, talk to your friends and family about it. People cannot rely on stock ticker news for issues of this complexity.
posted by artlung at 8:39 AM on October 30, 2001

Doug: The envelopes in the episode are not poisoned. Instead, cheapstake George (ambiguous about the relationship from Day One) buys cheap envelopes for wedding invitations, and these have a lower-quality, rank type of adhesive. The fiance, who licks the envelopes, has an adverse reaction to the cheapo chemical combination.
posted by raysmj at 8:39 AM on October 30, 2001

Ray -- the entire point of my post was that people are more afraid of unknown risks than everyday risks, even if the unknown risks are extremely unlikely.

People are not unduly afraid of car accidents because they have lots of personal experience with cars over many years, and have some first-hand understanding of what the chances are (tolerably low). People are arguably unduly afraid of getting killed by terrorists because they lack a several-year familiarity with the risk, and the nature of the risk keeps changing (planes, anthrax, etc.)

Your sarin example is a poor one. Twelve people died and thousands were injured. Ho-hum?
posted by Mid at 8:45 AM on October 30, 2001

no i never saw it, and apparently I didn't miss anything.....

just give me The Simpsons....
posted by bunnyfire at 8:46 AM on October 30, 2001

I was just exchanging anthrax jokes with a friend of mine in D.C. She has been instructed to open her mail, which comes from the Brentwood post office, wearing latex gloves and a surgical mask. I was just out for drinks with a fellow New Yorker on Friday who mentioned that his roommate was dressing as an anthrax spore for Halloween. The best jokes, however, have come from a acquaintance whose close friend tested positive for exposure. The closer I am to people that are actually dealing with this in a direct way, the more jokes I hear, and the more irreverent they are.

Sometimes humor is the best way to cope with things that are utterly beyond your control. My office is a couple of blocks from Morgan Post Office and god knows how much of my mail went through there, but why spend energy worrying about it? There's just no point in living in NYC and spending every day terrified. Humor has been a good release and i think most people "on the street" understand the line between what's acceptable and unacceptable, even if the mainstream media doesn't.
posted by lizs at 8:58 AM on October 30, 2001

Mid: The point with the Sarin example was that you had a reason to fear chemicals on the subway long before, but you apparently did not. And people put up with car accidents mainly because they think they have control over them, which in many cases they do not. There are more people killed in car accidents every year than in flight, and this year will be no exception.
posted by raysmj at 9:03 AM on October 30, 2001

Ahh, once again, the person most offended by something HASN'T SEEN IT. Nice.

Ray, that's right. For some reason I thought the adhesive was poisonous, but it was just an allergic reaction. Funny stuff.
posted by Doug at 9:08 AM on October 30, 2001

bunnyfire: as you mentioned waaay up there, you thought TV comedies were supposed to be "FUNNY not upsetting". If that's the case, you should also be protesting almost every sitcom there is, as they have all dealt with serious issues at one point or another. ("On a very special Blossom...") In any event, you haven't seen the episode in question. This doesn't make your opinion "wrong", but it does make it unfounded.

precocious: I'm convinced that this oversensitivity is an extension of our puritanical roots in America. Given the events of September 11th, some people will now look at everything with a degree of jaundice.
posted by hijinx at 9:13 AM on October 30, 2001

(thread hijack)I love Scott and Casey's show.

Damn you, adampsyche! I listened to them in L.A. when they were doing weekend shows at 3 a.m. on KFI. And you get 5 hours of them a day?? Now I'm all weepy and bitter. (/thread hijack)

I would've been fine with all of this if they had just yanked the episode quietly. If they were really worried about offending someone, wouldn't it have made more sense to take a low-key approach?
posted by brookedel at 9:30 AM on October 30, 2001

Re: "Seinfeld" eps

The next to get the hook from syndication? My guess is the episode in which Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt swears revenge on Jerry for (inadvertently) getting him deported.
posted by judomadonna at 9:43 AM on October 30, 2001

In the episode from the sitcom's seventh season, Susan's death is played for laughs.

Once you get to that point -- dying people are hilarious -- it doesn't matter what she died of, anthrax or a bad envelope. We've had a TV comedy set in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, and before long, no doubt, there will be a WTC sitcom.

p.s. Personally, I always thought Seinfeld was a pathetic show, pointless and stupid. The characters made Bo and Luke look like Greek philosophers.

p.p.s. Please, please, please don't take away the dead parrot sketch. No matter what made him join the choir invisible.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:04 AM on October 30, 2001

please feel free to suggest a more apt word.

ever since an old lady told me, in complete seriousness, that when she was growing up her brothers didn't like playing with her because they thought she was a real "pantywaist", that has been my favorite expression for this situation.

or, conversely, since often it's the men who are wussing out and not the ladies, I have also been known to use the term "scrot". if we're going to use a part of anatomy to exemplify weakness, it seems only fair to choose the corresponding body part from gender that is actually scroting out.
posted by rebeccablood at 10:12 AM on October 30, 2001

I thought Hogan's Heroes was totally inappropriate-but that was another decade....

