Re: In Memory Of SPY Magazine

1

Thank you LB. I mentally fill this in every time, to the point where I wish I could stop doing it because I feel bad for some very nice friends who have short fingers. But I can't stop.
Because I'm old enough to still miss SPY, my eyes can't handle the one online archive I know of. I hope someone takes you up on this.


Posted by: Penny | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 6:39 AM
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It was easy enough to search Google books and find lots of stories, such as how people wanted him to run in 1988. Hard to export for quoting though as it's all images.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 6:46 AM
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3

I think I still have a few issues I left in my parents' basement before moving overseas. Good fun.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 6:50 AM
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4

In the interests of economy, can we agree on SFVDT as an acceptable abbreviation?


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 7:05 AM
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Graydon Carter with some of the history (not clear to me if he was the one who originally used the term).

Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a "short-fingered vulgarian" in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him--generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby. The most recent offering arrived earlier this year, before his decision to go after the Republican presidential nomination. Like the other packages, this one included a circled hand and the words, also written in gold Sharpie: "See, not so short!" I sent the picture back by return mail with a note attached, saying, "Actually, quite short."
A pictorial analysis.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 7:22 AM
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6

How about "SFV" as a sobriquet?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 7:47 AM
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7

"Vulgarian" is a great word that isn't used often enough.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 7:53 AM
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8

When Donald defends his fingers, it's just his stump speech.


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 8:08 AM
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9

Google Book Downloader is giving me a much clearer view of those back issues than I had before.


Posted by: Penny | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 8:53 AM
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10

|| Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, cult heist movie, or documentary of 70s sensibilities and fashion? Discuss after the 40th comment? |>


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 8:54 AM
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11

How about "SFV" as a sobriquet shorthand


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 9:57 AM
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12

10: Total classic. It is astonishing that Eastwood and Bridges didn't become a recurrent pairing in movies.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:21 AM
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I feel like people are really losing the spirit of the "short-fingered vulgarian" soubriquet. It isn't just about the short fingers. It's about having the word "short-fingered" next to the word "vulgarian."


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:24 AM
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Re "SFV":

There are too many TLA's but, amusingly, when I was trying to figure out meanings for SFV, I got it confused with SPV.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:33 AM
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15

SPY Magazine


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:36 AM
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Charlie Pierce calls him He Trump, and yam colored vulgarian.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:37 AM
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11 Well played.

12 Agreed. I don't see why we have to choose between the two options in 10.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 10:42 AM
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18

"Simian foamy virus" also works for Trump.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 11:12 AM
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It's about having the word "short-fingered" next to the word "vulgarian."

He doesn't seem to mind the "vulgarian" bit, tho. "Short-fingered" drives him nuts.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-20-16 11:37 AM
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a page collecting everything they ever wrote about him in the eighties and nineties

It's nowhere near everything, but VF put up this compilation of links to some highlights a while back, it's a pretty good start.


Posted by: potchkeh | Link to this comment | 03-21-16 5:28 AM
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21

I linked a complete archive at 15 - it's in google books. Read it, there's not that much.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 03-21-16 5:38 AM
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22

"Donald Trump: 'My hands are normal hands'"

Headline in the WaPo.

fty-two minutes into Donald Trump's discussion of weighty issues with The Washington Post's editorial board came an interlude about his hands. "Normal," the Republican presidential front-runner insisted. "Strong." "Good size." "Great." "Fine." "Slightly large, actually."

Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-21-16 2:41 PM
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I loved SPY magazine. I had a subscription my freshman year of college, which was the year it folded. They (who? no idea) said they were sorry and sent me Maxim for the remainder of the subscription term as a consolation prize. I was not consoled.

Really I came here to link the transcript of the piece in 22. The hands are not even the best part of the whole weird interview.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 03-22-16 5:15 AM
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Correction: SFV == SWTH
Someone with tiny hands

Wired published an embarrassing correction to a story by Jason Tanz about Donald Trump today.
Apparently he or his editors had a Chrome extension turned on that changed every mention of
"Donald Trump" to "Someone With Tiny Hands."

http://gizmodo.com/wired-keeps-publishing-trump-stories-with-its-someone-w-1763771660.


Posted by: Econolicious Big Hands Long Fingers | Link to this comment | 03-23-16 11:08 AM
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And I can't think about the word vulgarian without thinking of the scene from "A Fish Called Wanda"

Cleese: "You're a true vulgarian, aren't you?"

Kline: "You're the vulgarian, you fuck!"


Posted by: F | Link to this comment | 03-23-16 11:25 AM
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26

Thing is, I'm sure Trump wouldn't mind being lumped in with Otto.


Posted by: F | Link to this comment | 03-23-16 11:26 AM
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27

Now I want some sushi.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-23-16 11:26 AM
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