Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I really should read my own blog.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

People are weird.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / We’re Doing It Live!

We’re Doing It Live!

by | 138 Comments

This post is in: 

Looks like we are back. I hope you all enjoyed WordPress Error as much as I did today, but the blogmistress informs me we are moving to a new server soon. And there was rejoicing.

Consider this an open thread, but please point out any glaring omissions, typos, factual errors, or formatting problems in the dictionary.

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  2. 2.

    General Winfield Stuck

    informs me we are moving to a new server soon.

    Two Weeks/

    **The dictionary is cool, but I must live a sheltered life, because of large number of terms that are completely new to me. Or maybe I just don’t read so good.

  9. 9.

    Jay in Oregon

    I was verra sad at the lack of Balloon Juicery today.

    Still taking it one day at a time. Hope arguingwithsignposts pops in to say hi.

  10. 10.

    Jeanne

    Just wanted to say I read the “Jane Hamshers of the left” thead today. I have never laughed so hard in my life.The commenters on this blog are the best. I also now get who Darrell is. This blog is great, wordpress errors and all.

  13. 13.

    Jeanne

    Just wanted to say I read the “Jane Hamshers of the left” thead today. I have never laughed so hard in my life.The commenters on this blog are the best. I also now get who Darrell is. This blog is great, wordpress errors and all.

  14. 14.

    Zifnab

    we are moving to a new server soon: Professor Cole’s way of saying they are simply paying him too much for his taxpayer mooching University gig. If you can afford new servers, John, I SHOULDN’T BE PAYING YOU ALL MY TAXES!

    Alt: A consoling platitude intended to lure BJ readers into a false sense of security before the next round of FYWP. See also, Placebo Effect.

  16. 16.

    burnspbesq

    Y’all had wordpress error.

    I had the TSA and United Airlines.

    I think y’all had the better of the deal.

  17. 17.

    smiley

    I thought it was “Baby Blue Cherub” rather than “Powder Blue Satan.” Anyway, I don’t know how wide spread PBS is but I think Markos started using BBC after Atrios starting using GOS. But, then, I’m not sure if I am aware of all internet traditions (rolls eyes).

  20. 20.

    Warren Terra

    So, if anyone cares, I tried to compile a list of terms that still might require definitions from the last couple of Dictionary Threads. I wound up with more than a hundred terms (some of which are just rephrasings of each other), and posted them in four comments to the previous thread, starting with this comment.

    Edit: And having gone to all that effort, I look at the first ten or so comments on this page and already I find a term I missed: Death Panels

  22. 22.

    James K. Polk, Esq.

    There’s nothing an agnostic can’t do if he doesn’t know whether he believes in anything or not.

  25. 25.

    JK

    John,

    A few questions about the Search Function in Balloon Juice?

    1. Is it possible at any point in the future, to have 2 search boxes, one allowing you to search for keywords contained in the posts written by yourself, Tim, Doug, Anne and a second search box allowing you to search for keywords contained in the comments?

    2. Would it be possible at any point to allow visitors to be able to perform keyword searches within date ranges?

    The Balloon Juice Dictionary looks outstanding so far.

  26. 26.

    SGEW

    btw, I think that the event that (presumedly) inspired the title of this very post may deserve it’s own an entry into the dictionary glossary.

  30. 30.

    jl

    @Colette: Tunch runs things (Lily is her very capable and eager understudy: please see the recent tunch and Lily pix) and he has been extra cranky lately. Need to have daily welfare checks on Cole, to see whether Tunch has finally decided he has put up with just about enough already, and has killed and eaten Cole in the middle of the night.

  31. 31.

    JK

    Brachiator and Kirk Spencer,

    Thanks for your interesting replies to my comments about YouTube and the copyright issue in last night’s thread.

  32. 32.

    Bas-O-Matic

    Ancient and hermetic order of the shrill, The- A club organized by J. Bradford DeLong (e.g.) that welcomes any and all pundits whose coherent and ultimately correct prognostications are dismissed by opinion leaders as ‘shrill.’ The ritual invocation of patron saint Paul Krugman goes as follows: Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Krugman R’lyeh wagn’nagl fhtagn! Aiiiiiii

    This is not exactly right. The Ancient and Hermetic Order of the Shrill, as explained by Brad Delong in the post A History of the Shrill, was (and is) for “those who have been driven into shrill unholy madness by the mendacity, incompetence, malevolence, and disconnection from reality of George W. Bush and his administration.”

  35. 35.

    smiley

    @Kiril: With what? The attribution, the eye rolling, or both? BTW, I am not a Kossack or an Eschatonian. I read the front pages of both but never beyond that. Just too tedious.

  37. 37.

    freelancer

    @Stooleo:

    It really is, it actually is serving some useful purpose in that I’ve been able to turn a couple people onto the site by saying, “Start here because we speak a different language.”

  40. 40.

    JK

    @freelancer:

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Balloon Juice experiences a big boost in traffic as The Dictionary expands in size and positive word of mouth spreads.

  41. 41.

    RedKitten

    The dictionary is absolutely delightful. It provides a great way to catch up for those who are new here. And for those of us who have been around for years, it provides some rather hilarious trips down memory lane.

    Great work, everybody.

  46. 46.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Jeanne:
    I too read the Hamsher thread……I must say, wingnut-era Cole is much the same as libtard Cole, maybe a little meaner (but not much). It was an eye opener especially as I just barely missed the whole right to left conversion (I started reading awhile after the ’06 election, say first quarter of 2007). I guess this Hamsher thread for John would be somewhat the equivalent of Jesus’ in the Wilderness, as he really doesn’t seem at home with any particular ideology in that time period (& in my opinion, that can only be a good thing for anyone, wish I was less partisan myself sometimes, because then at least I could see things from the other side a bit better).

    Anyway, let’s stay off topic, since apparently I go into concern troll mode too often when talking politics (I’m working on it). Anyone here on a diet? I’m on my first one ever. I’ve always been a big tall dude so it’s not so terrible but I noticed finally that I was actually sucking it in like I used to when I was an awkward chubby teenager. It’s not cool to say “diet” anymore apparently because diet equals “temporary” to some people, so we’ll just call it a radical permanent lifestyle change, which involves less eating and more sweating, every single day. I haven’t lost a pound yet in three weeks, somehow, and yet I feel much better and I can already tell my work shirts fit better, so that’s a start. Hard to lose much weight when you’re gaining so much sexy muscle I guess.

    My point is, though: dieting radical permanent lifestyle change sucks, but I’m still doing it after three weeks now and if I can do it, I reckon anyone can, so if anyone’s thinking about it, I say go for it, because even if you don’t reduce your dress size, at least you’ll be able to pick up cars with your bare hands and effortlessly crumple them up like a Starbucks cup. Or you know, you’ll feel like you can.

  48. 48.

    R-Jud

    So do y’all think that the glorious BJ glossary has made Sully long for his own community with a seekrit langwidge to the point where he’ll open up his blog for comments like a real man?

    Me neither.

  49. 49.

    Warren Terra

    More nitpicking the Dictionary: the “Stenographers” term gives the credit for popularizing the term to Glennzilla, but I’m pretty sure the term was used extensively by Atrios way back before Glenn was blogging.

    (And, of course, my favorite Nitpick of the dictionary was the commenter who in the previous thread insisted that it’s really a Glossary, not a Dictionary. Haven’t bothered to figure out whether I agree, I just love the nitpick.)

  51. 51.

    freelancer

    Wow, anyone see this?

    Representative Eric Cantors response paraphrased: “Sell or auction all your belongings. After you reach a certain poverty threshold, apply for Medicaid, the federal medical insurance for the very poor. If that’s not enough apply for indigent services.”

  55. 55.

    RedKitten

    @freelancer: What a douche. Of course, this is a person who will never lose his medical coverage, so it’s very easy for him to blithely suggest that people basically become homeless and destitute in order to pay their medical bills.

