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You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / STUPID Venality Open Thread: ‘Monkey It Up’, Repubs!

STUPID Venality Open Thread: ‘Monkey It Up’, Repubs!

by Anne Laurie|  August 29, 20187:29 pm| 93 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Open Threads, Post-racial America, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, All Too Normal, Assholes, Bring On The Meteor

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It's never too early for racist dogwhistling! https://t.co/rk7CcESXM6

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) August 29, 2018


 
So… where do we chip in for a Gillum ad using his opponent’s Kinsley gaffe?

Per the Miami Herald:

… “He is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views. And he’s a charismatic candidate,” DeSantis said of Gillum. “I watched those Democratic debates. None of that is my cup of tea but, he performed better than the other people there so we’ve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction. Let’s build off the success we’ve had with Gov. [Rick] Scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That’s not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.”…

Articulate… charismatic… he performed better… Y’ever wonder if the Repubs miss President Obama almost as much as us sane people? Cuz their current Dear Leader, nobody is gonna be able to throw such accusations at him.

"Monkey this up" is not a remotely common idiom. Only 17K Google hits, most of which refer to DeSantis's comments today. By contrast, "monkey around" gets more than 7 million hits. pic.twitter.com/QUmyclxLl7

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 29, 2018

ETA:

Democrats: We reject racism.
Republicans:*says racist crap.*

AP: Clearly this is the fault of both sides.

Me: ? pic.twitter.com/c1AHTRisOL

— Elizabeth Rogers (@ahumorlessfem) August 29, 2018

EATA (via commentor R-Jud):

But you will find a couple of references to the phrase on car repair forums. The phrase means “messing up a repair badly because you don’t know what you’re doing.” Here are a couple of examples. It is very, very common in southern repair shops. pic.twitter.com/LunXfH4IZl

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) August 29, 2018

The same thing holds true for a far-right wing GOP governor candidate from Florida.

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) August 29, 2018

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Previous Post: « The Racist Motherfuckers in the White House Never Stop
Next Post: Nobody Expected Such A Great Negotiation »

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 29, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    anybody watching the Cuomo-Nixon debate?

    Simon Maloy @ SimonMaloy
    *extremely* strong self-own from the governor here

    Gideon Resnick @ GideonResnick
    Getting chippy now as Cuomo asks Nixon to stop interrupting. She responds “can you stop lying?” He says “as soon as you do.”

    he wants to be president?

  2. 2.

    japa21

    August 29, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    As I told Mrs Japa this morning when this first came out, “Don’t monkey this up” is a phrase I have never heard. “Muck it up” is the phrase I am most familiar with.

  3. 3.

    R-Jud

    August 29, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    Useful thread here: “Importantly, the phrase is a first-cousin of another more well-known racist phrase, “n*****-rigging.” It has the same meaning.”

  4. 4.

    Mike J

    August 29, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    I have heard “monkey up, but not used this way. He used it like “foul up.” There’s an entry for “monkey up” in ESR’s jargon file, which is a glossary of computer argot from the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Monkey up in his usage is like “whip up” but very shoddy. Something you just throw together because you only need it to last 5 minutes. I’ve never seen any racial overtones attached to this usage, but that’s not to say that somebody, somewhere didn’t try.
    http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/monkey-up.html

    I seriously doubt DeSantis was using Usenet slang from the 80s, and if he was trying to, he did it wrong. On linguistics alone it’s much more likely this was a racist dogwhistle. Then when you add DeSantis’ personal history, it becomes a near certainty.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    August 29, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    Evening BJ peeps…had my first class as a grad student yesterday. It was interesting being inside a classroom again.

    Anyhoo…so I’m still going through Aretha Franklin tributes. Gotta the latest issue of EW which is an Aretha Franklin tribute issue. It discussed the tributes pooring from other artist, across all genres.

    Two stand outs from country music!!!

    This was not half bad…go ahead Miranda Lambert.

    Miranda Lambert – Aretha Franklin tribute – The Bandwagon Tour https://youtu.be/9r1JXpD6nR4 via @YouTube

    this wasn’t bad either…well damn the country singers doing better than the damn MTV pop artists!

    Chris Stapleton | Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Aretha Franklin) | The F… https://youtu.be/AI8KsALbgro via @YouTube

  6. 6.

