Comments on: A Cigarette Butt is One Thing…

By: thebluebird11

thebluebird11 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:32:18 +0000

Precise Edit…as you know, there is no way to please everyone, even those in the same audience.

By: Precise Edit

Precise Edit — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:19:47 +0000

Different words for different messages.
Different words for different audiences.

By: Israel "izzy" Cohen

Israel "izzy" Cohen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:49:46 +0000

Body Part Maps

Anthropomorphic maps were generated by configuring the body of a god or goddess over the area to be mapped. The name of each part of that body became the name of the area under that part. This produced a scale 1:1 map-without-paper on which each place name automatically indicated its approximate location and direction with respect to every other place on the same map whose name was produced in this way.

Aphrodite as an Anthropomorphic Map

The goddess we call Aphrodite
Is not just an old Grecian deity.
The Phoenicians did make
Her a map. It’s not fake.
Her body is cartograffiti.

The Punic war destroyed her face, (1)
The Romans left nary a trace.
But her hair is still there,
In Sahara, that’s where. (2)
And her chin’s a Tunisian place. (3)

Mt. Atlas is her first verTebra. (4)
Her backbone is now Gulf of Sidra. (5)
Her heart is in Libya, (6)
Her left leg, Somalia. (7)
Her breast is in Chad wearing no bra. (8)

The Greeks called her liver Egypt, an’ (9)
Her kidney was Biblical Goshen. (10)
She’s bent at her waist,
Now Misr-ably placed. (11)
The Red Sea was her menstruation. (12)

As a kid I did think the Red Sea
Was an English map typo: lost E,
From Reed Sea in Hebrew.
But that could not be true,
Mare Rubrum ’twas Latin, B.C.

Aphrodite with Hermes did sin,
We know this is true ’cause within
Her “snatch” we call Sinai (13)
His “zaiyin” does still lie. (14)
It’s known as the desert of Zin.

Footnotes:

(1) The Romans destroyed Carthage during the 3rd Punic War. In Hebrew, “face” is PaNim.

(2) In Hebrew, “hair” is Sa3aR (using 3 for the letter aiyin).

(3) Tunis is a reversal of SaNTir, the Hebrew word for chin.

(4) The Atlas is the first cervical vertebra that supports the skull.

(5) In Hebrew, SHiDRa is spine, backbone.

(6) The Semitic term for “heart” is LeB.

(7) In Hebrew, “left” is S’MoL.

(8) In Hebrew, “breast” is SHaD.

(9) As in ancient Greek hepato- “liver”.

(10) The ancient shin had a T-sound, e.g., SHoR = ox was ToR as in Taurus. The gimel often has a K-sound in other languages, e.g., GaMaL = camel. So, GoSHeN sounded like QTN, as in QiTNiot = beans. Goshen was her bean-shaped kidney. Ashkenazi Jews do not eat beans on Passover. Cotton was exported from QTN / Goshen. The Latin genus for cotton is Gossypium. Compare English gossamer.

(11) Both Arabic Misr and Hebrew MiTZRaim are derived from the Semitic term for narrow, TZaR. The waist is (or should be) the narrow part of the body.

(12) In Latin, the Red Sea was called Mare Rubrum. In Hebrew, the Red Sea is called “Yam SooF” = Sea of Reeds. SooF is a reversal of the sounds in peh-sof PoS, Hebrew for the female pudenda.

(13) In Hebrew, Sinai is spelled SINi without an aleph. But it is pronounced as if had an aleph after the nun. It seems that the ancient sound of aleph changed from CHS/GHT => T => a glottal stop. Treating aleph as CHS, Sinai sounded like SNCHs, a reversal of K’NiSah = entrance (to her body).

(14) Zaiyin means “weapon” in Hebrew. It is also a euphemism for the male member.

ciao,
Israel “izzy” Cohen, Body-Part Maps moderator
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/BPMaps/

By: Erik

Erik — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:45:51 +0000

This reminds me of how I end up eye rolling at the bowdlerizing of common, every day things.

