I suppose you guys and gals know that this discussion about the saying "twenty lashes with a wet noodle" is what is called "thread drift", right?

Well ya can't blame this thread drift on me. Or maybe you can since I was the one who used that saying in this thread. And truth be told, I'd rather talk about the origin and popularization of that saying rather than to talk about Hillary Clinton. Frankly, I want Hillary Clinton to exit stage right* and "ease on down the road""** with a quickness***. But even when Hillary leaves the scene as the losing contender for the 2008 Democratic nominee for President-as I believe she will probably sometime in May 2008-regardless of her loss to Barack Obama, she's bound to still be the subject of national conversations.

But, back to the question about "twenty lashes with a wet noodle". I'm sorry that happened to you dianavan. I hope that you didn't get the phrase from my using it online and then used it to confer that the child's actions were so minor that if she needed to get punishment, it would be very minor and perfuntory. That's what 20 lashes with a wet noodle mean to me. I'm not sure where I got that saying from. I like to pepper my comments with folk sayings, and 20 lashes etc is one that I've probably used before on this forum. I don't think that I'm the only one who has used it [??]

Interestingly enough, when I entered "20 lashes with a wet noodle" as the key phrase into Google, the first thing on that online listing that popped up was dianavan's comment in this thread. {What??!!}. dianavan, I guess the story about what you said to the child could have gotten convoluted by the time that the little girl got home and told her folks. However, in trying to think about what she might have said, it occurred to me that maybe another factor might have been who she was. I'm wondering was the child a person of color? I hadn't thought about the connection between being lashed with the slavery experience of whipping people with lashes but now that I think about it, maybe that's why the family got upset by you using that saying {?} Or maybe the thought that lashing someone with a wet noodle was equated with some sexual play{?} I'm trying to think about this as someone else might do. I definitely didn't think about the slavery connection or the masochist/sadist sexual play connection when I used that saying.

Btw, mg is correct that this saying was popularized by Ann Landers. I found this article through Google-and will cut and paste :o)) only a small portion of it:

"Ann Landers' popularity grew quickly. She immediately established herself as different from advice writers of the past. She became known for her easy writing style and her often funny answers. She related to her readers as if they were old friends. She seemed to say exactly what she thought, even when doing so might hurt the feelings of those seeking help. Most people considered Ann Landers' advice to be good, common sense....

As Ann Landers gained fame so did many of her words. People began to repeat some her short, pointed sentences. One of the most famous of these was when she told readers to "wake up and smell the coffee." She would use this comment when advice seekers seemed to be denying situations that made them unhappy or uncomfortable.

Another well known Ann Landers saying was "forty lashes with a wet noodle." She would say this if she believed someone had done something mean, dishonest or just stupid. Ann Landers did not protect herself from such criticism, however. She often published letters from readers who argued against advice she had given. When she agreed with their criticism, she sometimes ordered the forty lashes for herself!"

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-11/2005-11-05-voa2.cfm?CFID=215045938&CFTOKEN=93298198

-snip-

So, there ya have it folks! That's all I'm writing about that saying at this point in time-though I think that a discussion dedicated to that saying's origin and popularization would make an interesting thread...

Again, dianavan, I'm sorry you had that experience with the student being taken from your classroom because of about that experience. Talk about unexpected consequences of words! Picture me shaking my head at how folks can end up misinterpreting other folks intentions and what other fokjs say and do and write. It's been some of that going on on this thread with regard to me too, but I'm not even going there.


*exit stage right was/is a saying popularized by the cartoon character Snagglepuss {I think}

** "ease on down the road" {meaning "leave"} is the song refrain from the Broadway show/movie "The Wiz"

*** "with a quickness" is a not too often used anymore at least African American phrase meaning "quickly".

Btw, my attempted use of humor {humour} in that cut and paste sentence shouldn't be interpreted as brushing off, downplaying, or minimizing the guideline that was reinforced in this thread about sparing use of cut and paste. I promise I'll be good from now on-though I wasn't trying to be bad {"bad" here meaning not good, and not "good" in the African American vernacular sense of that word}...
What I mean to say is that henceforth, I'll be more conscientious about following that cut and paste guideline. I don't think that I have exceeded it in this post...

Enough already...

Positive vibrations.

Azizi