    Aussiesmurf

    August 29, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    Its like those dudes that try and work the word ‘n*ggardly’ into a sentence and, when called on it, protest about how ‘its an actual word! I used it in good faith!’

  7. 7.

    Mike in NC

    August 29, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    There are a pack of GOP mini Trumps running for various offices. After seeing the fawning stupidity of the DeSantis ads, we’re expecting to congratulate all our friends in Florida about their next governor. People will quickly get nostalgic for Rick Scott.

  8. 8.

    jl

    August 29, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    I think Gillum’s response is excellent.

    Full Andrew Gillum: ‘I Have Been Unapologetic In My Beliefs’ | MTP Daily | MSNBC
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly8NBktQeBw

  9. 9.

    oatler.

    August 29, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    As goes Florida Man, so goes the nation.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    August 29, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    I’ve only heard monkeying around.

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    August 29, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    I normally like Laura Bassett of HuffPo but on Tweety’s show with Kornack sitting in she described Gillum as “far left”, instead of just “Democratic” candidate.

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    August 29, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    People will quickly get nostalgic for Rick Scott.

    This is the darkest timeline.

  13. 13.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @Mike J:
    I’m a walking encyclopedia of computer jargon from the 80s to the teens . I never heard “monkey it up”. Kludge, hack (bad code, not breaking and entering), and the ever-present “fucked up beyond recognition”.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    August 29, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    In my entire life I have never heard, “Monkey this up” .

  15. 15.

    Bill Arnold

    August 29, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    Since open thread, for those who have friends and/or acquaintances obscessed with persecution of religious minorities like Christians or Jews, how do they react to moves like this?:
    China Declared Islam a Contagious Disease – and Quarantined 1 Million Muslims (As you can probably tell by the snark, Eric Levitz, Aug. 28, 2018)

    At first, Beijing was content to reserve its concentration camps for suspected radicals. But, as the Atlantic’s Sigal Samuel explains, they eventually decided that the Uighurs’ ideological malady was so destructive and contagious, it was best to quarantine them prophylactically, upon the slightest apparent symptom (like, say, the appearance of a long beard on an Uighur male’s face).

    Fortunately, the United States remains, for now, the world’s preeminent military and economic power. And as president Trump made clear in his speech withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement, our country is deeply committed to spreading religious freedom, individual liberty, and other human rights throughout the globe. So, is there any reason to doubt that Trump will make the liberation of the Uighurs America’s top priority in its next round of negotiations with China over trade policy?

  16. 16.

    Joyce Harmon

    August 29, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    I was struck by “articulate”. White people are called “articulate” about as often as young people are called “spry”.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    August 29, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @oatler.:

    As goes Florida Man, so goes the nation.

    Found dead of drowning in a two inch deep puddle?

  18. 18.

    JPL

    August 29, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @Corner Stone: Florida man and not in a nice way.

  19. 19.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    I hope Gillum is as alike Obama as he appears to be.
    He should give a speech at the DNC 2020. I was sold that night in 2004.

  20. 20.

    Joe Falco

    August 29, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    There is an attack ad about GA gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams featuring a tap dancer that’s about a half step away from saying “shuck and jive.”

  21. 21.

    Hungry Joe

    August 29, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    @Aussiesmurf: “Niggardly,” meaning stingy, tight-fisted, comes from Old Norse and is etymologically unrelated to the n-word. That said, there are plenty of English words that mean the same thing, and since this one sounds almost exactly like the hated, offensive one, and quite naturally sets people off when they hear it or see it (most people are unfamiliar with “niggardly”), it’s not much of a sacrifice to retire it from the language.

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 29, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @Mike J: so sort of similar to monkey-patching.

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    August 29, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    I hope Bill Nelson takes a fucking hint and drops his “white guy with a stick up his ass” soft shoe routine, and understands his future elected status hinges on the enthusiasm that’s coming from diverse communities, specifically AA. Ride them coattails, Billie! Ride ’em!!

  24. 24.

    Aussiesmurf

    August 29, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @Corner Stone: Me either, but then neither of us hang out with racists.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    August 29, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    Worst post-Lane in-need-of-a-machete parts of the property mowed and gone over again twice more to mulch, including the no longer scraggly berm streetside. Had to be extra cautious as the riding mower’s tires were prone to spinning on the still damp parts and to skidding sideways on anything more than the gentlest of turns. All the rest can wait until everything is dry.

    @Corner Stone

    Agreed.

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes. Monkey it up, no.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    August 29, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    @NotMax:

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes.

    Million monkeys banging on keyboards to produce Shakespeare.

  27. 27.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    @NotMax: Monkey with something, yes.

  28. 28.

    FelonyGovt

    August 29, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Not my circus, not my monkeys. But never “monkey it up”.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    August 29, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    In his tweets on Wednesday night, Trump said “there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games.”

    Trump, referring to himself, added: “Besides, the President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before.”

    His suggestion that all military exercises with South Korea and Japan had been suspended indefinitely directly contradicted what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the day before.

    Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Mattis said the U.S. military “suspended several of the largest exercises, but we did not suspend the rest.” He said “there are ongoing exercises all the time on the peninsula.”

    Mattis added: “So the exercises continue. What it means in practical terms is that we’re making no changes to the exercise program at this time.”

    Here we go again.

    Mattis says one thing, Trump contradicts him the next day.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    August 29, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    Barney, we miss you so much:

    Over the course of the interview, Cohen tried to convince Frank, who represented the state’s Fourth District from 1981-2013, that Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was actually a conspiracy theory manufactured by CNN, or the “Communist News Network,” as Cohen called it.

    “I think that’s deluded,” Frank said of “Ruddick’s” take on the “Access Hollywood” tape.

    “Deluded? Well, that is an insult, sir,” Cohen replied.

    “Yes, it’s meant to be,” Frank said.

  31. 31.

    The Lodger

    August 29, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    Anyone check in with Gary Hart yet?

  32. 32.

    different-church-lady

    August 29, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @Hungry Joe: It’s already retired from the language. The only time people use it today is when they think they’re being cute about their racism.

  33. 33.

    tobie

    August 29, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @Corner Stone: I don’t understand how any Senator up for reelection in a swing state can just be dialing it in. Is it laziness? a death wish? entitlement? I really just don’t get how Nelson can’t see the urgency of the moment and precariousness of his position.

  34. 34.

    Steve in the ATL

    August 29, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: lots of people want things they will never have, and Cuomo will never come as close to being president as Sarah Palin did.

    Steve who is, against all odds, actually in the ATL

  35. 35.

    chris

    August 29, 2018 at 8:30 pm

    @different-church-lady: That’s wonderful!

  36. 36.

    Mary G

    August 29, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: How is Mrs. Steve feeling?

  37. 37.

    TheOtherHank

    August 29, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    And even if he meant it exactly the way he’s been backpedaling, who cares? If you’re talking about an African American person, and you have a half a brain in your head, you don’t use the word monkey unless you want to sound racist. What a maroon.

  38. 38.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 29, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    @different-church-lady: ha!

  39. 39.

    TheOtherHank

    August 29, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    And don’t get me started on “articulate”

  40. 40.

    Platonailedit

    August 29, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    The rethugs are going to let their full blown racist flags fly in 2018. And the fucking msm will be peddling he/she is an extreme left candidate flags fly.

  41. 41.

    jl

    August 29, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    @TheOtherHank: In the clip I posted above, Gillum goes out of his way, with a wry smile, to assure Todd that his response will be ‘articulate’. Then I think without saying so explicitly, Gillum calls out DeSantis for exactly what he’s trying to do: rile up his racist base, and stir outrage amongst the libs, in order to gin up more outrage among the racist base.

    I think Gillum knows the best way to handle it and executes it perfectly, and that he will be a formidable candidate.

  42. 42.

    Cermet

    August 29, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Trying to tell people the truth was, as the Greeks knew too well as their story of Cassandra demonstrates, is mostly a waste of time.

    AGW in the next thirty years will bring havoc like few will believe. Within that time frame, war and destruction will sweep across must of the world. As oil goes dry (all the remaining available liquids will be far too costly to exact), then crops fail throughout much of the world far too often due to heat and drought; and paradoxically, floods will grow far worse damaging many regions at times, all leading to not millions, but many hundreds of millions being forced to flee the heat, war, and famine; even the US will suffer like we have never done before.

    I hope real alternate energy is developed (certainly fusion would be a major breakthrough but if it does manage to work, it will be extremely costly so only a few rich countries could afford it and its usefulness even for these countries will be very limited.) But that won’t feed the masses of people nor stem the terrible nature of the equatorial regions becoming uninhabitable due to heat. If new very contagious and deadly viruses spread (and I hope the current ones are just aberrations) then the outlook for the world in the near future does appears poor.

