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al-in-chgo's definitions

Olympic Gay

The tendency of some American male Olympic hopefuls competing for medals in individual figure-skating to wear campy costumes (even more sequined than the Asian skaters'), or tight, self-designed get-ups in the most fashionable colors, usually showing a broader bodice with no chest hair, but more boob than the more run-of-the-mill glitzy skater's costume.

This tendency is sometimes accompanied by demands of the sort observed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, if not earlier, for special favors such as switching rooms in the athletes' dorm to bunk with a special friend. On the ice, when they perform well, they look fabulous and the viewer can feel the narcissism coming through the television; when they perform poorly, they look fabulous despite the gaffes and the viewer can nonetheless feel the nacissism coming through the television, often simultaneous with oblique on-air comment by the network's sports journalist referencing their "controversial" pre-rink behavior.
"Jeremy, I can't believe what I just saw! That American kid made such a poor showing. He fell on his ass and didn't even make the top fifteen. But he strutted off the ice, mugging for the cameras, and looking like he was about to burst the leather straps holding his vest together out of sheer pride or sheer gall."

"Chad," there just ain't no gay like USA Olympic Gay."
by al-in-chgo February 19, 2010
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Judgment City

Judgment City is that part of town where all the buildings are of medium height, usually located near expressways, and built between the early Sixties and the mid-Eighties. Its style is some variation on International Style as exemplified by the almost inevitable flat roofs with HVAC equipment forming a "sore thumb" addendum to the roof lines. Judgment City gets its name from the sterile corporate complex that is the setting for most of the plot of Albert Brooks' satiric comedy DEFENDING YOUR LIFE.

Beige is the predominant theme of Judgment City -- beige for the cast-concrete slabs that form some buildings, most bridges, and practically all covered parking structures attached to those buildings that no longer are surrounded by enormous asphalt parking lots. Beige also shows up in more overtly pseudo-sophisticated building techniques like pebbled walls (usually more concrete but with a deliberate random design), or the vertical walls with pretend fluting that are made of a whiter shade of concrete.

Judgment City areas generally push retail and housing to its edges because in these neo-downtowns, rents are too expensive to support low-rise concerns.

If, however, you come across a newer area that is not flat-roofed and beige, but equally corporate with such building features as monopitch or steepled roofs, ziggurat-edged walls and exposed structural elements like gray PPG plate glass or red girders, you've gone beyond Modern into Post-Modern: Legoland. (See "Legoland".)
-- Recall that in Albert Brooks' movie DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, the newer retail outlets in Judgment City, like nail salons or frozen-yogurt shops, were going up on the edge of town.

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by al-in-chgo June 19, 2011
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The Valley

Abandoned prison restroom with long trough-style urinal off a low-traffic area, as described in John Cheever's 1977 novel FALCONER. To quote the author, this is where the inmates went after dinner "to fuck themselves." Themselves but not each other -- there were unwritten rules. Looking at other penises was okay, but not into another man's eyes. Touching another man was not allowed, except for the shoulder. A grim place, not gay by any definition, and certainly not the fantasy one-for-all tearoom scenes depicted in gay porn videos.

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Since The Valley in Cheever's award-winning novel Falconer was located on an upper floor, the origin of its name was obscure. Perhaps the name was coined to reference the trench- or trough-shaped nature of the elderly urinal itself.

-- "Where's Harry?"

-- "He went to The Valley after dinner."

-- 'When do you think he'll be back in our wing?"

-- "As late as possible, if I know Harry."

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by al-in-chgo February 25, 2010
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Arpad Miklos

Hunky, Hungarian-born gay actor and model, and quintessential "muscle bear". Miklos lives in New York City but appears in erotic vids filmed on either coast.

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"Who was that great-looking guy with the wide smile?"

"That was Arpad Miklos who, as usual, played the top."

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by al-in-chgo March 3, 2010
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virgule

Typesetter's name for a "regular" (pre-computer-era) slash mark (/) that associates related terms. On computer QWERTY keyboards, commonly found to the right of the key for a period. The virgule key + shift indicates a question mark.
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Here's one use of the virgule: Most of the audience found the play racy/dirty, not just racy.
by al-in-chgo March 3, 2010
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hissy fit

A sudden but violent outburst of a person shouting, screaming recriminations and (possibly) wailing, generally short-lived but shocking.

"Hissy fit" used to describe an adult tantrum but now has become an equal opportunity description, young or old, male or female. What they all have in common is no matter how severe the (alleged) offense, there is always some wounded pride involved, and usually an audience of bystanders along with the culprit who allegedly triggered the hissy.

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-- "When I told Sarah she couldn't have the doll, she broke down and pitched a major hissy fit. Right there in the toy department at Target!"

--"So when Joe got fired, all he did was throw a hissy fit out in the hall? Terrible. REAL men used to slug each other."

--"She freaked! She had a hissy! She thinks you're the cat's meow." 'Farmer Ted' (Anthony Michael Hall) in movie SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984), describing the Molly Ringwald character's sudden infatuation with a boy two years her senior.

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by al-in-chgo February 25, 2010
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pacy

Fast-paced. More commonly used in the UK than in North America.
"This book is a pacy, compelling account of one of the field's most gifted leaders blurb."
by al-in-chgo July 26, 2017
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