Scumbags suck!

[king ubu]

(Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/542291.htm)

Meanwhile: Dissing the dirt: Slang outruns its iffy past

Jan Freeman The Boston Globe

Thursday, October 7, 2004

BOSTON In a recent New Yorker magazine profile, Teresa Heinz Kerry got some grief for her grasp of English idiom after she called her detractors "scumbags." "I doubt that she knows the literal meaning of 'scumbag,' wrote the reporter, Judith Thurman, "but perhaps, after 40 years in America ... she should have learned it." Thurman does not, however, enlighten her audience; maybe she assumes that all New Yorker readers know what John Kerry's wife doesn't.

If so, I suspect she's wrong: When I wrote about the word in 1998, after a Republican congressman called Bill Clinton a scumbag, dozens of readers told me they'd had no idea of its origins. Though it's now usually just an all-purpose derogation, a cop-show synonym for "dirtbag," "creep" or "lowlife," scumbag originally meant "condom" (to many, "used condom" - scum being slang for semen). But if lots of people don't know this, do we really want to spread the word? Or are we better off letting scumbag enjoy life as a nonspecifically nasty term of abuse? A few slang words, after all, have outrun their unsavory origins. "Bollix" for "mess up" is no longer vulgar, having left "ballocks" in the dust; "nuts" (though it used to be euphemized "nerts") is likewise untainted by its past.

"Screw up" is now acceptable, though other uses of "screw" vary in their vulgarity ratings. "Futz around," which may be either a euphemism for you-know-what or a descendant of the Yiddish "arumfarzen" (no translation necessary), is not uncommon in print nowadays, and even "putz around" is gaining ground. (Its resemblance to "putter" may make it seem milder than "futz," though in fact its root is Yiddish slang for penis.) Origins are not, in any case, what make a term taboo; it was cultural consensus, not any secret meaning, that once made "bloody" Britain's worst swear word.

These days, though, consensus can be hard to find. Newspapers try to hold a conservative line on language - The New York Times, for instance, will print "crap shoot," but you can't say "crap" unless you're Lyndon Johnson (and dead). But print editors are the Canutes of usage, trying to turn back the usage tide rolling in from TV, pop music and the Internet. For would-be gatekeepers, the speed of slang evolution keeps reviving the essential scumbag question: How dirty can a word be if nobody knows it's dirty? For the past decade, the slang word most delicately balanced on this usage bubble has been "sucks," as in "Mom, these sneakers suck."

Seven years ago, when I first wrote about it, I was sure it was headed for respectability: The kids using the term had no sense of any sexual meaning, after all, and (as my then-teenage daughter pointed out) the new usage was intransitive; there was no grammatical object being sucked. Sucks may have been borrowed from the slang for fellating, but innocent employment, I thought, would neutralize its iffy past. It had respectable relatives, too. "Sucks to you!" (origin unknown) had been ordinary British youthspeak since the early 20th century, and "suck up to," though probably of indelicate ancestry, was so thoroughly domesticated that in 1953, C.S. Lewis used it in one of his Narnia books for children.

Besides, "suck" has so many standard uses that you can't really quarantine the syllable. "Sucker" meaning "dupe," for instance, is merely a babe in the woods, a still-suckling newborn; and to children in many parts of the country, a sucker is an innocent lollipop. But I didn't reckon with the literalists, who decided kids should know this was a bad word, even if they'd prefer that someone else explained why. We could have told the kids "sucks" was short for "sucks lemons" and left well enough alone, but no: Parents banned it, then Boston Red Sox baseball fans adopted it for their (increasingly pathetic) anti-Yankees slogan, and some of them, just to show that they really meant to be crude, dragged their rivals' star shortstop into it, wearing their "Yankees suck" T-shirts with "Jeter swallows" on the back. This is a shame; though every civilization needs a store of taboo words, "sucks" is a useful slang verb. The finger-waggers say we should use "more descriptive" words - "the Yankees are evil," perhaps- but in fact, "sucks" energetically fills a syntactical role that would otherwise belong to "to be," that essential but uninspiring verb. Strunk and White ("Use the active voice") would have to approve, and so do I.

Jan Freeman's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.

