Not only was yesterday exhausting with a 2.5 hour law class at 11:30, and then Taxation for the Dead for 1 hour 15 min at 5:30, but my train was canceled so I got home at 9 instead of 8. Argggh. No energy for Owl Chatter. That may happen a lot on Wednesdays this semester.
There was a big to do among the commentariat yesterday involving our University of Pennsylvania, but, thankfully, unrelated to the dreadful goings -on there that have been a topic in the regular news lately. It started (voo den?) with the puzzle. At 62A the clue was “Philly school,” and the answer was UPENN.
jberg started things off calmly enough with: “I have a couple of friends on the faculty of that Philly school, and a grandson attending as a student, and its informal name is PENN. No extraneous letters.”
Northwest Runner got a little snippy with: “Can someone please tell the Big Ten alumni at The NY Times that there’s no such school as UPenn? UMass, yes, but for that other state with lots of syllables it’s just Penn.” (mmorgan then noted: As someone who went to Penn and taught at UMass, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!)
Elena ramped things up a bit: ”As a Penn alumna, it really gets my goat every time I see ‘UPENN’ in this puzzle. Dear Mr. Shortz: The school is called Penn or the University of Pennsylvania. It is not ‘UPENN.’ That is its email address.”
Hrrrrumph!
Anony-mouse responded with:
“Elena, Fight on Pennsylvania!! And though I appreciate any Quaker fighting the good fight, the battle has been lost. And as you note, it’s strictly owing to the email address. I feel your pain. It’s awful. But I take solace in the fact that at least I’m not a Cornell man. Or, God forbid, a Brown grad. Anyway, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for the Red and the Blue.”
But the final word was had by a commenter Penna Resident:
“Every time UPENN appears there are complaints that it isn’t a thing. My wife has a PHD from Penn and worked there, and while most people do not say ‘U Penn’ it is used (not just as in upenn.edu which was her email), especially when talking to people from other parts of the state/country who automatically think Nittany Lions football when you say ‘Penn.’ I understand that some people may not like it, just like some people are offended by ‘philly,’ but that doesn’t make the answer incorrect. the clue was not ‘most commonly used abbrev for a philly school.’
My wife worked in the office that controls intellectual property, and:
“The University’s online style guide says that while Penn is the officially sanctioned term, UPenn is permissible … in situations where it may help to distinguish Penn from other universities within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
wikipedia also disagrees:
“The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a…”
Sexism in the NYT puzzle department? It’s hard not to notice that many of the great New Yorker XW puzzles these days are by women. Robyn Weintraub is the most beloved of them, but there are also Aimee Lucido, Anna Schectman, Brooke Husic, Elizabeth Gorski, Caitlin Reid, Wyna Liu, and others. But Rex noted that in the NYT, in January, there wasn’t a single puzzle constructed solely by a woman, and only six involved a woman as a co-constructor. (There were 23 solo male constructors.) What gives?
Some commenters thought it was absurd to insinuate Will Shortz, puzzle editor at the Times, is discriminating. He’s gay himself, and has plenty of women on his staff.
Andrew wrote: ”Calling (or clearly implying) someone is a racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe/xenophobe is all too common about those with whom we disagree/misinterpret. These are serious aspersions on one’s basic character (not their ill-conceived posts or bad one-off judgments; it’s condemning their basic unchangeable essence!)”
dgf replied:
“Andrew, Not speaking for Rex, but to say that criticism on the subject of sexism is automatically a major attack on someone’s character is demonstrably wrong. Researchers have shown time and time again that sexism, and of course also racism, is often unconscious. Happens all the time. Bias is an extremely difficult problem to deal with precisely for that reason.
I am sure Shortz et al are not consciously biased against women constructors but the odds are very high that they are unconsciously biased. That’s not a character attack.
On the other hand, refusing to accept the idea that you may be biased, is a legitimate subject of criticism.”
Nancy chimed in:
“Andrew, thank you for the voice of sanity you provide and for your refusal to condescend to or patronize those of us who Rex seems to feel are ‘the weaker sex’ — in that we’re unable to stand up for ourselves.
