Warning: this post deals with language some will find offensive. In this post I’m using euphemisms, but the links below don’t. Don’t click on them unless you’re OK with this sort of thing.
Last week journalists tied themselves in knots trying to convey what was so offensive about Anthony Scaramucci’s comment referring to Steve Bannon’s self-absorption without actually quoting him accurately.
John Oliver had a lot of fun showing various clips of TV journalists trying out all sorts of ways to avoid using his exact words. Oliver of course—being on HBO—was able to pierce through the fog.
Elliot Hannon in Slate explored the same territory, and interestingly chose to call the term in question an “anatomical improbability,” unlike many other journalists who fell back on the cliché “anatomical impossibility.” A quick Web search demonstrates graphically that Hannon’s wording was more accurate. Auto-fellatio is rare but quite possible. They were confusing it with auto-sodomy, truly impossible.
Auto-sodomy is almost always used in the context of hostile suggestions telling someone to “go ______ yourself.”
In contrast, the notion of auto-fellatio refers to people narcissistically absorbed in their own narrow view of the world.
The whole controversy was made possible by the New Yorker’s decision some years ago to use four-letter words whenever they seem appropriate.
And Scaramucci, by referring to Bannon’s metaphorical auto-fellatio, wound up truly auto-sodomizing himself out of a job.
Last week journalists tied themselves in knots trying to convey what was so offensive about Anthony Scaramucci’s comment referring to Steve Bannon’s self-absorption without actually quoting him accurately.
John Oliver had a lot of fun showing various clips of TV journalists trying out all sorts of ways to avoid using his exact words. Oliver of course—being on HBO—was able to pierce through the fog.
Elliot Hannon in Slate explored the same territory, and interestingly chose to call the term in question an “anatomical improbability,” unlike many other journalists who fell back on the cliché “anatomical impossibility.” A quick Web search demonstrates graphically that Hannon’s wording was more accurate. Auto-fellatio is rare but quite possible. They were confusing it with auto-sodomy, truly impossible.
Auto-sodomy is almost always used in the context of hostile suggestions telling someone to “go ______ yourself.”
In contrast, the notion of auto-fellatio refers to people narcissistically absorbed in their own narrow view of the world.
The whole controversy was made possible by the New Yorker’s decision some years ago to use four-letter words whenever they seem appropriate.
And Scaramucci, by referring to Bannon’s metaphorical auto-fellatio, wound up truly auto-sodomizing himself out of a job.
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