The Straight Dope 07/25/2003

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 07/25/2003

Dear Cecil:

Marshall McLuhan was a media darling in the late 60s 
and early 70s. I aced quite a few college papers by
explaining the world in terms of his theories about
communication. It sure seems to me that his ideas are
evident in the impact that the Internet and computers
have had on society. But I haven't followed the field
very closely since graduation, and so much about the
60s turned out to be hype. So I ask you: Was McLuhan
really a seminal thinker? How are his theories
regarded today? --Judith, Highland Park, IL

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Cecil replies:

I put McLuhan in the same category as Andy Warhol, who was
described in a recent magazine article as a "honkie
bullshitter." Most of the time that seems like an apt
characterization of Warhol, but then I catch myself using
some variation of his most famous dictum, "In the future
everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," and I think:
Well, the son of a bitch sure got that right. My take on
McLuhan is pretty similar. Though 99 percent of what he
wrote was horse manure, the remaining 1 percent was dead-on.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030725.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I recently reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I've
always been curious about Tolkien's casual use of the
term faggot. I guess that in Britain the term does not
carry a negative connotation and is used as slang for
cigarettes and whatnot, but it still gets me thinking.
How can a word go from meaning "a bundle of sticks" to
"homosexual male"? I've looked elsewhere on the Internet,
but I haven't been able to find any unbiased resources
or even biased ones that state their sources. They all
say that it goes back to heretics being forced to carry
the faggots for their own execution at the stake. Forgive
me for being skeptical, but this sounds a heckuva lot 
ike the story about the origin of the term "rule of
thumb," albeit backward. --Josh G.

SDSTAFF samclem replies:

Well, Josh, you're right to think that the British
historically haven't found "faggot" offensive--with the
exception of a vile-tasting meatball currently marketed
in the UK as Mr. Brain's Faggots. One of the advertising
lines says, "It's no wonder 100 million faggots are
eaten in the UK every year!" As Dave Barry says, "I'm NOT
making this up." 

It took Americans to apply the term to male homosexuals.
First some history.

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfaggot.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 10/30/1981

Dear Cecil: 

I recently started a job that requires lots of work at
a typewriter-style keyboard, and, being of a logical
bent, I am struck by how little sense the arrangement
of letters on the keyboard makes. A common complaint.
But last night, when I mentioned the matter to my wife
after a long hard day at the office, she casually
mentioned that she "read somewhere" (and of course
does not remember where) that the keyboard was
deliberately designed to put the most-used letters
in the worst places. Could this be true? Is this the
ultimate expression of man's inhumanity to man?
--T.P., Wilmette, Illinois  

Dear T.:  

If you ask me, Cocoa Puffs are the ultimate expression 
of man's inhumanity to man, but I suppose there will
always be differences of opinion on this point. As for
the typewriter keyboard, your spouse's story is not far
from the painful truth. The QWERTY keyboard, so called
for the top row of letters on its left-hand side, was
devised to make things easy for the typewriter, not
the typist.   

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_248.html

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