Sports psychology, Anger Management In Sport: Why do some athletes Snap?

Recently, I appeared on ABC's Good Morning America. A producer asked me to comment on the recent violence in the Rangers vs. Islanders hockey game.

I wrote on violence in sport in the past and have been interviewed by the British Broadcasting Company on this subject. However, this last act reminds me a little "more about what causes this type of vicious behavior and whatcan be done to prevent a recurrence.

I think some athletes who behave violently are those who were raised in dysfunctional families where they have been exposed to violence, cruelty, abuse and chaos. These types of environment do little to encourage the development of qualities such as kindness and empathy.

To make matters worse, the abuse of certain athletes are violent, drug, alcohol and / or steroids that may improve their internalanger.

Part of violence can be attributed to the fact that many athletes have failed to learn to control their emotions because they have spent much of their time to master their craft, which is their sport. In short, they are physically very talented, but they are relatively well developed and very emotionally immature.

Many of those who love sports like football and hockey have a violent component, and athletes are in some cases, rewarded for his hardcompetitors and very physical. It is sometimes difficult to control aggression, once a party is permitted, appreciated and rewarded.

Elite athletes held in high esteem in our society and, sometimes, special treatment, special favors and attention during their formative years. This "special treatment" in May gives rise to a feeling of grandeur that can lead some athletes to feel as if they were "above the law" and not liable to punishment. Therefore, theydifficulty in thinking about the consequences of their actions.

Some athletes may be suffering from a psychiatric illness such as intermittent explosive, oppositional defiant disorder, depression or personality disorder narcissistic. People with this type of disease may have difficulty controlling their anger and find it difficult to be concerned about the feelings of others. Harm others they can not disturb the way it is likely to disturb most of us. Players with these types ofconditions can be very dangerous and off the field.

It is also important to remember that athletes are human beings and an act of violence on the ground may be linked to feelings of frustration that they live in another aspect of their lives. A conflict with a wife or lover can cause an athlete to have a bad day at "the office", a judge or a golf game.

Some athletes to be learned from the crowd and the fans. Like rock stars and artists, some sports stars grow onattention and adoration they receive a large number of people. Elite athletes can take the enthusiasm of fans and losing control of their emotions and behavior.

Leagues can help reduce violence in sport with clear and severe penalties for violent acts. I have helped many athletes to manage and teach the technique of anger management, meditation, visualization and self-hypnosis. These types of programs should be included in many organized sportsprograms. And it's probably a good idea to start this type of training with young athletes, while athletes are in their formative years.

Athletes who demonstrate a mode of violent behavior must be assessed and referred to the appropriate type of councils mental health. Some alloys can withstand this kind of intervention, but I think these types of programs are essential if violence in sports should be minimized.

The catch-phrase of the moment…attitude, mentality – roguishness?  Sarah Palin aside, it seems that the concept of ‘Going Rogue’ has captured the imagination of the masses.

Therefore, we immediately connected this theme with GraTRUEities…speaking ones mind, departing from the tradition of silent compliance with social expectations, a sort of defiance. We even considered capitalizing on the current wave of marketing opportunities.

Then, we looked up the definition of “rogue”:

American Heritage Online Dictionary

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Well…let’s just say, we will not be able to fully align ourselves with the “going rogue” trend. After reading certain terms in the definition – “deceitful person,”  ”scoundrel,” and “vagrant” to name a few – we had second thoughts about adopting this mantra. However, we must admit to embracing a bit of  ”playful mischievousness!”

Monday the New Oxford American Dictionary named “unfriend” 2009’s word of the year.

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

We’ve looked at the word “unfriend” before, and it’s not a wholly inappropriate choice. I do, however, imagine it’ll be somewhat disheartening to reflect on 2009 as the year that friendship lost its currency. Although, perhaps that’ll be better than always remembering it as the year that the dollar lost its currency.

Here are some of the runners-up. I took the liberty of coloring gray the ones I thought were stupid choices, because they’re idiotic, unremarkable or little-used in the vernacular, or, as in the cases of Ardi and death panel, a beneficiary of the recency effect.

