Not only is it annoying, it’s puerile and childish. It reminds me of the basketball rivalry between Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill–most fans of both schools view their rivals with grudging respect, and address them accordingly. Some people, however, insist on calling the other side “Dook” or “Chapel Hell,” or, alternatively, the “Tarholes” and “Blow Devils.” Now, they’re free to call the schools whatever they want, of course, but such namecalling is a pretty good measure of someone maturity, if you ask me, and all else being equal, I’ll treat a Carolina fan who says “Duke” with substantially more respect than one who gets his kicks from “Dook.” Same thing with “algore.”
To anticipate criticism, by the way, I will admit that I don’t view “Dubya” in quite the same light–to me, “Shrub” is more the “algore” analogue, and I find its use someone silly. That being said, if someone genuinely finds “Dubya” sufficiently annoying that it colors their opinion of those who use it, I won’t use it any more. Calling Bush “The Player-King” is more creative, anyway.
I’m having a really tough time with the election threads, they are getting soooooo childish and nasty, the “algore” and “shrub” stuff is just the surface.
Absolutely. Whilst I daresay it’s not technically a violation of the rules of English spelling and grammar, it definitely suggests that the writer is ignorant of them, and that his opinion counts for little or nothing.
spoke-…are you a Dukie?? If not, I’d still like to compliment you on your impeccable taste. It may not be couth to call 'em “Tarholes,” but any Doper who dislikes the powder-blue persuasion is okay by me.
Gadarene, T’95 (after a fashion)
(And Jello, maybe I’m just being a dimwitted liberal, but I don’t really see the play on words in Rush’s li’l nugget of bumper sticker wisdom there. Whuh?)
Gore called Bush’s tax plan a “risky scheme.” Limbaugh and the Dittoheads (which, by the way, would make a great name for a rock band) countered with an amazing bit of wit that is “Algore is a Risky Scheme.”
Great to see another Blue Devil 'round these parts. We’re having a fascinating, in-depth discussion of the Florida situation over at DBR; you should drop on by.
Wow…'84. So you were around for Uncle Terry, huh? I forget; did the famed “avuncular letter” happen before or after your time there?
[back on-topic, a bit]
A couple years ago, the Duke women played Carolina over in Carmichael. The crowd was holding up typically classy signs welcoming the visitors, the most common of which were “Dook Sucks” and “Beat Dook.” Of course, the Devils thrashed the Heels…like ya do. Anyway, after the game, Michele Van Gorp was asked what she thought of Carmichael’s (comparatively) raucous atmosphere.* Straight-faced, she said something to the effect of, “Oh, it didn’t bother us much. I mean, they couldn’t even spell Duke right!” Heh.
One more tangential anecdote: On DBR’s bulletin board, the programmer, James Armstrong, as fixed it so that any spelling of “Dook” in a submitted post is, um, corrected by the time it hits the boards. evil grin
But back to Algore. No one’s gonna defend it? Good. Then I trust we won’t be seeing it again.
[sub]*raucous compared to the Dean Dome, that is, or other women’s ACC arenas. Not Cameron; perish the thought.[/sub]
It’s answered in the thread by Revtim that was linked to, but to answer MGibson’s question here: “Algore” makes more sense, I suppose, if you say it out loud all as one word. Depending on how you pronounce it, “Algore” may sound quite a bit like “Igor”. And that’s the joke (such as it is), that Al Gore (Algore) is the hunch-backed lackey to Clinton’s mad scientist.
Having said that, in any non-joking thread I think both the canidates should simply be referred to by their last names or full names. Well, title and name would be acceptable as well, but I doubt many people are going to bother with that (I know I rarely do). Using disparaging nicknames in an attempt to diminish a person due to their opposing views has no place in serious debate.
Sadly, many engaging in those debates do not understand that. I just read a quote from one in the “Gore settlement Proposal” referring to the other side as “sniveling”.
Pathetic. When one cannot argue on position or philosophy, apparently name calling is acceptable.
In looking at this thread, first I thought it was a Pit thread (not so much for language or attacks, but because it was sort of a rant), then I thought it was MPSIMS, and somewhere along the line it was linked into a GQ; now I just dunno. It’s three – three – three threads in one! But what it’s not is a Great Debate.
So rather than moving it to an area where it will still be out of place, I’m locking it.