Look, I wasn't particularly offended by what I heard about that episode....but when you are as old as I am you understand what "tasteless" is....or do all of you crack jokes at funerals?
I didn't think so.

Come on, you can't wait a couple months for the episode?

Sheesh.....

And so you all know, I have seen PARTS of a lot of Seinfeld....but as my husband hates the show.......(he hates Weakest Link too but there I draw the line :-)
posted by bunnyfire at 10:25 AM on October 30, 2001

lellio, dying people can be funny. Monty Python, which you seem to admire, had skits whose humor relied on people dying.
As for the "pussy," debate: It is an offensive word, and I know that that's pretty much the reason I used it a few days ago. Rebecca is right, "Pantywaist" is a great term, but "pussy" is more offensive and insulting. And if you want to insult people, as I did, and I think as RavinDave did, it is THE most fitting term.
posted by Doug at 10:26 AM on October 30, 2001

bunnyfire: but when you are as old as I am you understand what "tasteless" is

I find the name "bunnyfire" to be tasteless.

It associates the cute, innocent little bunny - often with a pancake on its head - with fire. The word fire has negative connotations for me; I often think that something is going up in flames when that word is mentioned. Or, I picture a little, defenseless bunny being fired upon by a man with a gun! That's a tasteless image. Totally inappropriate.

I thought user IDs were supposed to be straightforward, not filled with tasteless imagery.
posted by hijinx at 10:35 AM on October 30, 2001

See, some people in the US have this funny notion that they have a "right" to not be exposed to "offensive" material.

And "pantywaist," "puss," and "scrot" are all good terms to describe such people.

As are:
wuss
slackminded lilly-livered control-freakish get-a-life idiot
ostrich (sorry to aviophiles)
dramaturgically oversensitive imp

Anyway, it is unfortunate that there are so many people like that around. My attitude is that anything goes, and change the channel, or go do something else, or exercise your freedom of choice while I exercise mine, etc. I would prefer that all manner of violence, sex, nudity, etc., were shown on television, and anybody who wants to "protect" themselves or their children must take it upon themselves to do so (that funny, antiquated notion called "parental discretion" that so many fundabigots and other slackminded lilly-livered control-freakish get-a-life idiots can't seem to grasp).
posted by yesster at 10:42 AM on October 30, 2001

Bunnyfire: you just love to hear the sound of your own fingers typing, don't you? Because nothing you've said makes an ounce of sense.
posted by jpoulos at 10:52 AM on October 30, 2001

Actually bunnyfire brings to mind the inner fury the bunny feels when forced to wear the pancake for all the internet audience to gaze upon-
whereupon the rabbit EATS the pancake and goes in search of her foes-who run screaming in terror.......hehehhehhhh.......

Don't mess with Bunnyfire!
posted by bunnyfire at 10:53 AM on October 30, 2001

I'm sorry......but people dying from licking envelopes DOES make sense?

It isn't like this was a SERIOUS thread or something......
Maybe i just get tired of people misunderstanding me over and over and over......so I am having fun.

Does that offend you?
Seek thee a different thread.

I frankly do not give a bunny's fluff what they do or do not show on a Seinfeld episode-but I certainly have a right to have an opinion on the appropriateness of it..
And as mine is usually a minority opinion around here, i tend to be a wee bit DEFENSIVE about it.......
And since you asked.....I do enjoy the sound.....
posted by bunnyfire at 11:00 AM on October 30, 2001

I'm sorry......but people dying from licking envelopes DOES make sense?