    If there is any justice in the world, he’ll lose his seat and his insurance someday and have to apply for private insurance, and will hopefully someday be dropped and have to sell all of HIS assets due to a medical condition (nothing deadly — I’d never wish that upon anybody, but something like gout would be nice.)

  56. 56.

    Bill H

    @R-Jud:
    Are you kidding? Sully cannot even write his own posts any more. His posts consist only of quotes from other blogs with one liners of meaningless tripe to tell you what is supposedly the reason why he is quoting the other blog.

    I think he got that from the borgs that inhabited the space while he was away.

  57. 57.

    bey

    The Dictionary is fab, but it has a sneaky side effect: it made me kinda miss Our Trolls Of The Past, so…….I checked in on myiq.5u over at riverdaughter.

    Still fighting the SC primary over there /snerk

  58. 58.

    General Winfield Stuck

    lexicon?

    Yes, from the world of DFH blogging. Or, Lexicon, man (- or dude-)

    You won’t find it WEbsters.

  61. 61.

    Violet

    Love the dictionary! Glad to see it get recognition around the blogosphere.

    @Jason Bylinowski: Starting a diet of sorts. Trying to give up sugar, wheat and dairy, although I’m going to fail miserably on the last one. I’ve got all sorts of unspecified problems and I know I feel better when I’m off the sugar. It’s like a drug for me. I know wheat isn’t really good for me either, although I’m not celiac.

    Anyway, I’m on day two and it’s like going through some kind of drug withdrawl. I feel awful most of the time and have zero energy. I don’t suppose I can blame this on the flu shot I got yesterday?

    A friend I saw on a trip last week has been doing this wheat/sugar/dairy-free thing for several years now and says it basically saved her life. I am hoping for some moderately good results. But as with all this stuff, I can usually stick it out for awhile, but after several months I drift off the wagon.

  64. 64.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @R-Jud: Heheh, good point, and I betcha it does burn him up jut a tad to be missing out on all the fun…..but not so much that he would actually condescend to join his commentariat. Oh lordy, all that rough talk! & When Andrew gets the vapors, you betta jus’ betta move the coffee table because that man is goin’ down.

    The biggest part of me loves the guy (and I don’t even know why) but it is plain to see that he is a bit of a diva.

    But I’m equal parts proud and ashamed that I know very nearly every term currently up on the, ahem, CONCORDANCE (just to submit my suggestion for the title of this thing, dictionary is semantically fine, but just lacks the sort of cultural focus that CONCORDANCE supplies).

  68. 68.

    cleek

    i’m not sure how to tag this one, but it needs to be memorialized: PowerLying 7/19/07 gets proof that Beauchamp was fibbin:

    I am looking now at a 1/32nd scale model of a Bradley, and I can say with some assurance that the driver’s hatch is on the left side of the vehicle. Immediately to the driver’s right is the engine compartment, the cooling grill of which rises above the level of the driver’s hatch, making it impossible to see anything on the right side of the vehicle. Even if the driver was head-out, he still couldn’t see anything to his right below the level of the top deck (all armored vehicles have significant blind spots close in, which is why they need dismounts to protect them from RPG guys in foxholes). So, if, as the blog says, the driver “twitched” the Bradley to the right, he must have used extrasensory perception in order to catch the dog. Because there’s no way he knew the dog was even there.

    “sandbox” ?

  69. 69.

    jl

    @Warren Terra: Oh yes, I agree. The Bobo entry should link to the article that examines Brooks’ claims to be actually doing some kind of fact based research in his pop social psychology writings. If at all possible, include that link.

    The part where she contacted Brooks and he accused her of being unethical in fact checking his work is priceless.

  70. 70.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @freelancer:

    There’s room for both. Shouldn’t leave any wingnut term of derision out, seems to me. i’m a splitter in taxonomic terms.

  72. 72.

    Warren Terra

    @ General Winfield Stuck. #61

    It’s Mighty Wurlitzer, a Cole original brainfart. Should be included,

    Sadly, No (link via Wikipedia).

