A discussion was triggered by 40D in the puzzle yesterday. The clue was “Like un homme with a Napoleon complex,” and the answer was PETIT. Rex noted:
This was weird. I guess you had to go to French because PETIT is a word in English only in legal contexts. PETITE is a word, obviously, but it’s got that “E” and applies almost exclusively to girls and women. In French, “PETIT” just means “small” (masc.), so a man can be PETIT there. I am a tall man myself, so whatever complex I have, this ain’t it, but I do have to say “Napoleon complex” seems like a “derogatory social stereotype” (wikipedia’s words), a way of mocking guys for being short, perhaps for doing the very same (obnoxious) things that taller men do all the time. If you know a number of short guys who are “overly aggressive or domineering,” consider how many average-sized and tall guys you know who behave exactly the same way. You can criticize a short man for various shortcomings and leave his shortness out of it (see also fat people / fatness—even more so).
JJK wrote: I would say a Napoleon complex is when someone (a man) feels he has to compensate for being short, so he goes out to show all the big tall men that he’s just as virile and masculine as they are by, e.g., trying to conquer the world.
Anony Mouse #1: Yes but you are attributing that “need to compensate” to him, on what basis? It’s like the whole dumb thing of saying guys drive big trucks or talk tough etc to “compensate” for small penises. It’s made up and based on Your own prejudices (against short men, against small penises). Guys are assholes because they’re assholes, not for some biological shortcoming.
Anony Mouse #2: Nope. Napoleon complex is mocking someone for their behavior. No one would say Richard Reich has a Napoleon complex and he’s practically a little person. Shortness is a requirement of the Napoleon complex but in of itself not sufficient.
Anony Mouse #3: This only makes Anonymous’s point. If a short person is domineering, how is that any different from a tall person’s being domineering? Why are you bringing shortness into it? A: easy prejudice. This is like how people who don’t normally make fun of fat people will Absolutely bring fatness into it if they Don’t like someone. Like, the president is an awful human being but mocking his fatness (as so many of you do) is just dime-store anti-fat prejudice. Easy to make fun of / pathologize short guys. So if you find a short guy overbearing you go after his shortness despite its total irrelevance. You have asserted its relevance because it’s an easy cheap jab. Napoleon complex is not a real thing. Just like Napoleon’s shortness was not a real thing (avg height for his time).
pabloinnh: It’s ROBERT Reich. He had a summer camp near where I grew up.
Me (Liveprof): Was it a camp for short people?
I separately warned people not to confuse “Napoleon complex” with “complex Napoleon,” which is an intricately designed pastry.
Linda and I stayed up late (for us) Monday night to make sure we saw the final out in the Gnats’ win, since they are experts at blowing leads. Gotta drive that stake through the vampire’s heart. And they did — it was a great win. The Marlins loaded the bases in the 8th with no outs, down 3, but Erik Tolman came in and got a strike out followed by a DP to end the threat. Wow. He pitched the ninth too, to earn his first MLB save.
There’s a bit of a story on him. He underwent Tommy John surgery successfully twice, but on his return to pitching, he was walking off the mound, hopped over the foul line, caught his cleat on the turf, and tore his leg up very badly. Yikes! Well, he worked hard to recover from that. (He’s 27.) Now, when he crosses the foul line, he makes a slash mark on it with his foot. It’s a little gesture, a way of saying “I’m back.”
Anyway, as late as it was, the O’s game hadn’t ended — they were 1-1 in Colorado with a rain delay. I checked my phone in the middle of the night and was happy to see they won, 2-1. But it was only much later that I learned how they won. They were up 2-1 and Colorado had a man on in the ninth with two down. McCarthy was up, a good hitter, and he sent one way out to deep center. Cowser (Moooooo!) gave chase. If it goes over the fence, ‘Rado wins 3-2. If he snares it, the O’s hold on for the win 2-1. Take a look, below. (Note, also, the look of stunned joy on the face of the Orioles pitcher, Rabbi Chaim Mandelbaum.)
