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Tuesday, April 08, 2008

John McCain's Temper

I heard today on my local liberal/progressive radio station that John McCain in a display of temper referred to his wife as a "trollop," a linguistic choice which indicates his very advanced age, and as a "cunt," a linguistic choice that indicates that this is not a very nice man, certainly not the sort of man a woman ought to be with. Both illustrate the fact that he has a temper. Fact checking brought up The Atlantic.com's reference to these linguistic droppings.

The author of the Atlantic blog offering asksW
hat do you think the age cutoff is below which it becomes utterly implausible that someone would use the term "trollop" in a non-ironic context?
My answer to that question is that the person would have to be older than my 69 years. My guestimate is that maybe 85-90 years old would be a reasonable cutoff age for someone to have "trollop" in his productive vocabulary. To actually have it in one's active linguistic vacabulary, one would need to be totally out of touch with the world he lives in.

The Washington Post has a 1999 article bringing McCain's volcanic temper to the attention of the nation, claiming

In a front page article and separate editorial Sunday, The Arizona Republic said it wanted the nation to know about the "volcanic" temper McCain has unleashed on several top state officials.

Those who have been on the receiving end of a McCain uproar include Republican Gov. Jane Hull, former Republican Gov. Rose Mofford and former Democratic Mayor Paul Johnson of Phoenix.

The article went on to say
McCain blamed the Bush campaign for helping plant recent temper stories and said the "hothead" portrayal was inaccurate.

"Do I insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that? No, I don't," insisted McCain.
Clearly we are dealing with a long standing problem.

There was a time when Presidential temperament was a major issue in selecting Presidents. Obama clearly has an even temper. Hillary gets high marks though Bill no longer does (when defending his wife). McCain does not. He is also very, very old, even older than I am if that's possible. I will probably have more to say about this but I will leave you with this thought: no one ever says anything that is not on his mind. Watch your guard, Mrs. McCain who though very made up hardly looks like a trollop. She's actually very nice looking to my ancient eyes.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Rita said...

The term trollop is not that unusual to someone who reads 18th & 19th century literature. I'm not that old but I love colorful & descriptive words, no matter what century. In the political arena though, I'd be more careful, I wouldn't refer to my spouse in any derogatory terms unless I could thinly veil my disdain for their infidelity without looking like a shrew which apparently Hillary was not able to do.

1:44 AM

 
Blogger Bilbo said...

The use of any term that has a potentially negative connotation can be the kiss of linguistic death for a politician. I have been known to refer to my beloved wife as "the onion of my eye," which usually gets a laugh...but then, I don't want anyone to vote for me, either.

8:55 AM

 
Blogger Lancelot Gobbo said...

Odd, is it not, that 'cunt' is far older than 'trollop' yet has far greater currency these days? Having said that, I would regard anyone who uses a neglected word in a favourable light, however regrettable his politics might be. I would vote for the first candidate to refer to an opponent (or his/her spouse) as a 'slubberdegullion'!

7:16 AM

 
Blogger The Language Guy said...

A filthy, slobbering person.

I can't say with some measure of certainty that I have never heard this word before. So, let me say that Rod Parsley is a slubberdegullion. And the other preacher McCain had to divorce is one as well. This is fun.

4:08 PM

 

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