    Seeing even now how current AGW is triggering current droughts, internal civil wars, growing racist hatred and all too ready religious intolerance, I do not like thinking how these “embers” will grow as the AGW continues to become far worse.

  43. 43.

    TeacherRyan

    August 29, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    Well, I feel stupid. I grew up in the south and it never occurred to me that “monkey it up” had racial overtones. I completely missed it and had no idea the phrase wasn’t used outside of the south, although now that I honk about it, I haven’t heard the phrase since I left 20 years ago. You learn something new every day, thanks to racist Republicans.

  44. 44.

    DissidentFish

    August 29, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    @Joyce Harmon: I’ve been called articulate and I always took it as a compliment. I’ve also been called monkey to my face (I’m Indian-American). That was clearly not a compliment. And it was a very common slur in the 70’s and 80’s.

    I probably ought to re-asses how I feel about being called articulate. Maybe I don’t need to worry too much since age is weakening whatever articulateness I may have possessed.

  45. 45.

    John

    August 29, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    Not to defend a Republican or anything, but “monkey it up” is a quite common phrase where I grew up (Milwaukee) And it doesn’t have even remotely racist connotations to my knowledge.

    Sorry.

  46. 46.

    Corner Stone

    August 29, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    @John: Can you please give a usage?

  47. 47.

    chris

    August 29, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @Cermet: Depressing ain’t it? I’m not on the Near Term Extinction bandwagon but the more I read the more I revise my definition of “near term.”

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    August 29, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @John: BULLSHIT

    is it…look around you…who used the phrase? Your old white uncle, cousin, aunt…whoever?

    Does your one Black friend use it too?

    Please…if it’s a common phrase among a bunch of white people…and you’ve never heard it uttered across a diverse group…then GTFO

  49. 49.

    laura

    August 29, 2018 at 9:28 pm

    @lamh36: im hoping you soar in your Master’s Program and hope you share some experiences here.
    My Roadie brothers loved Chris Stapleton who opened a couple of shows for Guns n Roses last year. A massive bromance ensued.

  50. 50.

    Starfish

    August 29, 2018 at 9:29 pm

    That’s not a racist dog whistle. That’s an entire racist tsunami warning system.

  51. 51.

    different-church-lady

    August 29, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    @Cermet: But hey: autonomous cars!

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    @John: I am from Wisconsin and have never seen it before today.

  53. 53.

    FelonyGovvt

    August 29, 2018 at 9:38 pm

    It amazes me that we’re only 12 years or so removed from the “macaca” debacle where the Senate candidate was widely shamed for using that term to describe a young Indian American man. Now they throw out disgusting slurs proudly.

  54. 54.

    FelonyGovt

    August 29, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    It amazes me that we’re only 12 years or so removed from the “macaca” debacle where the Senate candidate was widely shamed for using that term to describe a young Indian American man. Now they throw disgusting slurs around proudly.

  55. 55.

    Platonailedit

    August 29, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    @John:

    Unknown John’s (lamest troll name btw) now piping in? LOL.

  56. 56.

    Belafon

    August 29, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    @John: If it were common, internet searches wouldn’t be sparse.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    August 29, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    The nudge-nudge, wink-wink racism of DeSantis’ words aside, he’s admitting that Gillum is making a strong case for the Democratic party’s policy ideas and demanding that Republican voters shut their ears to it, so that the Republican party can keep the governorship of Florida. Not a peep from DeSantis about Republican policy and how it’s better for Floridans, just “Resist the socialist tide! Keep my party in office!” Truly, the party of nihilistic partisanship.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    @John: @Omnes Omnibus: Also too, don’t try to tell us that Milwaukee (and I really love that city) has never had racism issues.

  59. 59.

    marv

    August 29, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    The salient point was made in Comment 3 – the expression “nigger-rigging” was the popular version of this racial slur, and in common use in the 20th century not just in the South, but throughout the good old USA. Why do we pretend we never heard this shit?

  60. 60.

