OK, how many of you immediately thought the title had a sexual connotation? I'll admit, the handle made me smirk and conjured some fairly racy thoughts. But then, that's SOP for a healthy, single women in her 40s. Anyway, no, it's not an index from the Kama Sutra nor is it the indicator light on your favorite Pocket Rocket. It's the original name for the wooden prototype of the computer mouse, and it's inventor, Douglas Engelbart, died today.
The original design had only one button to click and was fairly basic in design -- probably much like the original Pocket Rocket, but I digress. A news item on Engelbart's passing got me wondering why we are determined to call things something other than what they are.
I mean, while the present-day devise might bear some resemblance to a mouse -- I get the cord as a tail and the curved top (which the original did not have) -- what do mice have to do with computers?
Another example: succotash. While most of you my age might think of Mel Blanc's Sylvester the Cat and his classic tag line of "sufferin' succotash," others will think back to Wednesday night dinners and a mound of yellow and green covering one-third of the plate.
The word is Native American and refers to cooked corn but fails to take into account the lima beans that are part and parcel of the dish. (P.S. I don't know of any kid, then or now, who would ever eat lima beans.) So why call it succotash? Why not corn and beans or beans and corn or corn and yuck or just plain corn yuck. Seems a bit more fitting, don't cha' think?
And rather than languish in mid-American 20th-century speak, let's talk here and now.
Hook-up: From the turn of the century MTV or some other 20-something venue that bears no resemblance to the original. In past times you had your electricity or phone or cable hooked up. Today it means fucking.
Then there's the booty-call: A bit dated as well but heard in use just yesterday, booty has always meant ass, as in arse, butt or derriere; something of value. And call, at least in this respect, refers to telephone, text, throwing up a gang sign, you get the picture. And again, we're really talking about getting together and having sex -- the booty call merely forgoes spending any meaningful time together before fucking.
And finally, making love: Really? Maybe. And I'm keeping a good thought, but I'm not so sure about society in general.
So my question is, why do we insist on referring to something by a name other than what it is. I mean, I love words and a clever turn of phrase, but I hate being unclear or glib. Fucking is fucking -- whether you do dinner and drinks, movie and popcorn or just a couple of quick taps on your keyboard. Fuck never went out of style or context, it just became passe from overuse. Still, it does have that only-the-foul-mouthed-use-it type of reputation, and maybe that's reason enough to use other words and phrases.
Maybe. It is what it is.
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