“You pose the question: ‘Have any female constructors encountered such resistance?’ Well, I’m a woman — albeit one who works with a male collaborator — and while, like all constructors, I may feel the NYT has made a mistake in turning down a given puzzle, I have never once remotely entertained the thought that it was because of my gender. Not even once.
“I’ve had the pleasure of a friendly and good-natured email relationship over the years with Will Shortz — and even a phone call many years ago. He is the nicest and warmest person you can possibly imagine. He’s responsive and completely approachable. I cringe for him ever time Rex makes a mean and gratuitous comment.
“I do think the NYT was misguided when they turned down [a recent submission of mine], which was one of my personal faves, but never in a million years would I think they turned it down because I’m a woman.”
Dr. A gets the last word:
“As per the gender imbalance and the commenters complaining that Rex is mentioning it over and over, it’s very important to women. The puzzles that Aimee Lúcido and Brooke Husic and Robyn Weintraub are constructing are incredible and seemingly everywhere EXCEPT the NYT. It’s a huge issue because they are apparently purposefully discriminating against these and other excellent constructors for the very reason that they are in fact women. There are way too many of them for this to be some kind of coincidence and given the poor quality of the puzzles that ARE making it through in the NYT lately (and there are some really really bad ones) that makes it even more astounding. I still do this puzzle because I love the blog and it is not really something I would get without doing the puzzle. But other places are publishing much better puzzles and many of them are by women.”
Here’s Shortz, simpsonized. Does he look like a sexist to you?
S. J. Perelman was born on this date in Brooklyn in 1904. He was a very funny man. He started as a cartoonist, turned to essays, and then Groucho Marx coaxed him to write screenplays, including those of some Marx Brothers movies. He hated Hollywood, though, and later returned to essays.
He wrote: ”There are nineteen words in Yiddish that convey gradations of disparagement, from a mild, fluttery helplessness to a state of downright, irreconcilable brutishness. All of them can be usefully employed to pinpoint the kind of individuals I write about.”
Perelman had two kids but regarded children as a nuisance. His son Adam committed several robberies, was accused of attempted rape, and ended up in a reformatory for wayward boys. The two things that brought Perelman happiness were his MG (automobile) and a mynah bird, both of which he pampered like babies.
Our Pistons lost to a strong Cleveland squad last night, 128-121, in Ohio. But Cade’s back and the boys are at least making their games competitive. The Owl Chatter sports department will take an up-close look at the team when they come to Brooklyn to face the Nets in April. Phil picked up some tix for us. Thanks, Buddy! First five beers are on us!
According to a front page story (!) in yesterday’s NYT, with Taylor and Travis exploding the boundaries of pop-star and pro sports mega-stardom, the right-wing lunatics of the MAGA world are starting to panic over the damage their potential endorsement of Biden could wreak on Trump. Dipping their toes into the pools of idiocy, they already disparage Trav for his pro-vaccine ads. And Taylor endorsed Joe B. in 2020, why wouldn’t she do so again? She has long been active in pro-choice and pro-LGBTQ circles.
Of course, rather than simply concluding reasonably that the couple may support the progressive causes that a majority of Americans favor, MAGA world is instead coming up with typically insane conspiracy theories: that Tay is a secret agent of the Pentagon, or that the couple are “contrived” to boost the dreaded Covid vaccines or other nefarious causes. Taylor is reviled and, more notably, feared, since that time she exhorted her followers to register to vote and 35,000 promptly did. Like that’s a bad thing.
According to the NYT article, pro-Trump broadcaster Mike Crispi claimed the NFL is “rigged to spread Democrat [sic] propaganda.”
Some of the attacks on Swift are hysterical: she’s after Kelce for his money. (I’m not kidding.) And Fox News host Jesse Watters actually said this on the air: “Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this? Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting.”
Owl Chatter’s question for Watters: What color is the sky in your world?
To be sure, though, they can’t be happy about these statements of Swift’s:
“I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for L.G.B.T.Q. rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG.”
“I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
As things heat up it’s hard not to expect some bad blood.
You tell ’em Taylor!
See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 