Technology

• hashtag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
• intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
• netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
• paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
• sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy

• freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
• funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
• zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs

• Ardi -(Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009
• birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s US birth certificate
• choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother
• death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed
• teabagger – a person who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773

Environment

• brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations
• green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations
• ecotown – a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

Novelty Words

• deleb – a dead celebrity
• tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

Why is “tramp stamp” in red, you ask? I’ll answer your question with another question: Did it really take until 2009 for the word nerds at the Oxford University Press to learn of the tramp stamp? I take it none of them lives in Jersey and has a 17-year-old daughter.

OUP chose “hypermiling” last year. I’ve never heard anyone use this word. Have you? I can get behind 2007’s selection of “locavore” even as it makes me cringe, or carbon neutral and podcast the years before that.

But in the future I’m probably going to stick with the selections of The American Dialect Society, which is working on coming up with the word of the decade, to be decided in January. Their picks of the aughts:

2000 chad, a small scrap of paper punched from a voting card.
2001 9/11, terrorist attacks on September 11.
2002 weapons of mass destruction or WMD, sought for (without success) in Iraq.
2003 metrosexual, fashion-conscious heterosexual male.
2004 red/blue/purple states, red favoring conservative Republicans and blue favoring liberal Democrats, as well as the undecided purple states in the political map of the United States.
2005 truthiness, what one wishes to be the truth regardless of the facts. (From the Colbert Report on television.)
2006 to be plutoed, to pluto, to be demoted or devalued, as was the former planet Pluto.
2007 subprime, a risky or less than ideal loan or investment.
2008 bailout, rescue by government of companies on the brink of failure.

I’m going to send in a nominee coined by none other than Oxford’s Christine Lindberg (quoted above). “Lex-appeal.” Brilliant.

(PS, while we’re on the subject, Merriam-Webster picked “blog” as the word of the year in 2004. “‘Blog’ was the word that people have asked to be defined or explained most often over the last 12 months,” according to the BBC. Oh, how far we’ve come.)

Our English language is filled with words from French origins.  In part, we can thank the Duke of Normandy for this, as the French spoken in the Middle Ages (a direct offshoot of Latin) was incorporated into English after the Norman Conquest in 1066.  Modern French uses the same 26 letter alphabet as English (both based on Latin), but the vowel combinations and pronunciations are quite different than English. 

 
Take for example the word “quimper”.  In English, it looks like you would pronounce this “KWIM per”, rhymes with “whimper”.  NOT SO!  In the Merriam-Webster’s 3^rd New International Unabridged Dictionary (official source for U.S. Spelling Bees), the pronunciation is “kahn PAIR” with accent on 2^nd syllable (sounds like “compare”).  Of course, if you’re familiar with France, you know Quimper is a town in the Brittany region of France, and “quimper” is the adjective used to describe the pottery from this region. 

 Because of the tricky pronunciations, French words that have made their way into English are favorite list words in U.S. Spelling Bee Competition.  Upwards of 40% of the words used in Scripps’ National Spelling Bee competition have French origins. But with study and practice, many French spelling patterns are consistent, and not too difficult to master.

My daughter is a spelling whiz, and participated in the Scripps’ National Spelling Bee in 2007 and 2008.  We credit much of her success to her knowledge of French, both from spelling study, and from being immersed in the language, through numerous trips through France. 

Even though she never studied French formally until high school in 2009, her familiarity of common words in French came in very handy when competing.  When riding in an elevator in France, you notice the word “etage” for “floor” or “level”.  Well, the word “étagère” a spelling list word for the open shelf display cabinet, is directly from “etage” root word. 

 Many of the words she was asked to spell in the final rounds of national competition came directly from French:  redoppe, Huguenot, boulangere (method of cooking with sliced onions in a casserole).  Coincidentally, I have this photo of her taken the year before the Bee, standing next door to the “boulanger” which is from the same root word.

The word “Eclat” was also featured in the 2008 Spelling Bee, which means “brilliant”, “dazzling”.  Coincidentally (again), Eclat is the name of the French perfume she wears from famous French perfumery Fragonard.  She found this fragrance on a family trip where we visited the Fragonard perfume factory in Eze, France.  So she was well familiar with this word! 

So you see, in addition to art treasures, history, cinema,  gourmet cuisine, wine, champagne, cheese, pastries, tourism, literature, architectural wonders, french perfume, fashion, and pomme frites — we have yet another reason to love France and the French!  Spelling Bees!  Vive la France!

On Monday, I had the privilege of visiting the Merriam-Webster’s headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts to meet with John Morse, Merriam-Webster’s president and publisher, James Withgott, Vice President, and Hilary Hoffman.