    Platonailedit

    August 29, 2018 at 9:58 pm

    When the words “monkey this up” are used to refer to electing a man of color, that would be a blatant … https://t.co/SaLDWdlUgF https://t.co/r9yNl2DF4P

    — Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) August 29, 2018

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    @marv: I have heard and seen N-rigging before. I have also seen and used jury-rigging for the same purpose, “Monkeying something up” is mew to me. Don’t give cover to the racist.

  62. 62.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    August 29, 2018 at 10:01 pm

    @marv: I never heard it. I’ve been on this earth for 60+ years. Never heard “monkey it up” either.

  63. 63.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    @Cermet: Yes, but you are shrill for bringing it up

    /Shitheel

  64. 64.

    PJ

    August 29, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @Hungry Joe: A DC government worker lost his job (but was ultimately rehired) in the 90s for using the word “niggardly”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm

  65. 65.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Funny, it was known as Jerry-rigging in WNY when I was growing up, as well as the slur, of course.

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Your spelling may be correct.

  67. 67.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 29, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    @FelonyGovt:
    Contributing to Webb vs Macaca Allen way back when was fulfilling. Time to send a little cash to Gillum.

    Where’s Dougj! when you need him?

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 29, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    I hadn’t given much credence to the idea of Governor Cynthia Nixon. Based on the few minutes of this debate I have seen, the NY lege may be considering some version of the 25th amendment to get Cuomo out of there by Friday

    jordan
    Absolutely painful back-and-forth between Cuomo & Nixon here.
    Cuomo tries to accuse Nixon of being “a corporation” and donating as “a corporation” to get special favors in NYC.
    The “favor”?
    She requested no helicopters above “Shakespeare in the Park” so people could hear.

    The video is much, much worse that this tweet would suggest.

  69. 69.

    Steve in the ATL

    August 29, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Also too, don’t try to tell us that Milwaukee (and I really love that city) has never had racism issues.

    Neither has Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now if you’ll excuse m, I’m going to listen to the GAP Band.

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Are you dropping a bomb on me?

  71. 71.

    John

    August 29, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Usually something like “don’t monkey it up” meaning don’t mess it up.

    Not a phrase I’ve used in a couple decades, but I seriously doubt anyone was using it with racist intent.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    @John: Come the fuck on. In which neighborhood in Milwaukee was this a thing?

  73. 73.

    John

    August 29, 2018 at 10:36 pm

    @Belafon:

    If it were commonly used in a racist manner…

    Internet searches wouldn’t be so sparse.

    See how that works?

    But now it’s racist because some dipshit on the internet deemed it so. I guess all phrases with the word monkey in them are also racist, right?

    Done now.

    This is asinine.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 29, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @John: and you, a lifelong Democrat and two-time Obama voter and blah blah blah, have had it with this political correctness!

    You didn’t leave the party, the party left you!

    It’s getting so you can’t even tell a joke anymore!

    You don’t have a racist bone in your body, but…..

  75. 75.

    Platonailedit

    August 29, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    @John:

    Yes ‘John’, whitesplaining racism is asinine.

  76. 76.

    Duane

    August 29, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    @John: that shit was rascist when Howard Cossell said it on Moday Night Football 40 years ago. Done with you.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 10:49 pm

    @John: Where is used in Milwaukee? Pick a ward.

  78. 78.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Missed a word. Oops.

  79. 79.

    Bill Arnold

    August 29, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    @Cermet:

    AGW in the next thirty years will bring havoc like few will believe. Within that time frame, war and destruction will sweep across must of the world.

    How does this look as a sketch of an outline of a plan for avoiding billions of human deaths? (Billions of human deaths is the current “plan”; this is one (hidden) motivating reason for the rise of anti-immigration movements around the world; to provide political and ideological support for blocking climate refuges.) (This is an optimistic sketch.)
    (1) Emergency decarbonization[0] of the global energy economy. Massive investment in research on energy renewables and storage and transmission, and electric vehicles and freight transport and efficiency and etc. No compromise with the Fossil Carbon Extraction and Burning forces. None. In the fullness of time, they are mass murderers, on a scale never encountered previously by humanity.
    (2) Remedial blocking of 1-3% sunlight for the decades required to scrub the atmosphere of excess CO2, to avoid a runaway greenhouse scenario. In a pinch, decades of nuclear autumn as a few cities (or maybe forests) per year are evacuated and burned with thermonuclear-initiated firestorms. (It being hard, not to mention immoral, to trigger controlled nuclear exchanges.) Or SO2 injection into the upper atmosphere, or something else. (Perhaps E. Musk could be focused on spending the next few decades of his life placing a sunshade at L1, e.g. using materials from asteroids and self-replicating supply and construction machinery. :) )
    (3) Large numbers of nuclear-powered carbon sequestration engines to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, operating for decades. Perhaps they could also produce electricity, or desalinate seawater, or provide steam heat for cities. If somebody figures out how to do it effectively and quickly and differently, great (e.g. biotech of some sort, or a flotilla of self-replicating solar powered carbon sequestration ocean rafts that drop solid carbon (hey, maybe diamond!) to the sea floor.)

