BS: Cojones and CNN errors

Subject: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 01:41 PM

Recently, Sarah Palin said words to the effect that Obama lacked cojones.
Jeanne Moos, in her comments on this, said the word should be spelled cajones.
This is wrong, but typical of many mistakes and uncorrected errors in language on CNN.

Cojones- Testicles. In the phrase Hace falta tener cojones, it means you've got to have guts (balls).
(Velazquez, Spanish and English Dictionary, 2003 ed.)

Cajon, cajones, means box, boxes. By extension, locker, chest of drawers.

I hold no brief for Sarah, but in this instance she is correct in her use of the word, but I don't believe it applies to Obama.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Amos
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 01:47 PM

He lacks neither boxes nor balls.

The nearby town of El Cajon is named for its box-canyon like shape in large, but it is often misunderstood by local wannabes as El Cojone.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 01:53 PM

What would Sarah Palin know about cojones anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 01:59 PM

Fried moose oysters. Like prairie or Rocky Mountain oysters only muddier.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Alice
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 02:02 PM

Actually, I heard that Jeanne Moos report, too, and I'm pretty sure she was pointing out that many people spell it incorrectly as cajones... she was not saying that was the correct spelling.


A.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Alice
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 02:11 PM

Q, here is the video where Moos shows that people commonly misspell the word with an "a", and that a critic pointed out that it is Palin who may not be able to spell it correctly.


Moos video... Jeanne did not make an error.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 02:27 PM

Here's a less obnoxious video of the Moos commentary. (Alice's wouldn't load until I spent a really long time loading one ad.)

Looks like Q made an error on this one.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 03:04 PM

Get it straight. Palin has a box; Obama has balls. Sheesh didn't you guys have sex ed? Or an older brother/sister?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Amos
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 03:18 PM

So he's boxed in while she's having a ball?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 04:13 PM

I didn't need that image.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 04:46 PM

Palin clearly said cojones. Moos tried to infer that she said cajones.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Alice
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 05:05 PM

No, Moos said many people often spell it wrong, and that a Palin critic inferred that Palin didn't know how to spell it.
Don't blame it on Moos. She was providing the correct info.


A.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 05:38 PM

Moos works for CNN..... Don't trust her motives.

OK, Alice, I was partly wrong. (Never wholly wrong!)

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 09:04 PM

One time I thought I was wrong. But nope - I was wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: artbrooks
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 09:21 PM

CNN is generally reliable...a bit rightist, but ok.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 09:44 PM

Frankly, my dears, I don't give a darn.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 10:23 PM

I did find it interesting that Palin thinks Arizona governor Jan Brewer has cojones, and Obama does not.
Evidently, anatomy and physiology (and Spanish) were not Palin's strong suit when she went to high school.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 10:28 PM

Q, I heard Palin's clip, and she neither "clearly" said "cojones" nor "cajones." She pretty much said "cuh- ho - nes." To me, that sounds more like the "ah" vowel sound than like a long "o" sound, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.   The good side of this episode is that maybe it will teach a lot of people what the actual slang word ("cojones") is and how to spell it & pronounce it so it doesn't sound (or look) like they're asking men to "have the boxes to stand up for principle."

When people too quickly borrow terms from other languages they're not familiar with, the results can be comical, embarrassing, or both.

Oh, and I think both Mousethief and Art are spot on.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 10:46 PM

Then again, maybe Sarah was trying to say she has more Cajun supporters than Obama does?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 02:57 AM

I think one could argue that Anglos (and lazy-tongued Hispanics) can legitimately pronounce "cojones" and "cajones" the same, with a schwa [ ǝ ] for the first vowel.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 11:31 AM

It is still a sexist term. Using testicles as a synonym for courage, whether you say balls, stones, cojones etc., by definition implies that bravery is a male trait. That's certainly not true. Most men wouldn't brave the pain of childbirth and it was the nuns, not the priests who laid down in front of Marcos' tanks. And as for the animal world, my Jack Russell mix has had his cojones removed and he's still fearless. Even applying the term to a woman, as Carvill did to Ms. Clinton, is at best a back-handed compliment.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 04:06 PM

I agree, Joe, that it's often hard to tell "cajones" from "cajones" in everyday speech. I think that's why so many non-Spanish speakers misspell "cojones."   The thing is, I see the word "cajones" (or "cahones") posted online often, on message boards, blogs, etc., when the context indicates they mean "cojones." I wonder if some of these people think El Cajon means "The Testicle."

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 04:10 PM

Oh, and Neil, I completely agree with your point. It really does annoy me that so many people, of both sexes, insist on using terms like "balls," "stones," "cojones," or even "testicular fortitude" to mean "courage," "strength of character," "valor," etc., when they could just as appropriately - and more so when not necessarily referring to men - say "backbone," "guts," "intestinal fortitude," etc.

Why does it not surprise me that Sarah Palin would choose to compliment a woman by saying she had "balls?"

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 05:15 PM

I totally agree with the over-eager application of testicularity to the female sex. I think it is unthinking sexism- meant to be complimentary but showing the male speaker's bias.

For that matter, does size of testicles denote anything of significance? I don't know that a hog, for instance, is necessarily braver than a dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 05 Aug 10 - 12:03 PM

DK if having cojones grandes indicates having a lot of testosterone, but the latter can fuel both fearlessness and some ridiculously reckless behavior.   Is that necessarily a good thing in a leader?

Subject: BS: Cojones, cajones, & kahunas
From: Genie
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 06:36 PM

Just heard a new mangling of this time-honored Spanish slang word yesterday. A caller to a radio talk show referred to wanting certain politicians to have the "kahunas" to stand up for the people's rights.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 06:45 PM

Isn't Kahuna a Polynesian god usually carved in rock? She's saying they need to have supernatural stones.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:17 PM

Leave it to a subliterate Yank to hobson-jobson cojones and Kahunas. That is a crackup!

A

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 10:09 PM

Yup.

And if any of these 'innovations' occurred in a song we'd call them "mondegreens," right?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 10:27 PM

Subliterate?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 12:32 AM

Maybe a bit of subliteracy coupled with a smidgeon of pretension (e.g., showing off by using borrowed words from foreign languages that one does not have the slightest clue about)?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 12:52 AM

Oh, I thought he was referring to me. Never mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 05:06 AM

I can't believe I spelled "smidgen" as "smidgeon." (That's what comes when auditory processors multitask.) I guess a "smidgeon" is a small dropping from a pigeon, maybe?

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: mousethief
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 12:42 AM

Merriam-Webster says both are acceptable spellings.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 05:20 PM

Really? That stirs my curiosity re the origin of that word.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 07:32 PM

I always think back to the Mexican bandit chief in the Willie Nelson movie who snarls savagely to one of his underlings, "Breeng me hees COJONES!"

It doesn't happen. It's not easy to get Willie to part with his family jewels.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Genie
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 01:35 AM

Or most other hombres, for that matter.

Subject: RE: BS: Cojones and CNN errors
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 01:36 PM

Obama has two children. Obama has a Cabinet (cajones as in chest of drawers) so no matter how you take the Palin drivel, its factually untrue.