Walking through the massive front doors, I was immediately struck by the overwhelming sense of history embodied in that enormous brick building. America’s first dictionary was produced by none other than Noah Webster in 1806 and was entitled A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

Merriam-Webster can be considered the direct lexicographical heir of Noah Webster, because in 1843, the Merriam-Webster company bought the rights to the 1841 edition of Webster’s magnum opus. Since then, the company has grown and adapted with the changing times – from pocket dictionaries, to electronic dictionaries, to websites designed just for children. And yet, Merriam-Webster has remained a true piece of Americana. I mean, who hasn’t had a red Merriam-Webster dictionary at their desk since the third grade?!

For a self-confessed word nerd like me, this visit was truly a thrill! I got to explore the firm’s amazing collection of dictionaries through the last 160 years, which were displayed in a hand crafted glass and wood case that was larger than my living room and most likely cost more than my house. I also got to learn first-hand how new words are added with each evolution of the dictionary — something I had always wondered about!

But the most exciting part was discussing the potential of future collaborative efforts between the great folks at Merriam-Webster and McNeill Designs. On the table was a new game venture (still hush-hush), as well as the potential for a joint effort in the new interactive white board application of You’ve been Sentenced! created by Arizona State University.

Partnering with the leader in defining the English language, the true American word authority, would be a dream come true! Will it happen? Stay tuned!

It’s not easy to live in America and not follow the traditional American diet.  As a vegetarian I am highly aware of this.  Therefore I tend to try to send nothing but happy thoughts to my fellow non-traditional foodies, be they gluten-free, vegan, kosher, etc….  However I kind of have a beef (pun intended) with one group of them right now.  I’m looking at you pescetarians.

It is absolutely cool that you choose to abstain from all meat but fish.  I don’t agree with it, but I respect it.  What really pisses me the fuck off though is those of you who are running around claiming to be vegetarians.  You are not vegetarians!!

From Merriam-Webster: vegetarian: one whose diet consists wholly of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products

Do you see fish listed in there? Are fish vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, eggs, or dairy products? No? Then you are not a vegetarian! You are a pescetarian.

Here’s Merriam-Webster to help you out again: pescetarian: one whose diet includes fish but no meat

I know. You’re sitting there going Why does this woman have such a problem with what I call myself, right?

How you label yourself directly impacts me.  It’s hard enough to be a vegetarian and have to explain to people things like it’s not appropriate to give your vegetarian niece marinara sauce cooked with meatballs in it, even though you’re not giving her meatballs there is still meat juice all up in that.  I know you face things like that yourself when you explain that you don’t eat chicken.  Pescetarians running around calling themselves vegetarians means I now repeatedly have this conversation:

Me: “I’m sorry. I can’t eat that.  It has fish in it, and I’m a vegetarian.”
Person: “Vegetarians eat fish.”
Me: “Um, no they don’t.”
Person: “But I know someone who’s vegetarian, and she totally eats fish!”

You are making things more difficult for us vegetarians.  It’d be like if I ran around calling myself vegan and gnawing down cheese.  Vegans already are a bit confusing to the public, how much more would that confuse them then? You are just wrong.   You are using the wrong word for your diet.  Even freaking Merriam-Webster says so.  I know pescetarian is a funky-sounding word and you will probably have to explain it a bit more to the public since it is not as well-known as vegetarian.  Do it anyway.  It’s what you are. If you really want to call yourself a vegetarian stop eating damn fish!

Laodicean • \lay-ah-duh-SEE-un\ • adjective

: lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics

sockdolager • \sock-DAH-lih-jer\ • noun

1 : something that settles a matter : a decisive blow or answer : finisher

2 : something outstanding or exceptional

fatuous • \FATCH-oo-us\ • adjective

: complacently or inanely foolish : silly

Link to Today’s WOTD

quodlibet • \KWAHD-luh-bet\ • noun

1 : a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; also : a disputation on such a point

2 : a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts

Link to page

Well, not quite. But it seems the traditional dictionary is sorely in need of replacing. Outdated, insufficient and lacking context, more and more wordsmiths are eschewing the traditional lexicographical sources for on-line help.

Julia Angwin at the Wall Street Journal points out the flaws of the traditional method here. Angwin opines that Google has become “our database of meaning” and that the traditional sources – Merriam Webster, Oxford English, American Heritage – have become obsolete.