Yesterday, at 11D, the clue was “Genuinely,” and the answer was IN EARNEST. Son Volt used it to share this extraordinary song with us, lyrics and pics below.
Oh, says Red Molly to James, “That’s a fine motorbike
A girl could feel special on any such like”
Says James to Red Molly, “My hat’s off to you
It’s a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952
And I’ve seen you at the corners and cafés, it seems
Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme”
And he pulled her on behind
And down to Box Hill they did ride
Oh, says James to Red Molly, “Here’s a ring for your right hand
But I’ll tell you in earnest, I’m a dangerous man
For I’ve fought with the law since I was seventeen
I robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine
Now I’m twenty-one years, I might make twenty-two
And I don’t mind dying, but for the love of you
And if fate should break my stride
Then I give you my Vincent to ride”
“Come down, come down, Red Molly,” called Sergeant McRae
“For they’ve taken young James Adie for armed robbery
Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside
Oh, come down, Red Molly to his dying bedside”
When she came to the hospital, there wasn’t much left
He was running out of road, he was running out of breath
But he smiled to see her cry
And said, “I give you my Vincent to ride”
Says James, “In my opinion, there’s nothing in this world
Beats a ’52 Vincent and a red-headed girl
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won’t do
Ah, they don’t have a soul like a Vincent ’52”
Oh, he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys
Said, “I’ve got no further use for these
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home”
And he gave her one last kiss and died
And he gave her his Vincent to ride.
We love the name Molly. It was a leading candidate before we settled on Caitlin. Caity tells us they may name the new baby Romeo, kinehora. Hope so. But we’ll be very happy with whatever, of course.
Let me remind you of the difference between acronyms and initialisms. Acronyms are new words made up of initials, e.g., NATO. Initialisms are when you just use the initials, e.g., FBI. Today’s guest poster for Rex reminded me of one of my favorite initialisms: IYKYK. It’s “if you know, you know.”
She (Malaika) called the weather in NYC atrocious, like being in a swamp. Then she posted this photo and captioned it: “swamp things, iykyk.”
Well, I didn’t know, but a kind soul looked it up for us. It’s singer Lana Del Rey and her hubby, Jeremy Dufrene, a Cajun swamp tour boat operator, of all things.
Today I learned (TIL) what “Perpetual Stew” is. The clue was “continuously heated soup with ever-changing ingredients.” It’s also known as forever soup, or hunter’s pot. The tureen is never emptied; ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary. It can continue cooking for decades or longer if properly maintained. Yikes. It’s safe to eat, as long is it’s kept at a constant simmer.
A batch of pot-au-feu was claimed by one writer to be maintained as a perpetual stew in Perpignan from the 15th century until World War II, when the restaurant ran out of ingredients to keep the stew going due to the German occupation. However, historians doubt this is true, for a variety of boring reasons.
Phil! — the soup is supposed to be simmering — not you.
I’m sorry folks. You don’t wear a top like that unless you’ve murdered your roommate.
Just kidding! That’s Amanda Knox, of course, who was convicted (twice), but was finally and totally exonerated, after serving four years in prison. Ouch.
Here’s a knock-knock joke I made up.
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Knox.
Yeah, I heard those. Who’s there?
Knox.
Can we please get past that!! Who the hell is it?
Knox.
Arggggggh.
Anyway, so Amanda’s in the news again. Not for murdering anyone this time. She’s slaying in a different sense: stand-up. Yeah, you heard me. She’s got a stand-up comedy routine that draws on her nightmare experience and she’s catching a bit of shit for it. Among others, the family of the dead roommate thinks it’s disrespectful, even though it only dwells on Amanda’s own experiences.
Now, I haven’t heard the routine. And I didn’t follow, or form an opinion on, Amanda’s legal back-and-forths. But let’s assume that the system got it right and she’s innocent. I’d like to propose a rule:
If you’ve served four years in prison for a crime you did not commit, and you put together a comedy routine about it afterwards, people should cut you a modicum of slack. Just sayin’.
Yeah. That’s a better top, AK.
See you tomorrow! Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 