    [0] On my to-read list: The politics of decarbonization and the catalytic impact of subnational climate experiments (7 March 2018)

  80. 80.

    frosty

    August 29, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @NotMax:

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes. Monkey it up, no.

    My Dad’s expression for screwing something up on a repair was “we buggered it up”. Never heard monkey it up in any context.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 29, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    @John: Internet searches would find it. Fuck off. Don’t use Wisconsin to normalize your shit.

  82. 82.

    frosty

    August 29, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Jury-rig is correct. AFAIK it’s an old term from sailing ships.

  83. 83.

    PenAndKey

    August 29, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Funny, in at least one particular rural corner of Western Wisconsin along I-90 the phrase was certainly in use as a generic “fucked something up by being stupid” remark when I was a child 20 years ago.

    Seriously, when did pointing out life experiences instantly bring out the knives when they don’t match a thread narrative? I can’t believe I’m actually commenting for the first time in years over something as asinine as this, but the vitriol you’re all showing at the slightest provocation is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    August 29, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @PenAndKey: Sorry you find it “asinine”.

  85. 85.

    Platonailedit

    August 29, 2018 at 11:51 pm

    @PenAndKey: New nym, old garbage.

  86. 86.

    Steve in the ATL

    August 30, 2018 at 12:08 am

    @PenAndKey: go back to lurking until you learn to be a better commenter

  87. 87.

    Steeplejack

    August 30, 2018 at 1:47 am

    @A Ghost To Most, @Omnes Omnibus:

    No, jury-rig is the original, as in “put together by a committee.” Jerry-rig is a later variant probably due to mishearing and misspelling the original.

  88. 88.

    Annamal

    August 30, 2018 at 7:43 am

    Even if it is a common and non-racist phrase where DeSantis comes from he should still apologise and rethink his phrasing.

    Steven Adams absolutely did not have any racist intent when he referred to other players as “little monkeys” (which in a New Zealand context would be the equivalent of calling them scamps) but he still apologised and hasn’t made that kind of a misstep since (being a Tongan kid on a scholarship to an expensive private school, I’m going to guess his own life was not free of racism which might help him listen to other people if they tell him he’s a crossed a line)

  89. 89.

    PenAndKey

    August 30, 2018 at 7:48 am

    @Platonailedit: Old garbage? This’ll be cute. The only reason I don’t use my old nym is that it’s been so long since they installed the new “mobile theme” and I stopped being able to comment easily that I’ve forgotten it, so enlighten the class and who exactly do you think I am that feel a need to insult me? This’ll be rich.

  90. 90.

    mere mortal

    August 30, 2018 at 9:35 am

    My thoughts on this have been rather fluid.

    First, I was thinking it’s a nothingburger, he wanted to say “fuck it up” but couldn’t, so who cares.

    But I’m swayed by the other context AL noted from the comment.

    Still not sure it’s a “macaca” moment or explaining that he was actually talking about “blah people”, but I’m prepared to understand that it’s pretty bad.

  91. 91.

    Scott P.

    August 30, 2018 at 10:06 am

    My assumption would be that Gillum’s brain crossed “screw this up” with “monkey around” and created a portmanteau.

  92. 92.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    August 30, 2018 at 10:47 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I had heard “monkey it up”, but apparently was too dumb to get the racial connotation.
    I have heard “n****r-rig plenty of times. Even I get that one.

  93. 93.

    PenAndKey

    August 30, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    @mere mortal:

    That’s pretty much my take on it. Where I’m from the phrase is a way to swear without swearing, basically. In Florida it may be different. I’m not a mind reader so I can’t be sure what Gillum meant by it, but i can’t see attacking him for it being anything but red meat for our own base amusement.

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