Every time I hear “buttocks” or “bottom” in an ad, a fitness ad especially, the only thing I can think of is that the company is prudish and ashamed of what they do. If you use “buns” in a commercial, you’re not just prudish and silly, you’re unprofessional and should have skipped the ad altogether.

If you can’t be casual about it, you’re either going to sound like a medical textbook or an idiot, so you’re better off just avoiding it completely since you obviously feel such shame in speaking about *that* area to the point you need to find cute little potty words to “nice” it up. Thats fine if your audience is under 10 years old, but I should think anybody mature enough to hear your ad can handle the completely benign “butt”, if not, maybe you’ve got the wrong market for your product/service, eh?

By: thebluebird11

thebluebird11 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:10:34 +0000

@Tony, I don’t know why anybody is getting bent out of shape over this. Bath & Body Works has its own version of shoe gear to tone legs and “butts”; the concept is not new (except maybe to Reebok and/or to sneakers specifically).
At least where I’m from (NYC/Jewish), we would use “tushy” or “tush” to a child (as in asking your toddler, “Did you remember to wipe your tushy?”). “Ass” is still kind of slangy or jarring, IMHO, no matter when and where it’s used (as in “you’re an ass,” “piece of ass,” “sit your ass down,” etc). “Butt,” to me, is more of an acceptable, almost anatomic word (as in short for “buttocks”), because if I had just come from the gym I might very well say “my butt is so sore after that workout!” “Posterior” is (to me) in line with “derriere,” a little more demure and euphemistic.
And as long as I’m dissecting poor Maeve’s entire list…”booty” seems to be the current fave in rap/hip-hop music, and at least to me conjures up a mental image of something round and “out there” intentionally to draw attention to it for flirting/sexual purposes (with or without clothing, I guess). “Buns” is sort of like “butt,” except maybe smaller LOL. “Heinie” is another kiddie term “Get your heinie in here right now!” or “I’m going to spank that heinie if you do that again!”) “Caboose”….hmmm…that is kind of insulting, as it seems to imply a very large rear end…and speaking of rear end, that’s an OK term too. You might say your rear end was killing you after a long workout, but you also might tell your kid to get his rear end in his seat to sit down for dinner (if you were kind of annoyed at him). “Fundament” is a new one for me, and I like it, very amusing. I am not sure anyone I know would have a clue what I meant if I used it. I am sure I’d have to explain myself. “Haunches,” “hind end” and “rump” are OK for animals, with the parallel drawn to human anatomy understood. Rump is a little more derogatory, to my ears, and sounds “larger” than haunches or hind end. “Keister” reminds me of something a detective like Columbo would have said, something from my dad’s era (he is 75 now). I still find that word amusing but almost never use it myself; not that I wouldn’t. It’s kind of like “rear end” but I think would be sort of humorous, again, if used when complaining of soreness in that area after a workout, or if one had been sitting in long meetings all day and was stiff after finally getting up (“My keister is killing me”). “Bum” is decidedly British. In the US, it means a dirty/homeless/alcoholic/lazy good-for-nothing person, or, one’s son-in-law (LOLOL). Just kidding, just kidding. Fanny…well…I always felt bad for anyone named Fanny. This one is like “rump,” to me. Kind of insulting because of the implication that it is large/round/fat. Also kind of an old-fashioned term (where I’m from), in the sense that my elementary school teachers might have told us to put our fannies in our seats, etc. Not a word I hear much these days. Makes me think of “Fat Bottom Girls” (Queen’s ode). “Backside,” “rear” and “bottom” are all pretty much the same, to me, although the last would again more likely be something you’d use to a child (“Sit on your bottom).” There, I’ve finished. I guess it just depends how old you are and where you come from. All in all, I think “ass” is the most offensive in the list (especially since it is often combined with other words to form insults). I am totally not offended by “butt,” (even though it, too, can be combined with other words to be insulting, e.g. butthead). Now, to work. Thank you for your kind attention to this post, get off your fundaments and have a productive day!