It sounds a bit fantastical to be asserting that the mish-mash of Google information is somehow more valid and usable than the carefully curated lists compiled by expert lexicographers at the publishing houses.  However, a Google search will yield a quick list of definitions from on-line dictionaries and links to examples using the term in context. In other words, you can quickly search out the background information lexicographers themselves use when compiling dictionaries.

Angwin points out the biggest hurdles dictionaries face in remaining relevant in the world of Google:  lack of usage examples, infrequent updates and space constraints. Google has none of these drawbacks. However, there also is a sometimes obvious lack of curatorship on-line, which can lead a researcher astray with out-of-date definitions and incomplete entries.

Angwin presents a third option that somewhat addresses the shortcomings of both traditional dictionaries and Google. Wordnik is an on-line resource started by the former editor-in-chief of the Oxford American Dictionary. Wordnik currently contains more than 1.7 million words and more than 130 million examples of word usage. Wordnik relies on the American Heritage Dictionary  of the English Language, Fourth Edition and Roget’s II, The New Thesaurus Third Edition, so Wordnik, in some ways, is no better than these original sources. Wordnik does equip the resource with lots of sample sentences, providing a better sense than traditional sources provide of proper usage .  Wordnik also is attempting to update its database more frequently than traditional resources, offering new words, definitions and usages as they become available.  Wordnik adds other information for words, such as related words, images, statistics, audio pronunciation, and user-contributed data.

Best of all, Wordnik is free, and not the nearly $300 per year on-line subscription price for the OED.

Another on-line resource to enhance your research experience!

What color is it?

Well, what are we talking about?

An elephant. An oyster. A moody sky. A town in Maine. A city in Georgia. A brewing company. “What’s-her-name’s Anatomy.” One of the lonelier colors in the big box with the cool sharpener.

That’s right — it’s gray. Or is it grey?

Gray can be gorgeous — no matter how you spell it.

The answer depends on your location. If you’re stateside, the color is gray unless it is a person’s or company’s preferred spelling or if you’ve checked Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for first-mentioned spellings.

There are, as always, a few wild hairs:

• Greyhound (a dog, a cocktail)
• Earl Grey (a tea)
• Grey friar (a Franciscan friar)

If you’ve hopped the pond, however, the colour is grey. While you’re in UK English-speaking countries, feel free to use grey as often as you wish, as it is the preferred British spelling.

If you’re writing with the AP Stylebook in mind, however, it doesn’t matter where you are; gray is the way to go. And you know how I feel about the AP Stylebook, don’t you?

Happy trails!

SAK

Every year, the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition has some new words added to it, based on if words meet criteria for inclusion. Shaq played against Jimmy Kimmel last night in Scrabble on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Shaq made the case for the following new words:

• giro (GUY-roh)
  “This is for all the people that like to eat, like I like to eat: giro.”
  Examples: “Giro salad, and there’s lamb or you could put chicken in it.”
  See also: gyro (not to be confused with giro, a service of European banks)
• rigiro (REE-guh-roh)
  “It’s Italian pasta, you know what it is.”
  Example: “Can I get some rigoro with cheese?”
  See also: rigatoni
• equoted (EE-kwoh-tid)
  “If I go online to try and get insurance, I can get an equote online.”
  Example: “eBay, equote.”
  See also: esurance
• vagonado (vah-goh-nahd-OH)
  Jimmy Kimmel: “If you and I were to take a shower together, I would see your vagonads (vah-goh-nahdz).”
  “But then after you see the sides, you’ll go vagonado! Vagonadooooo!”
  See also: hung

Part 1:

Part 2:

Other Shaqtastic Scrabble playing:

Here’s a dodgy problem.

Which one is correct: Toward or towards? Backward or backwards? Forward or forwards?

OK, so it’s not that dodgy. It’s pretty simple, really. Let’s focus on toward vs. towards and realize that the answer will be valid for all -ward words.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, as well as a host of other dictionaries and Web sites, both versions are technically correct. But one is — how shall I say it? — more technically correct than the other.

Toward, backward, forward, leftward and any other directionally influenced -ward words are used primarily in the United States. Words that add an “s” at the end are primarily British. One guy even did a Google test to see if this is true and found out that, lo and behold, it stands up to a Google search.