    Also, without having any conscious notion of the CIA-tinged stuff at my first link, I was aware of the term long before I was aware of Balloon Juice. I’m not sure where I learned it, but I certainly was a subscriber to TAP when this 2002 This American Prospect article was published.

    I think The Mighty Wurlitzer deserves inclusion, or at least consideration, but it’s not something Cole invented.

    Edit: I see that Cleek and I submitted posts essentially identical in substance (their first word, their point, their most important link) at about the same time. Except I’m just a wee tad more prolix than Cleek.

  73. 73.

    Betsy

    @SGEW:
    Oh, God above, that made me laugh. I’d never heard of that particular comic. Thanks for the introduction. :D

    @RedKitten:
    Nice to see you! How are you and the little one doing?

  75. 75.

    R-Jud

    @Bill H: Yeah, I was pretty much kidding. I haven’t really bothered with Sully’s blog since he turned it green.

    @Jason Bylinowski:
    Crossfit. And Crossfit Endurance. Go there and do what they tell you (just don’t read the comments as it’s chockablock with wingers).

    It is hard– you will have to scale down or substitute things (unless you can do handstand pushups? I am not that bad-ass myself). In nine weeks I have lost 22 lbs, dropped my best-ever mile time by 25 seconds, and gone from a 143 lb. max deadlift to 220 lbs. I wish I had started doing it in May, when I was cleared to start exercising again after my kid was born.

  76. 76.

    Comrade Mary

    Now that the site is kind of stable, I’d like to apologize for my outburst at Dreggas the other day. I can be a little quick-tempered sometimes, and there were definitely better ways to respond that I should have chosen instead.

  82. 82.

    freelancer

    And just because no reference to BillO’s dust-up can be mentioned without also seeing the brilliant remix,

    Here ya go.

    “Don’t yell at me, I’ll bounce this binder off that half-deflated basketball you call a face.”

  87. 87.

    bey

    Isn’t there some way to work Redkitten’s response into the “I can see Russia from my house” entry? It’s a classic.

    And thank you thank you thank you for including the Kevin James beatdown. I laughed so hard I cried.

  88. 88.

    smiley

    @Violet: Unless you’re diagnosed with Celiac, or maybe Crohn’s, what’s the point of quitting wheat? Bread? Pasta? WTF? (is that in the dictionary yet … OK, I’ll go check).

  90. 90.

    asiangrrlMN

    @smiley: I am both lactose-intolerant and allergic to wheat. It doesn’t stop me from consuming either, but I regret it afterwards. So, now, I am back on the wheat-free, dairy-free train. We’ll see how long that lasts.

  91. 91.

    Dulcie

    Are punch in the neck and/or kick in the junk in the dictionary/lexicon/glossary? I know they’re both common, but they have a special kind of meaning when John uses them in blog posts.

    My favorite thread ever is the skull fuck a kitten thread. I laughed so hard I cried that day, and I’m glad to see it made it into the dictionary/lexicon/glossary

  94. 94.

    Trinity

    @freelancer: I sent the BJ dictionary link to my sister and her best friend who are journalists. The subject line:

    This is my world.

    They LOVED it. My sister loved Hoekstroika especially because (poor dear) he’s her congressman

  95. 95.

    RedKitten

    @Betsy: Hey Betsy! We’re both doing great, thanks for asking. I’ll have to take some more pictures of him soon for John to post. The little guy is eating like a champion, and is getting really cute, with those adorable, squishy cheeks.

    The child actually slept 7 hours straight last night, which was absolutely wonderful. I’m not betting on that happening again tonight, but it was certainly a nice respite from the middle-of-the-night feedings.

  97. 97.

    RedKitten

    @bey:

    Isn’t there some way to work Redkitten’s response into the “I can see Russia from my house” entry? It’s a classic.

    Aww…thanks, bey!

  98. 98.

    Fencedude

    After reading the Jane Hamsher thread, I think the “Jane Hamsher’s of the left” entry needs to be modified to include:

    (Note: “The Jane Hamsher’s of the Left” does not include Jane Hamsher)

  99. 99.

    Penfold

    Typo in entry for “I Smell a Pulitzer!”: “…whether or not Obama was sneaking smoked during the 2008 primaries.” I’m assuming this is probably intended to be “sneaking smokes.” Kind of trivial, yet it antagonizes my inner English major…

    I think there was another random typo that escapes me now. Alas. BTW, the dictionary is awesome. Also.

  100. 100.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @R-Jud:

    22 f’in pounds? What your calorie restriction? Wait, don’t tell me, I’ll just get more depressed. Oh well, good on you and me too, as I do feel better even if I am not getting offical results yet. But I will check that site out, thanks.

    @Violet:

    Well good luck to you, sugar is hard to let go of (longtime addict of Mike and Ike and anything made by Willy Wonka). My difficulty is two-fold, but not insurmountable: I was vegaphobic and completely sedentary. One is my fault, and one is not. I’m just a picky eater and always have been since I was a baby, but my New Year’s Resolution was to turn over a new leaf and for once I actually kept a resolution (tonight I ate watercress, broccoli, and cooked carrots, all of which I hate but am starting to tolerate). Unfortunately I still kept gaining weight like crazy because I was completely rewarding good behavior with bad (usually and entire box of Mike and Ike’s while reading the blogs at night). The lack of exercise comes from my history of having bad hip problems. I can’t run or walk very fast without a blowout so I had to pony up and craigslisted a nice stationary bike. Turns out, that was a good idea because it is working.

  101. 101.

    Hiram Taine

    Anyone familiar with Kirk Cameron’s release of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” with a 50 page foreword “debunking” it needs to see this video, “Origin of Stupidity” wherein a smart, beautiful Romanian woman does a hilarious job of verbally disemboweling Kir-k..

  103. 103.

    CalD

    Dictionary comment:

    Kerning is a typographic term that refers to making fine adjustments in letter spacing, e.g., to make typeset headlines more visually pleasing. Onlyest time I can think of when the term ever came up in a political discussion though would have been the (GW) Bush / Texas ANG / 60 Minutes brouhaha, which seems like a bit of a reach. So perhaps there’s some more colloquial meaning that I haven’t run across.

  104. 104.

    jetan

    Now that they are in a dictionary, there are some of these that can never be used again, lest we dork. Others, however, deserve wider usage because they explain so much.

    jetan + three.

  105. 105.

    EL

    My favorite John Cole “punch in the neck” moment was here

    I would like to take a moment and inform all of the people on this blog and elsewhere in my life who recommended Twilight to me that at some point, when you least expect it, I will punch you in the neck.

    We love you John, but that was funny as hell. The responses on that thread were pretty good, too.

  106. 106.

    srv

    ENTRY:

    Civility Thursday: A long-lost tradition in which left and right trolls would be polite and complementary to one another.

    Krista’s Michael Moore Ass Photo Award: Awarded to anyone who completes a complex set of tasks to become a moonbat or DFH. As in “Please perform either an abortion (for pleasure, naturally) and a gay marriage within the next seven days to confirm your status.”

  109. 109.

    les

    Damn, I believe I can add a not-entirely-lame effort to the lexicon:

    IANAL: I am not a lawyer–standard disclaimer by ordinarily competent commenters, attempting to parse the workings of our, uh, representatives.

    or something like that. From a lawyer, who shares the general frustration with our, uh, “representatives.” (KS–Roberts and Brownback. Fuck me to tears.)

  111. 111.

    srv

    JUMP THE SHARK: Term used to describe the precise moment when something has past its’ zenith and begun a rapid decline in quality.

    The origin is from a Happy Days episode in which the Fonz performs a ski jump over a shark, because the show’s writers had completely run out of ideas.

  112. 112.

    hamletta

    I remember the origin of The Clenis!

    It was in an Atrios thread, and it was coined by Jennifer, who sometimes posts here, but has had a falling out with Atrios and/or his community of commenters. I’m pretty sure it’s the Jennifer who’s an architect in Arkansas.

    It was in Bush’s first term, and the wingnuts were blaming Clinton for everything, and Jennifer made a comment about Bill Clinton’s penis was responsible for all the world’s ills, so we should call it The Clenis.

    Or something like that.

  113. 113.

    VidaLoca

    The dictionary would not be complete without an entry for Cindy Sheehan and the high regard John has for her.

  114. 114.

    SGEW

    I daresay that this lexiconic glossary/dictionary has stepped from harmless B-J specific navel gazing, to a wider-ranging injoke collection, to an outright attempt to compile all internet traditions.

    Where will the line be drawn? Will lines be drawn?

  115. 115.

    OriGuy

    @CalD: When Obama first posted his birth certificate, some self-proclaimed expert claimed that it had to be phony because “the kerning was all wrong”. He was ignoring the fact that the document displayed was produced by computer after Hawaii had digitized their records.

    I could probably come up with a better definition, but dinner is on the table.

  116. 116.

    Chuck Butcher

    “He Has A Book To Sell”

    Useful for simply disregarding an argument, not matter how factual or valid

    not / no

    You said typos…

    Reading it was an exercise in LOL

  117. 117.

    Chuck Butcher

    @Jason Bylinowski:

    If you are both correcting your diet and performing heavy exercise you will likely not lose weight because you are building muscle mass which is more dense than fat. A better way to judge in that case is a tape measure as opposed to a scale.

    In my humble opinion the best measure is how you feel physically.

  120. 120.

    Canada Kyle

    Wow, I’ve only been reading BJ since this fall or so (linked via Sully, who I have since dropped). I tried the archives occasionally to figure out some of the stuff, but that shit is overwhelming, y’all. The lexicon is cracking me up/seriously helping me figure this blog out.
    Good work.

  128. 128.

    lambert strether

    For old-school Eschatonians, this might count as an omission:

    Duck Pit
    The origin of the term is obscure; everyone talks about the duck pit, but nobody ever says where it is, what it is, or how the people destined for it will get there. Believed to be a Babylon 5 reference, however. Usage example: Aux duck pits, citoyens I found this at Orcinus: “Some liberal commenters, for instance, on certain threads I read have devised, satirically, a “duck pit” into which all conservative minions will be cast on the day of liberal reckoning, there to be nibbled to death by a thousand hungry ducks.” If I remember correctly, it originated in comments at Atrios, as a response to violent threats by Right Wing trolls. Sometimes sillines and absurdity are are a good antidote for hatred.

  131. 131.

    lambert strether

    Omission: Theocon.

    Theocon
    A political operative who manipulates the religious impulse to attain personal or organizational power; in the United States, generally a “conservative” SIC.

    Prob. back formation from “neocon” (neo-conservative). First seen by this writer in a column by Sidney Blumenthal excerpted back here.

    Usage example: The theocons are setting up a madrassa to train staffers for the White House at Patrick Henry University.

  134. 134.

    lambert strether

    Among the missing:

    Bankster

    Blogosphere, blogtopia.

    Blog whoring

    Fainting couch — Where one heads, after clutching one’s pearls.

    RL — real life (that is, not the blogosphere)

    Troll

    Wanker

    * * *

    Teabagging:

    1. The act of taking a scrotum into the mouth for sexual pleasure

    Since this definition allows the possibility of taking one’s own scrotum into one’s own mouth, it might perhaps be revised.

  136. 136.

    Persis

    Daydream Believers:

    those who firmly believe in the power of staring out the window, contemplating nothingness and everythingness, imagining how things could be, how they wish things could be, without the aid of computers, ipods, television or any other kind of technology.

  137. 137.

    Persis

    Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage

    This is the church at which I prayed in the long dark years of Bush–
    I’m going back there to relieve myself of my disgust about the Bank Bailouts, budget cuts in California, and assholes who oppose healthcare reform. It’s the only church I could ever get myself to worship at!

  138. 138.

    AnneS

    Suggestion — Keep fucking that chicken!
    Tentative definition — comment of encouragement to an idiot statement or action.

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