Is this from the Motivational Poster Coloring Book™?
WTF does that mean? I'm 61 years old with a Masters degree and I haven't a clue. It's not nice for grown ups to take the piss out of 4 year olds.
This site also shows that quote with a peacock, plus bonus quote from Mulwer-Lytton.
It's never too early to teach the kids to connect with customers.
4: That's quite a find -- the CHARACTER COUNCIL
of RED RIVER VALLEY! And it's in Paris, Texas.
I would go to the next meeting, but it was on July 12.
"So, Katie, are you learning your ABCs?"
"Yes, mom. Always Be Closing."
"The milk and cookies are for kids who know how to operate within their organization's structure of responsibility."
6: I think it was July 12, 2008, so you really blew it.
The peacock connection is hard to parse. Peacocks exemplify persuasiveness in nature, you see, because, "A peacock uses loud squawks, strutting, and impressive tail feathers to convince peahens to join his harem."
Or possibly because "The peacock's 'singing voice' sounds harsh and discordant to most human ears. Use the right tone of voice for your message."
Or is it that "The brilliant blues and greens of a peacock's feathers attract attention. Your attitudes and actions reflect your character more clearly than your words."
Most birds suck until you cook them.
Persuasiveness is as equally applicable to damned lies as vital truths. Seems character neutral to me.
See, you get schoolwide crap like this whether you get the "good" teacher or not, alas. I heard the new superintendent for our school district talk at our neighborhood meeting the other night and his big push is customer service. He's done customer service training for all his employees, though students are not expected to be a part of it.
On the one hand, I'm appalled by that corporatizing nonsense, but I can't deny that Lee had a much better experience registering Nia than I did a few weeks prior, before the customer service training. I'm torn, like a peacock who persuades people with my outward beauty and awful voice.
Ffs. And people think *not* sending your kids to school is a weird idea.
There are a lot of character traits, like ambition, that were once signs that a character was morally doomed, but gradually became virtues through capitalism. Stuff like this is one of the ways I feel a generational gap even between me and my students. We're not even a full generation apart, and they really seem to think that being an effective salesperson is the highest kind of virtue.
Oh, and being "normal." They are very into insulting things for not being "normal."
They are very into insulting things for not being "normal."
This has definitely been a thing at least since I was in middle school.
Sometimes, nonparametric statistics are more difficult and so normally distributed data helps.
They are very into insulting things for not being "normal."
I got into an argument with my roommate over this recently. He described a sitcom as being about "an older man with a trophy wife, a gay couple, and a normal couple." I expressed surprise and distaste at this use of 'normal' as the opposite of 'gay', and then he got all huffy and defensive. "Well only like 2% of people are gay so you know it's NOT normal. That's not an insult it's a statement of FACT. Why do you have to be so obsessed with being POLITICALLY CORRECT."
15: Ambition was only deprecated during the West's brief Christian interlude. It was a virtue to the ancients. Of course, just because the ancients admired ambition didn't mean that the ambitious weren't doomed.
Avarice, however, has always been deprecated until fairly recently.
16: I think not being "upright" has been deprecated for quite some time, actually. And that's basically the same thing as not being "normal."
Well, the ancients were doomed. I mean, look where they are now.
"Normal" has always been an insult in my book.
22: But isn't everybody doomed, eventually?
Oh, and being "normal." They are very into insulting things for not being "normal."
That isn't new.
19: Wait, you mean Modern Family? The normal couple is the most dysfunctional of the lot!
More seriously to 15:
Why do you think it's generational? Of course your students are generally going to be younger than you, but might they also be from a different part of the country, or a different subculture?
We're not even a full generation apart, and they really seem to think that being an effective salesperson is the highest kind of virtue.
So did Willie Loman, it's quite normal. I'm not sure it's a generational thing, more tribal. You're a member of a very small tribe. So am I.
I got into an argument with my roommate over this recently. He described a sitcom as being about "an older man with a trophy wife, a gay couple, and a normal couple." I expressed surprise and distaste at this use of 'normal' as the opposite of 'gay', and then he got all huffy and defensive. "Well only like 2% of people are gay so you know it's NOT normal. That's not an insult it's a statement of FACT. Why do you have to be so obsessed with being POLITICALLY CORRECT."
In other words, you see the word "normal" as having positive connotations, and your roommate doesn't.
I think it's context dependent but yeah. Someone making the distinction normal vs. gay sounds negative to me. I find it hard to believe that most other people do not share this reaction.
Not a new thing. ISTR an LAPD chief back in the 80s explaining that black people tended to get choked to death a lot because "their arteries tend to close up more easily than normal people's" and getting a huge amount of trouble for it - police cars being called "black and normals", etc.
I don't think "typical" would have the same connotation though.
"Common" carries the connotation that the normal is negative.