Edited October 12, 2004 by king ubu

[Jazzmoose]

Aw, that just blows...

[couw]

Aw, that just blows...

Moby Dick?

[DTMX]

Aw, that just blows...

Moby Dick?

Call my ass Ishmael.

[Tim McG]

Dirtbags is cool.

What is Dirtbag Baseball?

The unofficial nickname of Long Beach State 49er baseball team refers to the program’s style of play and success against higher profile programs. The moniker was first coined for Coach Snow’s first team in 1989 which was comprised of nearly all new players. Playing without a home field (LBCC, Cerritos JC and Blair Field), and practicing at a local all-dirt Pony Field, that team won its first 18 games and advanced to the 49ers first College World Series appearance. Then-infield coach Dave Malpass would take his infielders to the all-dirt field for their rigorous workout. The infielders would return to the regular practice field after their sessions covered in dirt. Thus the name “Dirtbags” was born. The name resurfaced again in 1993 when the 12-12 49ers rallied to win 34 of their next 41 games and finish three outs short of the National Championship game. The “Dirtbags” were once again a fan favorite at the 1998 College World Series as the country received a lesson in “Dirtbag” baseball.

"Being a Dirtbag is more about the attitude that you play with. You are required to give 110% all of the time."

-- Jeremy Ward, Triple A Pitcher, Diamondbacks

“Being a Dirtbag means giving 100 percent in everything you do...going all-out on every play, and always putting the team before yourself.”

-- Bobby Crosby, Athletics Shortstop

“It’s a badge of honor. It means you play hard all the time. I’ve always considered myself to be a Dirtbag.”

-- Steve Trachsel, Mets Starting Pitcher

“A Dirtbag is a style of playing the game of baseball. It is the type of player every team needs… Loves to play the game everyday… He maybe does not have all the skills of the greatest player, but his attitude and the way he commits himself to the game is what makes this Dirtbag great. Dealing with adversity is what completes being a Dirtbag. A team player at all times (hardnosed).”

-- Mike Gallo, Astros Pitcher

"Being a Dirtbag means you bring all you have to the table in every single game. It doesn't matter the conditions or who you're playing or where you're playing. You have to get down and get dirty and do what you have to do to win. It means giving up an at-bat to move the runner over, to hit the sac fly, giving it all until the moment you walk off the field."

-- Adam Heether, 11th Round Pick of Brewers in 2003

"To me the Dirtbags means a great time in my life. I enjoyed the camaraderie and excitement I had being part of the Dirtbags. I still go back for the alumni games and enjoy seeing my old friends. I guess you could say that you would have to experience it personally to really know what it means."

-- Rocky Biddle, Expos Closer

“We’re just a team that scrapes and gets the little things done to win. That’s what we are--Dirtbags. People that don’t understand that yet, don’t hafve a clue to what’s behind us.”

-- Chuck Lopez, Single-Season Record Holder for Hits

“Being a Dirtbag is great, it’s a great group of guys. We’re just players who like to get dirty and play hard. We’ll always battle every inning, every at bat – it’s just a hard-nosed way to play ball,”

-- Jeremy Reed, Double-A OF, White Sox

“A Dirtbag doesn’t have the greatest ability--on a scale from 1 to 10, you’re always a 5, but you always play hard and don’t care how pretty you look. You just get after it.”

-- Brian Whatley, Starting Catcher on 1993 CWS Team

“It was a tremendous honor to be a Dirtbag. Being a Dirtbag means you’re a never-say-die player who puts it all on the line all the time.’’

-- Terrmel Sledge, Triple-A OF, Expos

Jason Giambi was a Dirtbag, too.

[Jazzmoose]

"Being a Dirtbag is more about the attitude that you play with. You are required to give 110% all of the time."

-- Jeremy Ward, Triple A Pitcher, Diamondbacks

Math majors need not apply...

[DTMX]

"Being a Dirtbag is more about the attitude that you play with. You are required to give 110% all of the time."

-- Jeremy Ward, Triple A Pitcher, Diamondbacks

Math majors need not apply...

You'd think someone who could quote baseball statistics all the way back to Abner Doubleday could could add percentages. Picture of Abner giving it 110%: