PoliGazette » Sexist!

Sexist!

Filed under: 2008 elections, Morons — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on June 2, 2008 @ 11:45 pm CEST

Tom Bevan wrote a post about Hillary Clinton possibly giving a concession speech tomorrow earlier today. He titled the post “Is The Fat Lady Clearing Her Throat?” Shortly later he had to come up with another title for he received lots of complaints from angry Clinton supporters who thought he was referring to their candidate as a “fat lady.”

Now, I’m not American, nor is English my native language, but even I understand that he was referring to the proverb: ‘it ain’t over until the fat lady sings.’

This proverb essentially means ‘that one shouldn’t assume the outcome of some activity (frequently a sports game) until it has actually finished.’ It ‘refers to the impression by many that at the end of every opera, an aria is sung by a heavy-set woman dressed like a valkyrie.’

It is commonly believed that writer/broadcaster Dan Cook coined the phrase ‘after the first basketball game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) during the 1977-78 National Basketball Association playoffs, to illustrate that while the Spurs had won once, the series was not over yet’ (although it has also been attributed to baseball manager Earl Weaver).

He, in turn, didn’t mean that the wife of the manager of the Spurs was fatty. Nor that she would sing.

That belief, however, is incorrect, since it was already used in the Dallas Morning News on 10 March, 1976. Additionally it should be remarked that the proverb may very well originate from the American South for it appeared in a booklet titled “Southern Words and Sayings,” which indicates that it was a well known and popular proverb in the South for years already.

Via Pete Abel.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

PoliGazette encourages comments from all viewpoints, especially those that disagree. Comments submitted must, however, adhere to the following standards. Comments that violate these standards may be edited or deleted without notice at the sole discretion of the editors. Commenters who repeatedly or egregiously violate these standards or who attempt to argue publicly with editors regarding the comments policy may be banned from commenting further.

(1) Comments should address the substantive content of the post. Comments that repeatedly or willfully misrepresent the content of the post or of others' comments are not welcome. Comments that respond to something other than which the contributor or commenter may have said are irrelevant and should not be posted.

(2) Comments should avoid use of vulgar language as well as racial, ethnic, or religious slurs.

(3) Comments should not personally attack the character, personal integrity, or professional reputation of any PoliGazette contributor or of other commenters.

(4) Comments should reflect the contributions of the commenters themselves and should not include extensive cut-and-paste reproductions of others' words except insofar as necessary to supplement the commenter's own arguments. Link spam, trackback spam, and propaganda spam will be instantly deleted.

Questions or challenges to these policies or their application should be directed to the editors by email.