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Among the Cockwombles
Steyn Online ^ | 10 Dec 2018 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 12/10/2018 6:57:32 PM PST by Rummyfan

A few thoughts on the passing scene:

~I hardly ever read The Washington Post these days, mainly because everything in it is either wrong or, alternatively, right too late. As an example of the latter, consider this plaintive story:

KALPAKI, Greece — Another school year was starting, with students arriving for their first day and lining up by grade, but when one mother dropped off her first-grader and watched him take his place, she wondered: Where are all the children?

"There were so few of them," said Vasso Harisiadi, who had attended school in the same town. "I thought the yard would be full of kids."

Greece's intensifying demographic troubles.

It's over twelve years since I published America Alone. You don't even have to get as far as page one, chapter one: The first mention of Greek demography, of Greek fertility rates, the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding gag, all crop up in the prologue on page xvii or whatever it is. Back in 2006, all the smart guys at The Economist and elsewhere pronounced me "alarmist".

Five years later in After America:

You can't borrow against the future because, in the crudest sense, you don't have one. Greeks in the public sector retire at 58, which sounds great. But, when ten grandparents have four grandchildren, who pays for you to spend the last third of your adult life loafing around?

Welcome to My Big Fat Greek Funeral.

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: thewashingtonhoax; washingtonhoax
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Right: Womble; Left: Cockwomble

Never heard the term before....
1 posted on 12/10/2018 6:57:32 PM PST by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan
Who reads The Washington Hoax?
2 posted on 12/10/2018 6:59:48 PM PST by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: Rummyfan

http://www.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/drdon.wav


3 posted on 12/10/2018 7:03:06 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: kiryandil

Twas feminism killed the beast.


4 posted on 12/10/2018 7:06:19 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: Flaming Conservative

I give it three or four more replies until Freepers start explaining the reason and logic behind the avoidance of reproduction, along with indignation over busybody straw men casting aspersions upon the willfully barren.


5 posted on 12/10/2018 7:25:55 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Don’t forget “losers who can’t get a date” and the ever-popular “misogynist”...


6 posted on 12/10/2018 7:38:59 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Rummyfan

I read the whole article and still don’t know what a cockwomble is.


7 posted on 12/10/2018 7:56:22 PM PST by The people have spoken (Proud member of Hillary's basket of deplorables)
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To: The people have spoken
I read the whole article and still don’t know what a cockwomble is.

Pretentious b**t**ds.

If they really wanted you to understand what they were talking about they wouldn't have used an obscure British slang term like "cockwomble".

Cockwombles) (Britain, slang, derogatory) A foolish or obnoxious person."

8 posted on 12/10/2018 8:06:29 PM PST by Vlad The Inhaler (Yes Dorothy, Windows 10 sucks even in Kansas!)
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To: grey_whiskers
Don’t forget “losers who can’t get a date” and the ever-popular “misogynist”...

I don't see how that applies.

9 posted on 12/10/2018 8:07:22 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: Rummyfan
🌗🌑😎😥😫😥🍜🍥🍤🥠🥞🥞
10 posted on 12/10/2018 8:11:13 PM PST by DouglasKC
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To: Jeff Chandler

Sorry, posted to wrong thread!


11 posted on 12/10/2018 8:37:19 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers; Jeff Chandler

Wait, no I didn’t ... Fleshing out your post 5 about the indignation towards those who cast aspersions upon the willfully barren.


12 posted on 12/10/2018 8:39:46 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers

I wasn’t trying to cast aspersions, I was just predicting the posts based upon the normal course of events.


13 posted on 12/10/2018 9:11:10 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: The people have spoken; Rummyfan

Here's a pretty good online dictionary that not only gives the definition for the word, but also provides an audio link for the correct pronunciation of the word:

       "https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cockwomble"

(Those online dictionaries are handy tools to use whenever you encounter a word you're not familiar with.   I've found that Mark Steyn's writings can often be a treasure-trove of new words for me, and I think that's terrific, because it's great to learn new words.)

(For "cockwomble", I at least knew right away that it wasn't the same thing as a "pink-headed warbler".)        :-)

14 posted on 12/10/2018 10:04:41 PM PST by Songcraft
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To: Vlad The Inhaler

“If they really wanted you to understand what they were talking about they wouldn’t have used an obscure British slang term like “cockwomble”.”

When it comes to reading a Mark Steyn column, it’s a feature, not a bug, IMO. His writing is not for the linguistically-incurious nor those who managed to arrive in 2018 without an effective search engine. Sorry it’s so unnerving for you...


15 posted on 12/10/2018 10:09:08 PM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: T-Bird45
Yee-gads! I thought we Freepers were supposed to be at the high end of knowledge and brains.

Everybody knows what a cockwomble is.

I suppose there are folks here who don't know what a Wimhurst generator is.

What is this country coming to?

16 posted on 12/11/2018 1:18:57 AM PST by Mogger
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To: Rummyfan
"Never heard the term before...."

Hard to tell. Informal language in countries where Oxford is spoken tends to often favor rhymes over synonyms.

17 posted on 12/11/2018 1:59:59 AM PST by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: Mogger
"Everybody knows what a cockwomble is."

Well, with your username, I suspect you would know. Mogger: a Brit who hunts cats, by any chance? ;-)


18 posted on 12/11/2018 2:02:36 AM PST by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: familyop
Mogger: a Brit who hunts cats, by any chance? ;-)

In most cases, you would probably be correct.

However, this is from the German, "Universal Motor Gerat", or "Unimog".

Mercedes Benz Unimogs.

I have 2, a U1300L and a U404 Funkwagen.

We go "Mogging" with them, thus are "Moggers".

* speeds forward, 4 speeds reverse, 46 inch Michelin 15.50-20 tires, 4 feet of suspension travel, 2 feet of clearance at the diffs, portal axles, locking diffs, 4 wheel drive. ;-)

19 posted on 12/11/2018 10:09:00 AM PST by Mogger
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To: Mogger

That would be 8 speeds forward.


20 posted on 12/11/2018 10:10:01 AM PST by Mogger
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