# Helen Thomas: RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041 "2013-07-20T16:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/1 "2013-07-20T16:57:54Z")
[Helen Thomas died today.](http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/20/us/helen-thomas-obit/) Some of you young’ins might not know who she was, but Helen was quite the figure at every White House press conference, and she was a force to be reckoned with! She made life pretty miserable for almost every President for several decades…not afraid to ask the difficult questions, often over and over and over again. In what has been (and still is, for the most part) a boys club of journalists in the White House Press Corp, Helen paved the way for more female journalists to join the club. The definition of the word “feisty”: feist·y /ˈfīstē/ Adjective ``` Having or showing exuberance and strong determination. Touchy and aggressive. ``` Synonyms cantankerous And yeah, that could be a short definition of Helen Thomas…I will miss her presence in the front row of those press conferences. Never a dull moment when she was there! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/2 "2013-07-20T17:16:51Z")
That’s a shock; I wasn’t aware that she was ill. One of the last actual journalists. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/3 "2013-07-20T17:21:35Z")
I don’t mean to threadshit but on behalf of Jews everywhere she can go back to hell where she was clearly from. [Her remarks about Jews.](http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/07/20/helen-thomas-famed-upi-reporter-dead-at-92) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/4 "2013-07-20T17:31:33Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I don’t mean to threadshit but on behalf of Jews everywhere she can go back to hell where she was clearly from. > > [Her remarks about Jews.](http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/07/20/helen-thomas-famed-upi-reporter-dead-at-92) I don’t consider that a threadshit…as mentioned, cantankerous would be an apt description of her as well. She had her share of enemies, and many of them were Presidents. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/5 "2013-07-20T17:59:58Z")
Also not meaning to thread excrete, but am I the only person who thought she had already crossed the Shining River? I suppose it was just her retirement. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/6 "2013-07-20T18:39:18Z")
I thought she had died 25 years ago and they’d just propped her up at news conferences with a random phrase generator running behind her. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/7 "2013-07-20T19:39:07Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I don’t mean to threadshit but on behalf of Jews everywhere she can go back to hell where she was clearly from. > > [Her remarks about Jews.](http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/07/20/helen-thomas-famed-upi-reporter-dead-at-92) Cantankerous old person speaking her mind. Can’t get excited about it. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/8 "2013-07-20T20:43:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Cantankerous old person speaking her mind. Can’t get excited about it. “Mind” is being generous. More like venting her spleen. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/9 "2013-07-20T20:46:12Z")
If she had told African-Americans they should go back to Africa would that have been merely cantankerous? ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/10 "2013-07-20T20:56:39Z")
Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/11 "2013-07-20T21:49:59Z")
Did she have a history of that kind of crap or was this a one of a kind thing? I’m not saying that makes it any better but my folks are getting on and they say stuff that’s pretty bizarre. The doctors say they’re slowly losing it and this kind of thing will continue. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helen-thomas-rip/664041/12 "2013-07-20T22:26:26Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > If she had told African-Americans they should go back to Africa would that have been merely cantankerous? Probably. Old, sick people say a lot of things they don’t mean. My brother is a prime example.