Whenever I'm at a zoo* where they have peacocks just walking around free, I always end up chasing them. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. It's extra embarassing because there are always families around, where the kid is doing the same thing, and the exasperated parents are giving me the stink-eye because they're trying to teach little Johnny to not be a dick, and I'm not exactly setting a good example.
* And not just zoos! When I visited an internet girlfriend in Manhattan shortly after 9/11, and went to look at St. John's Cathedral, there were peacocks in a little area right next to it, apparently free to roam right onto the sidewalks--very odd. Are those still there? I never went back again during my 6 years living in the city...
I'm on a mission (the kind where you do nothing) to get peacocks here at Heebie U.
I'm on a mission (the kind where you do nothing)
My favorite kind!
* And not just zoos! When I visited an internet girlfriend in Manhattan shortly after 9/11, and went to look at St. John's Cathedral, there were peacocks in a little area right next to it, apparently free to roam right onto the sidewalks--very odd.
You should get down to the LA County Arboretum in Arcadia. The peacock is the official bird of the city and having grown up there I can tell you that the fucking peacocks are everywhere in the arboretum and surrounding neighborhood. If the cottage looks familiar then you might be old enough to remember Fantasy Island, which was filmed there.
He described a sitcom as being about "an older man with a trophy wife, a gay couple, and a normal couple."
Oh, you mean this sitcom?
Home of the Apaches.
Although I hear it's now just the "Apache warrior" instead of the "Apache Joe" of old. At least the Apache princesses still sporting the full length headdresses. Suck it, PC weenies. I should go rent a tuba and drunkenly regale my neighbors for old times sake.
It amuses me to think that there is a business establishment within convenient range of gswift where one can rent a tuba. Unless, of course, the Obama administration's overweening regulations and taxes on job creators have already brought it to ruin.
43: ? musical instrument rental shops are a dime a dozen. Is the point that they are vanishingly unlikely to have tubas?
I am familiar with music instrument rental shops, and don't think it at all unlikely that they might have a tuba in stock. To the contrary, a tuba strikes me as the type of instrument that parents might think twice about acquiring outright to indulge a child's passing fancy. I guess the source of my amusement is the glorious tapestry that is the modern economy. Pay me no mind, I'm just jabbering.
Oh okay. Jabber away. Gswift'll drop a oom-pah beat for background.
You guys could do it as a TED talk, you know? "The Tuba Economy"; you up front, striding around with the wireless mike talking about the impressively heterogenous diversity of modern capitalism while gswift lays down "Play That Country Tuba, Cowboy" wearing his dress blues in the background.
29
I think it's context dependent but yeah. Someone making the distinction normal vs. gay sounds negative to me. I find it hard to believe that most other people do not share this reaction.
It wasn't just versus gay, it was also versus older man and younger woman. So is your reaction based on seeing old man young woman couples as legitimate targets and not wanting gay pairings associated with them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUrofM9DDs
A little morning tuba.
36, 37: Dear Angel Moroni: I will consider conversion if you send me to live in a mansion in Paris for a couple years. Kisses, oudemia
Dear oudemia,
Your offer can serve as a basis for negotiation. However, I am obliged in your particular case to insist on a signed and notarized statement acknowledging your informed consent to certain rules governing the role of women. Also, drugs.
Dear Morrie (if I may): I'm open to some form of sister-wife arrangement with Ryan Gosling. Also, drugs. xoxo
I'm pretty sure the Angel Moroni began most of his intimate communications with "Girl,..."
Be careful, oudemia! You many find yourself living in Paris, Texas!
19 and following, on whether "normal" is deprecatory of what would then be the "abnormal": I'd put it in historical terms.
The 'normal' family is just traditional. The others are non-traditional. Seems like a fair enough point to make (to, say, L.'s roommate), to point out that these things aren't set in stone, but are historically conditioned.
So what's the consensus on the relevance of the peacock in the OP's described kindergarten exercise?
Honestly, I would have thought the peacock was the bad guy, the one who has a mental roadblock. The comments upthread seem to think the reverse.
I'm pretty sure the Angel Moroni began most of his intimate communications with "Girl,..."
Please, young lady, you're making me sound *creepy* here!
Now oudemia, I've known God from time to time to let people have their own planets post-earthly life without going through all the temple garments / mission work / abstinence from everything fun rigamarole. And I think if I put in a good word for you with Him, you could be one of the lucky ones. God owes me a couple of favors for some stuff a while back. Nothing I need to brag about here, you understand, but he knows I saved his ass, and he doesn't forget things like that.
Anyway, oudemia, I think you'd like being deity of your own planet. Would you like that? I can't promise you one with intelligent life or anything, but even the lesser planets are a great way to spend eternity. It's like owning the world's largest terrarium.
So what do you say? Hey, not so fast there. First I'm going to need to see a little gratitude. Come on over here and sit on my lap...