And network television is SUPPOSED to make sense? Bunnyfire, take a chill pill. It is a goddamned sitcom. There is a literary convention named SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. They don't make sense. Explaining Seinfeld to people who aren't familiar with it is pretty difficult. (Sorry to the Seinfeld bashers...) but I think it was a decent show that made light of things that most wouldn't find funny under other circumstances. I do not see how on earth you can criticize it without seeing it.
posted by adampsyche at 11:18 AM on October 30, 2001

doug: "pussy" is more offensive and insulting

<personal rant>
and *why* is it more insulting? I'm personally offended by that, in fact (not by you, just by the fact that this term is routinely used this way).

men decided it was an insulting term, but that's one of my favorite parts of my body, I don't like having it used by insecure men in an attempt to create insecurity in other men who doubt their manliness.

hence, my invention of the word "scrot". call it like it is: I'd like to see any of you guys push the equivalent an 8-pound bowling ball through any of *your* equipment, never mind live to tell about it.

if anything, the term pussy should be used to describe something of ineffable wonder, beauty, and strength.
</personal rant>

sorry, it's just a persoanl peeve, it really bugs me., it's usually used *by* men to describe *other* men who are doing something that men often do....
posted by rebeccablood at 11:19 AM on October 30, 2001

Milquetoasts everywhere!
posted by liam at 11:24 AM on October 30, 2001

Can we still call jerks "dicks?" Just wondering.
posted by raysmj at 11:26 AM on October 30, 2001

the point is that our reaction to media in this country in the wake of these attacks is increasingly lame. how hard is it to find a reference to the WTC in any show anymore? They won't play a really funny episode of the Simpsons anymore because it depicts those buildings. Their image is no longer in the beginning ofg Law and Order. The only show I can name (I don't watch a lot of TV other than a few select favorties) that hasn't tried to make everyone forget these buildings exist is the Real World.

Anyone, including those who lost someone close to them last month, who cannot under any circumstances be reminded that these buildings existed, or that we use envelopes in our daily lives, or anything like it, can get off the island as far as i am concerned. i don't want to live in a nation more ridiculous about such matters than we already were on September 10, and I was here first.
posted by whoshotwho at 11:29 AM on October 30, 2001

Adam, borrow one of MY chill pills(i do have a whole bottle)....I DIDN'T SAY the sitcom was supposed to make sense, I was simply defending myself from another poster.....
NO SOUP FOR YOU EITHER!
bah!
posted by bunnyfire at 11:30 AM on October 30, 2001

have you bozos ever considered that people who have LOST LOVED ONES or work in post offices, etc might find this particular episode upsetting?

Um, yeah. So by that logic we should just cancel all television because people who lost loves one are reminded by the minute of this tragedy. So how is it okay to ban certain comedy treatments from *before* the attacks while still allowing the media to continue to sensationalise the event in the name of ratings by fear?
posted by terrapin at 11:34 AM on October 30, 2001

I know if i were an advertiser and I wanted to buy tv time that George's little honey would have to croak some other time....wouldn't risk my job over it....

i'd be more apt to not patronize an advertiser if they did pull ads during an episode like the Seinfeld one. i don't need television, films or adverts deciding how sensitive i am or how much i need to be coddled.

reminds me of how a few films (Zoolander, Serendipity) were scrambling to edit out the towers before the movie was released because "america was too sensitive" to the visual of it all.

too sensitive to see the towers strong, tall and proud, but we're fine to see the carnage, destruction, mayhem and smoldering remains daily on the news. the entertainment media has adopted this lame "lets pretend it all away" attitude and it increases to incense me as time goes on.
posted by jerseygirl at 11:42 AM on October 30, 2001

just give me The Simpsons....

Which episode? The one where Homer gets his car booted in front of the WTC? Oh, that's right. Can't see that one anymore because it was pulled just like this Seinfeld episode.

You can always read the transcript, at least until it is pulled by a minority hoping to protect a minority from their ability to make their own decisions.
posted by terrapin at 11:55 AM on October 30, 2001

do you think that schwartzenegger film will ever be released, *ever*?
posted by rebeccablood at 11:56 AM on October 30, 2001

one of my favorite parts of my body

funny, that's my favorite part of your body too!
posted by adampsyche at 12:32 PM on October 30, 2001

Just to back up rebeccablood, men who use the word "pussy" as an insult are not just pantywaisted milquetoasts, but mollycoddled milksops too. For those who want to stick with an infantile vocabulary, "scaredycats" is quite sweet.
posted by liam at 12:37 PM on October 30, 2001

I thought user IDs were supposed to be straightforward, not filled with tasteless imagery.


posted by hijinx

mmmmm......
posted by ginz at 12:47 PM on October 30, 2001

funny, that's my favorite part of your body too!

so you can see how it would be discouraging to have a class of people who, to a large extent, define you by that piece of anatomy, use it as an insult amongst themselves.
posted by rebeccablood at 12:57 PM on October 30, 2001

Thank you, ginz for pointing that out. Very bold of you! Did you see the point I was trying to make, though? bunnyfire thinks the Seinfeld ep is "tasteless"; I think her user ID is "tasteless".

