Bleats of wounded outrage in a tone of arrogant moral superiority from those who have trashed our civil liberties.
Named for James Clapper, head of NSA.
Named for James Clapper, head of NSA.
"The President says we weren't informed that our phone records were secretly being turned over to the FBI because we didn't need to know."
"What utter Clappertrap."
"What utter Clappertrap."
by al-in-chgo June 07, 2013
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Toronto-based rock trio (1984-91) credited with fusing the Punk style (Dead Kennedys e.g.) with Surf (the Ventures) into a distinctive but soon-imitated sound (sometimes called third-gen Surf).
The band usually recorded without vocals and has a number of EP's and CD's to its credit. Its last CD was released in 1995 but the band had effectively come to an end with the death of bassist Reid Diamond to cancer in 1991.
Televiewers may know Shadowy Men best from one particular song: "Having an Average Weekend," which was adopted by the Canadian satirical troupe Kids In The Hall as intro/outro music to the half-hour show of the same name.
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Toronto-based rock trio (1984-91) credited with fusing the Punk style (Dead Kennedys e.g.) with Surf (the Ventures) into a distinctive but soon-imitated sound (sometimes called third-gen Surf).
The band usually recorded without vocals and has a number of EP's and CD's to its credit. Its last CD was released in 1995 but the band had effectively come to an end with the death of bassist Reid Diamond to cancer in 1991.
Televiewers may know Shadowy Men best from one particular song: "Having an Average Weekend," which was adopted by the Canadian satirical troupe Kids In The Hall as intro/outro music to the half-hour show of the same name.
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"What was that band on the radio that played those interesting chords?"
"Dude, you've never heard of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet? They were huge in the eighties and early nineties. Even did the theme music for 'Kids In The Hall' on TV."
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"Dude, you've never heard of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet? They were huge in the eighties and early nineties. Even did the theme music for 'Kids In The Hall' on TV."
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by al-in-chgo March 02, 2010
Barack Obama's flippant reponse to Mitt Romney's complaint during their third televised debate (October 22, 2012) that the U.S. Navy had fewer battleships than at any time since 1917. Obama's remark that the military has fewer "horses and bayonets, too" makes an analogy that measuring battleships (as opposed to aircraft carriers) is an archaic metric of military power, in much the same way that measuring "horses and bayonets" would no longer indicate an army's might. (NB: Marines are still issued bayonets.)
"The Navy has fewer battleships than at any time since 1917."
"The military has fewer horses and bayonets, too. We live in a different world."
"The military has fewer horses and bayonets, too. We live in a different world."
by al-in-chgo October 24, 2012
A term preferred by some writers in preference to using "homosexual" as a noun.
In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexual"; OR
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
by al-in-chgo February 28, 2010
A Latin and Italian word regarding male oral sex that is frequently confused with the more commonly used "fellare." "Irrumare" (person who does the act is an 'irrumator') refers to the person who offers the penis for sucking. The person who gives head (takes the penis into his or her mouth) is the 'fellator,' from "fellare". Modern terms like "sucker/suckee" or "bottom/top" don't cover the distinction so well.
by al-in-chgo May 03, 2011
A mark of punctuation ( \ ) introduced in 1960 as a deliberate way to convert two ALGOL symbols ("up" and "down" carets) into ASCII by using the new backslash and its traditional opposite number, the virgule or slant ( / ):
\/ - or - /\ for example.
The backslash went on to find use in early UNIX programs and today is party of a typical QWERTY keyboard, usually to the right of the bracket (and braces) keys. Other terms for the mark include slosh, reverse virgule, and reverse slash.
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\/ - or - /\ for example.
The backslash went on to find use in early UNIX programs and today is party of a typical QWERTY keyboard, usually to the right of the bracket (and braces) keys. Other terms for the mark include slosh, reverse virgule, and reverse slash.
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If I see a backslash ( \ ) at the end of the line, does it mean go to the next line or go to the next term?
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by al-in-chgo March 04, 2010
A pun on "Opera Buffa" (an operatic trend in the 18th and 19th centuries toward a more relaxed mode of opera, often containing humor, such as "The Magic Flute"): "Opera Boofa" is a seriocomic, probably unintentional, portrayal of violative behavior or anal insertion of drugs or spirits under less-than-ideal circumstances.
-- "Did you see that guy testify on TV at the Judiciary Committee hearings?"
-- "Yeah -- the first day was pretty steady -- when he showed up again he got so overwrought denying things that it became pure "Opera Boofa."
"Ouch."
-- "Yeah -- the first day was pretty steady -- when he showed up again he got so overwrought denying things that it became pure "Opera Boofa."
"Ouch."
by al-in-chgo October 05, 2018