# "Periwinkle"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266 "2012-02-28T17:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/1 "2012-02-28T17:25:21Z")
Acording to the following: [Wasilla High School Sculpture Controversy](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/wasilla-school-sculpture-controversy_n_1299838.html) A high school student’s art project, has touched off the latest roiling controversy in Sarah Palin’s hometown. Why is it controversial? Why, because it looks like a, er “periwinkle”, according to the link’s lady newscaster. “Periwinkle”? I guess I need to get out of the house more because that is one I never heard before. At least the word is uncommon enough to keep people like from getting slapped slapped in the face for innocent misuse. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/2 "2012-02-28T17:29:21Z")
Hoo, boy. What sculptor thought putting THAT on a high school lawn was a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/3 "2012-02-28T17:35:41Z")
Periwinkle? Lady, if yours is periwinkle, see a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/4 "2012-02-28T17:40:22Z")
So…I guess they won’t be having that Georgia O’Keefe exhibit any time soon, then?\* Maybe they should just throw caution to the wind and show Judy Chicago’s _The Dinner Party_ > **[The Dinner Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dinner_Party)** > > The Dinner Party is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Theodora of Byzantium, Virginia Woolf, Susan B. Anthony, and Georgia O'Keeffe are among the symbolic guests. > Each place setting includes a hand-p... \*Yes, I know she didn’t intend them to be sexual. But try telling some of her fans that. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/5 "2012-02-28T17:53:51Z")
I just wanna know if the hand was there before or after they finished the statue ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/6 "2012-02-28T18:13:41Z")
[Marie Barone]”Oh my God, I’m a lesbian!”[/MB] ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/7 "2012-02-28T18:15:45Z")
Have you ever seen a Perriwinkle wink? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/8 "2012-02-28T18:17:20Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I just wanna know if the hand was there before or after they finished the statue If it wasn’t, it might have been something other than a hand. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/9 "2012-02-28T18:29:48Z")
The worst part is that the statue is the best looking thing in the entire city. If they really wanted to capture the feel of Wasilla they should have made a replica of a 1983 strip mall complete with hair salon, used book store, and Chinese restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/10 "2012-02-28T18:43:31Z")
Here’s a [periwinkle](http://sites.naturalsciences.org/education/treks/coastal/images/periwinkle%20snail.jpg). Or, if you’re a, um, [wilting flower](http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/images/periwinkle.jpg) who doesn’t like molluscs. But you know what it really reminds me of? [The turret from Portal](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=6Ooy0whkJ2zg1paBRoxYHw&cp=9&gs_id=h2&xhr=t&q=portal+turret&safe=off&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=859&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=mh9NT7jUMOiuiQKt1uGLDw)! Either that, or some crappy scifi monster I can’t place. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/11 "2012-02-28T19:16:32Z")
WTF? Every kid who’s ever colored with the big box of Crayola crayons knows that [periwinkle is a color](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P6w5uJrLOSY/TZkHCV_ewAI/AAAAAAAAAA4/zzGnEaJAWgY/s1600/IMG_0048-web.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/12 "2012-02-28T19:17:04Z")
I know what it looks like – it’s the activator button for the Oxygen Machine in the TErbinium mines of Mars from **Total Recall** – only this on’es made for a human hand. They should get Arnold to come to Wasilla and push it, thereby bringing oxygen to Wasilla. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/13 "2012-02-29T12:16:27Z")
I thought a periwinkle was a sort of shellfish- like an oyster. Maybe they are suggesting the person is a shellfish bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/14 "2012-02-29T12:32:54Z")
Always thought of the flower myself. Had no idea there was a slimy critter with the same name until just now. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/15 "2012-02-29T16:25:21Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I thought a periwinkle was a sort of shellfish- like an oyster. Oysters might be appropriate. Or clams … any bivalve, really. Periwinkles are more like snails, though. Why am I thinking of _Spartacus_ all of a sudden? ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/16 "2012-02-29T18:33:07Z")
I just want to say that the tags for this article are hilarious: “Sculpture looks like female genetalia”, “sculpture looks like vagina”, “vagina sculpture high school” (hey! That was my alma mater!). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/17 "2012-02-29T23:20:58Z")
I’m not a big fan of these websites that think a video replaces the need for pictures in an article. If the video was to replace everything, then it would also replace the text. Here’s [the sculpture in question](http://www.frontiersman.com/news/under-wraps-wasilla-high-school-sculpture-covered-after-concerns-voiced/article_855dcbd2-5924-11e1-a773-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=image&photo=2). Note that this is a side view, select the other photo for the front. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/18 "2012-03-01T14:05:52Z")
Periwinkle is a pastel blue-violet hue which is supposedly shared by the flower and the snail. It would be a needlessly cheap shot at Alaskan weather to suggest that they believe that particular body part to be that hue – but I can _think_ it! 😃 And I agree with **BigT** about unnecessary videos in news stories. It’s a sculpture, people – if it’s moving around, you’ve got much bigger problems than what it might resemble! ---
**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:** [March 1, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/19 "2012-03-01T19:33:21Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > [Marie Barone]”Oh my God, I’m a lesbian!”[/MB] Glad I’m not the only one who thought of this. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266/20 "2012-03-01T20:32:11Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Glad I’m not the only one who thought of this. And you also drive a Volvo! It’s like we’re twins today. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periwinkle/614266.md?page=2)