Letters to the Editor
Lena40
Published Letters: 4 Editor's Choice: 1
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Doesn't seem so Victorian to me
[Read the article: Linguists: "Moist" makes women cringe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Disliking certain words, whether by men or women, does not smack of repression or puritanism run amok. In this instance, just because it's women doing the disliking, doesn't make this a "let's all roll our eyes at women" sort of thing.
If you're willing to accept the idea that certain words have sexual overtones (or undertones), then it's easy to see. So, if "moist" has a sexual connotation to you, it's either a positive one or negative one. Everyone seems to agree that "moist" refers to women. Thus, women would obviously have stronger reactions to the word than men. Now, if you're a woman, simply pick a side over whether it's a positive connotation or a negative one. I'm probably marginally in the negative connotation camp. I must have been exposed to the word initially as a degrading reference to women. It stuck. Voila! No mystery or shame, no Victorianism or prudishness.
Lots of words that have developed sexual connotations refer to women. Lots are negative. There you are.
This whole "moist" issue seems to have turned into a Rohrshach test for people's attitudes towards women, i.e. "those irrational, easily offended castrating bitches... now we can't say moist anymore?? How dare women do that to us!!!"
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To Tishijo
[Read the article: Did Hillary Clinton really win in Florida?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You state that
Senator Obama has stated he is disappointed that Florida will have no role in selecting delegates for the Democratic nominee, but looks forward to competing and winning in Florida during the general election.
As a Floridian, I find Obama's statement frankly insulting. I voted yesterday, and the fact that he is merely "disappointed" that I've been disenfranchised makes me furious.
He may look forward to Floridians voting for him in the general election, but I for one won't vote for someone who has gone on record as passively allowing my vote to be ignored.
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Mattcable
[Read the article: Did Hillary Clinton really win in Florida?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You have misinformation. You state:
Hillary's name being on the ballot at all was the result of a bad faith political calculation, just in case things started to go bad for her (which they did).
If Hillary's name being on the ballot in Florida was a "bad faith political calculation," then I suppose that Barack's name being on the ballot was also a "bad faith political calculation." And the same could be said of John Edwards.
1. They were ALL on the ballot.
2. The only one who "campaigned" here was Obama, who ran an ad on CNN.
3. HRC had assured Florida voters the day before the primary that she wanted our votes to count (no doubt encouraged by her good polling number).
4. The name recognition of HRC and Obama is equal here. People have TVs here; they watch debates, read articles, and see the news. The only thing we were spared--thank God!--with the exception of Barack Obama's commercial (which broke the rules he had agreed to) was political ads. Once again, thank God.
Count our votes, for God's sake. The voters of Florida did nothing wrong and don't deserve to be punished.
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Mattcable
[Read the article: Did Hillary Clinton really win in Florida?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ugh.
Hillary was the only candidate to treat Florida as if it mattered in this race and she did so as a political calculation with the obvious intention of changing the rules after the fact in order to favor her.
If indeed (evidence, please?) HRC was the only candidate to treat Florida as if it mattered... this is a huge point in her favor.
If it was a political calculation... this is a huge point in her favor.
If she can get the delegates from Florida to be counted at the convention...this is a huge point in the Democrats' favor, at least as far as winning Florida come November. The Democratic party should be slightly interested in getting Florida Democrats to vote in November, instead of--dare I say it?--needlessly snubbing them by not counting their 1.7 million votes.