I also think the use of the word "pussy" is "tasteless".

The word "scrot" is featured in Back to the Future II, which means that within the next 14 years, it'll become totally socially acceptable and normal.
posted by hijinx at 1:08 PM on October 30, 2001

what????? used in this sense?

I've never seen that film, and I invented this word three years ago!
posted by rebeccablood at 1:11 PM on October 30, 2001

It's used in a confrontational scene, in which Marty McFly Jr. meets up with Biff's gang. He essentially wimps out, and the female of the group asks him, "What's the matter? Got no scrot?"

She then stabs him in, well, the scrot. So it doesn't seem like an exact match, but somewhat similar. Of course given that this movie is set in our future, chances are good you invented it anyway, rcb!
posted by hijinx at 1:18 PM on October 30, 2001

scrot as in scraht, or like scrote? like i always thought it was scrote.
posted by kliuless at 1:23 PM on October 30, 2001

actually the Simpsons is tasteless too.

We still watch it. Every evening (ah, syndication!)
and for the record NEVER EVER EVER SAID WORD ONE ABOUT CENSORSHIP.

or don't little bunnies have the right to protection under the First Amendment?
posted by bunnyfire at 1:23 PM on October 30, 2001

Hijinx: I really don't mind Bunnyfire thinking the Seinfield ep is tasteless, nor do I mind you thinking her nick is tasteless, but to prove your point, maybe you should have chosen a different argument ;-)

And, next time I'll use the italics (I promise)

I like the word scrot, makes me think of schroot, which means junk (metal)
posted by ginz at 1:30 PM on October 30, 2001

scrotum not found. hmmmmm...

otoh, what is a scrote?

who is scrote?

ahhhhh, scrote the sack

alternatively, scroat.
posted by kliuless at 1:53 PM on October 30, 2001

Merging the streams, devotees of British comedy will remember that "scrote" was one of Norman Stanley Fletcher's favourite terms of abuse in Porridge. But, ooh, a sitcom set in a prison! That's tasteless!
posted by holgate at 2:01 PM on October 30, 2001

Never underestimate the stupidity of television execs. Ah well, Bunnyfire is right about at least one thing, the episode will be back eventually.

Just curious, is anyone here sending email or real mail (don't lick the envelope) to express their opinions about this to the people who make the decisions? Perhaps it's not as important as writing representatives to make sure they know how you feel about Afghanistan (not that I claim to know how you feel), but it couldn't hurt.

Pussy as in anatomy and pussy as in wuss are as separate in my mind as flower as in baking and flower as in roses. Or as dick/prick as in anatomy and dick/prick as in insensitive jerk for that matter. Not that I don't see your point, Rebecca, I'm just saying.
posted by Nothing at 2:14 PM on October 30, 2001

Thanks, holgate, for reminding me of Porridge, a favourite when I was a sprog.
posted by liam at 2:55 PM on October 30, 2001

(you bake with flour)
posted by rebeccablood at 3:59 PM on October 30, 2001

i have seinfeld on in the background....so why is Kramer in the slammer????
posted by bunnyfire at 4:20 PM on October 30, 2001

Oh.....a murder rap......

do they have some weird fixation on people croaking on that show??????
posted by bunnyfire at 4:22 PM on October 30, 2001

Second thread revolving around the word "pussy" in less than 1 week.

Oh, the pussiness!
posted by signal at 5:53 PM on October 30, 2001

What's sad is that I'm a cook, but I was so caught up in my point that I lost track of my mind. *laugh*
posted by Nothing at 7:43 PM on October 30, 2001

They should pull 85% of Seinfeld episodes: just not that funny. Nothing more nauseating than the nation love-in over a series which went to crap several years before its end.
posted by ParisParamus at 10:36 PM on October 30, 2001

That Seinfeld marked the moment for me when the series crossed a line for me and I stopped watching it. (It also marks the moment when Seinfeld took a larger turn towards the "dark side.") Not saying that I don't take my comedies black?ever seen Man Bites Dog??but up to that point Seinfeld's comedy was a more innocent kind of selfishness and cheering over a fiancee's death was just not what I wanted to see from those characters.
So no, I'm not missing that episode much.
posted by teradome at 11:06 PM on October 30, 2001

That Seinfeld marked the moment for me when the series crossed a line for me and I started loving it.
posted by signal at 10:16 AM on October 31, 2001

Nothing more nauseating than the nation love-in over a series which went to crap several years before its end.

That was certainly sickening. And I bake with flowers. The wife hates it.
posted by adampsyche at 10:50 AM on October 31, 2001