For me, the real test is looking it up in the AP Stylebook — the bible of journalists, ad agencies and many writers — and the answer is clear: Toward is the correct term and towards is unacceptable. End of story.

There you have it — unless you want to sound British for some bloody reason, you cheeky bugger.

Happy trails!

SAK

Termenul “sincretism” în sensul cel mai modern, reflectat de scrierile lui Henri Wallon şi Pierre Bourdieu,  este bine tratat în DEX. Să mai adaug că în uzajul modern,  termenul sincretism a fost folosit, -din câte ştiu–,  pentru prima oară de academicianul Alexandru Duţu într-un text românesc din anul 1964, anume în cartea “De la act la gândire”, traducerea unui text franţuzesc de psihologie scris de Henri Wallon. Iar Alexandru Duţu, trebuie să notăm, fusese influenţat de mişcarea culturală Rugul Aprins, expresie a umanismului bizantin. Însă termenul  sincretism are şi două conotaţii mai vechi, ce nu mai sunt menţionate în DEX. Cred, totuşi, că acele conotaţii au deosebită importanţă pentru cultura românilor, pentru istoria culturală a românilor.  Este util de aceea să apelăm la dicţionare  străine. Ce le reamintesc. De exemplu Merriam-Webster : “New Latin syncretismus, from Greek synkrētismos federation of Cretan cities, from syn- + Krēt-, Krēs Cretan / Date: 1618 / 1 : the combination of different forms of belief or practice /2 : the fusion of two or more originally different inflectional forms.”

Or, arta cretană influenţează bisericile Craioveştilor din Oltenia. Îndrăznesc a spune aici că picturile din acele biserici olteneşti transmiteau umanismul bizantin.  Dar ideologia artei cretane influenţează şi pictura lui El Greco. Domenicos Theotocopoulos  creează figure înalte, filiforme, de oameni şi sfinţi în tablouri mult preţuite  de patronii lui din Romania Neoacquistica iberică. Ideologia ortodoxă a Comnenilor şi a Paleologilor era unită de cărturarul cretan Eremia Cacavelas cu ideologia europeană a Contra Reformei, sau ideologia Romania Neoacquistica, într-o sinteză care va influenţa educaţia Domnitorului Dimitrie Cantemir.

Pe vremea antichităţii precreştine, în insula Creta fusese construit Labirintul care ascundea ferocele Minotaur. Dar influenţa cretană asupra noastră, cel puţin asupra Olteniei, a fost cu totul alta decât influenţa Labirintului. După 1204, insula bizantină Creta era ocupată de veneţienii care nu interferă cu ideologia înălţătoare a Comnenilor, după cum îngăduie şi noua ideologie a Paleologilor în teritoriul cretan ce-l vor păstra până la 1669. Astfel observăm în Creta un interval semi-milenar de continuitate ideologică ortodoxă. Este o sursă pentru ideologia bizantină care ne influenţează şi acum. Iconografia cretană a Paleologilor se mai vede la noi în pictura din bisericile Craioveştilor, experţii au scris doveditor. După cum ideologia legăturii dintre spaţiul ceresc şi spaţiul pământesc, adică ideologia Comnenilor, este incorporată în Coloana fără Sfârşit. Constantin Brâncuşi declara în mod explicit care este semnificaţia complexului sculptural lucrat de el la Tîrgu Jiu : ‘Stâlpul Nesfârşitului este negarea Labirintului.’

Paleologii sunt prima dinastie bizantină cu herb  : Vulturul Bicefal. Nu ar putea fi considerat Stâlpul Nesfârşitului  ca un simbol heraldic pentru Comneni ?

Prin sincretism, da.

Titus Filipas

Thank you, Forest Gump for that inspiration. And neither am I a journalist as qualified as E J Dionne of the Washington Post. But  nevertheless, I read a column of his today that at first left me confused and then a bit  concerned.Mr Dionne was writing in general about Republican attacks on the Democrats’ health care proposals(translation, Obamacare?) and specifically about a claim made by Virginia Foxx, a Republican from  Banner Elk, NC. She said several days ago that the Republican approach to health care would be  more pro-life than that put forward by the Dems. She said the Republican plan “will not put seniors in a  position of being put to death by their own government”. Now, Ms Foxx, who has  a PhD and was formerly a professor at my alma mater of Appalachian State, is presumably not stupid.  However, Mr Dionne calls her notion  ludicrous and that it  is taking off in the right-wing blogosphere. Who knew that the  blogosphere  was divided into wings and which one am I in and can I go back and forth? Guess that is  a topic  for another day.    

