# Grammar Nazis - Is Lola a man? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627 "2012-12-20T14:28:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/1 "2012-12-20T14:28:19Z")
We all know [The Kinks song Lola](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVXmMMSo47s), right? Well, the rest of the song makes it obvious that Lola is packing some serious swinging heat, but at the end of the song there’s [the line](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nVXmMMSo47s#t=180s): “But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man And so is Lola” From strictly grammatical perspective does that line mean that Lola is also glad that the speaker is a man, or that Lola is also man? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/2 "2012-12-20T14:34:26Z")
It means that the reference is ambiguous and so may mean either, exactly as Ray Davies intended. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/3 "2012-12-20T14:36:40Z")
The sense of it, outside the context of a song that just spent 3 minutes packing every ambiguous reference to Lola’s gender that it was possible to pack in, is that Lola is glad that Mr. Davies is a man. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/4 "2012-12-20T14:56:45Z")
In Bangkok, Lola is anyone you want him/her to be. ---
**Author:** ![Cats\_pajamas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Cats\_pajamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cats_pajamas)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/5 "2012-12-20T15:25:48Z")
OP needs a harry rag, and he’ll be fine. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/6 "2012-12-20T15:38:54Z")
It’s a [syntactic ambiguity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ambiguity), like “tall men and women” or “police help dog bite victim.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/7 "2012-12-20T15:56:33Z")
I always liked “small business owners.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/8 "2012-12-20T16:14:28Z")
IMHO It’s “The Crying Game” carefully constructed to survive the American radio censors of the time. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/9 "2012-12-20T16:24:33Z")
“Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there She would meringue and do the cha-cha…” Whoops, wrong song, different gender - maybe? Get that song out of your head! ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/10 "2012-12-20T17:32:42Z")
My favorite is the one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater - where is it finding these freakish, horned, flying purple cyclopes to eat? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/11 "2012-12-20T19:22:47Z")
“Whatever Lola wants . . .” ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/12 "2012-12-20T19:32:53Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Whoops, wrong song, different gender - maybe? "Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl And she drank champagne that tasted just like Coca-Cola At the Copa (CO!), Copacabana (Copacabana) The hottest spot north of Old Soho (here)…” Better? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/13 "2012-12-20T20:05:05Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > “She would meringue and do the cha-cha…” Actually, she would [merengue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merengue_(dance)). ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/14 "2012-12-20T20:13:37Z")
The Kinks? Huh, learn something new every day. Why would the Beatles cover a song from the Kinks? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/15 "2012-12-20T20:29:09Z")
The story I heard, in a CBC show about “stories behind the songs”… The Kinks boys had gone partying in London. By about 6AM they were leaving a bar and one of the guys noticed that one of the “chicks” they had been partying at the bar with, had a visible five-oclock (or 6AM) shadow that was obvious in the early morning sun while they were waiting for a cab. So they wrote a song about a poor naive kid (“just left town a week ago”) who ends up with a deceptively confusing sort of assertive bar friend. (“couldn’t understand, how she walked like a woman but talked like a man…”) Also mentioned was that Billy Idol’s “Mony, mony” was based on the massive neon MONY billboard Billy could see from his apartment window in New York. And “White Wedding” was about Billy chiding his kid sister how she could get knocked up by her boyffriend. (Sister and hubby are still together, and Idol’s been divorced how many times?) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/16 "2012-12-20T20:38:06Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > “But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man > And so is Lola” Add this to the “'Excuse me while I kiss this guy…” list for me. I always thought he was singing: _ **“…but I know what I am and what I am is a man and so was Lola!”** _ Guess I confused it with what Popeye sings! I never pay close attention to lyrics (I never even realized the whole gender-bending point of the song until my brother pointed it out to me!) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/17 "2012-12-20T20:40:35Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Actually, she would [merengue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merengue_(dance)). Albumenist! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/18 "2012-12-20T20:45:16Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Also mentioned was that Billy Idol’s “Mony, mony” was based on the massive neon MONY billboard Billy could see from his apartment window in New York. s/Billy Idol/Tommy James/ ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/19 "2012-12-20T20:46:08Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > s/Billy Idol/Tommy James/ Doh! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627/20 "2012-12-20T20:46:54Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Actually, she would [merengue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merengue_(dance)). That’s on the single. It was meringue on the albumen version. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-nazis-is-lola-a-man/644627.md?page=2)