I rather suspect this is the form Cheney used. He is a very careful orator. Since democRats instinctively perform this act on the rest of the country, I am confident the Vice President directed their efforts in the desired direction.
Posted on 07/02/2004 11:07:27 PM PDT by VRWCer
Edited on 07/02/2004 11:29:09 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I am sure there is a special place in heaven reserved for those who have never used the F-word. I will never get near that place. Nor, apparently, will Dick Cheney.
Washington is abuzz with the latest political contretemps. Cheney, taking offense at Sen. Pat Leahy's imputation of improper vice presidential conduct regarding Halliburton contracts in Iraq, let the senator know as much during a picture-taking ceremony on the floor of the Senate. The F-word was used. Washington is scandalized.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If you suspect that this selective indignation may be partisan, you guessed right. But here's an even more important question. In the face of Gore's real breach of civil political discourse, which of the following is the right corrective: (a) offer a reasoned refutation of the charge that George Bush is both Stalinist and Hitlerian; (b) suggest an increase in Gore's medication; or (c) do a Cheney.
The correct answer is "C." And given the circumstances, go for the deuce.
letters@charleskrauthammer.com
Leahy, with his oily face, might be the biggest @$$hole in the whole senate. Cheney was right on.
I love Charles Krauthammer. He's one of the few people that says everything on my mind. I always agree with him, and he cracks me up. Recalling his take on Gore's ranting..."I think he's off his lithium." Funnier even, because Charlie is a psychiatrist.
Leahy could drive me to use the Fword too.
What a sad world we live in..a day when Washington is "scandalized" over a word, yet they violently fight for the right to murder babies and brainwash those who survive.
"Leahy, with his oily face, might be the biggest @$$hole in the whole senate. Cheney was right on."
Amen, you are right on too. Leahy is truly unbearable.
"do a Cheney"....that phrase might catch on just like "Clymer" and "Big Time."
Ha! Funniest column he's ever written!
Though I myself am partial to the longer version, I admit that each formulation has its virtues. The deuce is the preferred usage when time is short and concision is of the essence. Enjoying the benefits of economy, it is especially useful in emergencies. This is why it is a favorite of major league managers going nose to nose with umpires. They know that they have only a few seconds before getting tossed out of the game, and as a result television viewers have for years delighted in the moment the two-worder is hurled, right on camera. No need for sound. The deuce was made for lip reading.
Which makes it excellent for drive-by information conveyance. When some jerk tailgater rides my bumper in heavy traffic, honking his horn before passing and cutting me off, I do a turn-to-the-left, eyeball-to-eyeball, through-the-driver's-window two-worder — mouthed slowly and with exaggerated lip movements. No interlocutor has yet missed my meaning.
Nonetheless, while the two-worder has the directness of the dagger, the three-worder has the elegance of the wide-arced saber slice. It is more musical and, being more clearly spelled out, more comprehensible to the non-English speaker (a boon in major urban areas). It consists of a straightforward directive containing both a subject and an object — charmingly, the same person.
According to The Post, the local authority on such matters, Cheney went for a variant of the short form, employing the more formal "yourself."
Well, grammatically parsed, the two-word variant's subject is the understood you, which makes the use of the reflexive pronoun yourself following the imperative mood of the F-verb grammatically correct, not to mention elegant. However coarse the command may have been, Cheney was simply observing this protocol of grammar: don't use a reflexive pronoun without its (in this case understood) antecedent. (You shouldn't say, for example, "He gave myself a present for my birthday.")
Gotta love a guy who speaks forthrightly and grammatically.
BTTT
If the three-worder is the imperative Krauthammer described earlier (. . .or the more expansive three-worder, a directive that begins with "go."), the subject (see post #12) is still the same understood pronoun you. The direct object yourself follows two verbs in their imperative voice. (Some people prefer the variant that separates the two verbs: "Go and . . .")
So this delightfully acerbic column has one unexplained grammatical construction. Who's counting?
I was about to ask how no one at the FCC could know this, but then I remembered it's the government. Now I'm depressed.
Back to school for the guys who flunked participles.
Only K.Hammer could deliver such a beautifully crafted description of the proper uses of the wonderful, four letter, F word .
They're certainly nothing if not morally incoherent, aren't they?
Do we have a generic login for the Post? Or a non login site for this article?
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