  Anyway, what  the columnist and congresswoman are apparently  referring to  is  Section 1233 of the House health bill. He says it has nada to do with euthanasia. Rather it merely provides Medicare$ so seasoned citizens can consult with their docs and obtain”an explanation by the practitioner  of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available.” Now, I read this line several times and read it aloud to  my wife. The more I read it, the more chilling it became  to me. Merriam-Webster online defines continuum as ” coherent whole characterized as a collection , sequence or progression of value or elements varying by minute degree” Ok. The continuum of end of life services-don’t you just love that term- then must progress  by  minute stages towards what? Who is the practioner  referred to? Family physician , Jack Kevorkian type- don’t know.

To me, this particular provision seems to open a door in which euthanasia might, just might, become a bit easier an maybe, just maybe, a bit more frequent. after all, do not forget that we  have scarce medical resources and that seasoned  citizens do take  a  disproportionate share thereof.  Just tossing the issue out for thought and consideration.  Especially since I am moving further along the  path of seasoned citizen.

Epiphany: a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b: a revealing scene or moment

epiphany. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Retrieved July 31, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany

Somewhere in my travels I heard a summarization for the meaning of this word as a moment of clarity, which is what my latest travels have brought me. Saving the best of the story for last, I will tell the news part first (in hopes that I will not have to retract this statement later). In an earlier post Decisions, Decisions… I mentioned that I wanted to change my server over, but in a cost effective way. Due to clearing of the mind, and some more in-depth searching, I believe I have found the answer to the issues at hand. Once I get the final word in on it, I will be posting again to tell you what will be happening.

More to the point of this post is my 18 And Older Only page. I have written a few bits on the page, but I have had huge issues because of what I called “writers block”. I have laboriously toiled over the issue, without any real ideas. While I wish that I could say that I was smart enough to figure out what the problem was, I can only truthfully say that I was only smart enough to listen to someone who knows me well enough to point out the problem. Either way rose’s words brought me enlightenment. To view the changes please go to the link titled 18 And Older Only link in the beginning sentence of this paragraph.

Questions that you would like answered, comments or suggestions regarding the site itself, email me at Bouncerman@Bouncerman.com

If only there were some way that the blogger for Yahoo! News could look up the correct spelling of Merriam-Webster:

I know! I know! Maybe if she clicked the link it would take her to the dictionary’s Web site! Of course, that would presume the writer cared about such trivialities as spelling.

Perché i media italiani non traducono la escort

di antonellaferrara 

aggiornata la pagina La primadonna in rassegna

Questioni di traduzioni:  la parola escort. 

Così, a orecchio, ‘escort’ fa pensare a scorta, donna di scorta = ruota di scorta, da usare come sostituta di una titolare bucata, sgonfiata, consumata, e, in quanto nuova, da far correre tra le più curve delle chicanes, e gettare nelle vie periferiche della città dopo averne fatto uso, pronta ad essere rimpiazzata con altra collega acquistata presso rivenditore autorizzato, mentre ancora abbiamo le narici piene dell’acre odore della gomma nera incollata sul pietroso asfalto.

Donna di escort, puro corpo e mero oggetto, da tenere a portata di mano quando serve, che definisce le sue funzioni nel nome, di scorta appunto, senza altre pretese. Chi la usa per gettare discredito, chi invece per farne sottaciuto vanto. E’ una sorta di porta girevole, che permette a tutti di entrare dal lato che si preferisce e che rivela, ad ogni giro, sordidi angoli di piacere e lurida compiacenza: appunto solo oggetto di piacere e nient’altro l’una, appunto solo fruitore di piacere e niente altro l’altro. E tutti gli altri a guardare, e niente altro loro. Una escort non si traduce, trasferisce, conduce, traspone, altrove. E’ lì, rannicchiata, ripiegata, ready-to-use, pronta all’uso.

Di 21° secolo, di conquiste della di civiltà moderna (anche femminili), non c’è niente, neanche il nome, che è di scorta alla più formidabile nomenclatura delle puttane.

Particolare del servizio alla D'Addario, pubblicato sul blog di Novella 2000

Approfondisci alla pagina La primadonna in rassegna: The Escort.