# Southern Style-could you please explain your sig? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091 "2000-11-14T00:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/1 "2000-11-14T00:36:47Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was in the service it was illegal to be homosexual. > Then it became optional. > I’m certainly glad I left before it became mandatory! Now, this is probably not a true Pit thread, as it’s pretty mild. However, I was wondering if this was meant as an attack at homosexuals. There are many gay and bi people on this board who are wonderful, thoughtful intelligent posters, and I don’t think your sig is exactly very respectful of them. If I am wrong, please, let me know. ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/2 "2000-11-14T00:46:16Z")
I should wait until you explain, but it also is a generlization of people in the military. I also am waiting for an expilnation. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/3 "2000-11-14T01:16:28Z")
What a coincidence, a friend e-mailed that quote to me in just today. She credits it to General J. Wickam, U S Army, Retired, but I don’t know that name. Anyway, the quote perturbed me, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![tubagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/4 "2000-11-14T01:28:42Z")
I’m not sure that I took it as an insult to homosexuals as much as a joke about not being homosexual. True, it is a bit inappropriate in a time when many people are sensitive to the treatment and equality of homosexuals. But I don’t think I would assume it is a negative quote either. You could change that quote around a bit to a gender, political, anything type of quote. I think it was just meant to be funny, even though some could take offense to it. (just my impression)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/5 "2000-11-14T01:54:26Z")
Well, I didn’t exactly take it as such, nor did I get offended. I simply asked for an explanation. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/6 "2000-11-14T03:36:06Z")
It seems to me that this is part of that one very difficult to comprehend linguistic phenomenon, what is it called again? Oh yeah, a **JOKE**. Right, that’s what it is. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/7 "2000-11-14T03:40:02Z")
Jokes can be offensive. I agree that it really shouldn’t be a big deal, but I would still like to be reassured. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/8 "2000-11-14T03:53:56Z")
If it was my sig, I’d just say I use it because I like it, and you’re free to make of it what you will. In any event, let’s not get overly PC here, m’kay? Esprix, sqrl…are you offended by that sig? ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/9 "2000-11-14T04:14:49Z")
Sounds like you would have to try to be offended by that. ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/10 "2000-11-14T04:22:29Z")
Fuckit. I get the feeling like people are going to get really defensive about this. Forget it. I don’t care. Do whatever you want. I’m sick of people being offended and people being offended by people being offended. I’m going to bed and dream of things that would offend people. ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/11 "2000-11-14T04:26:32Z")
Ya know, I just thought I’d post this. I had a gay friend that assumed that someone was gay or had gay tendencies just because they were going into the navy. That is why I am a bit offended by that sig. But forget it. I don’t care anymore. Go on your merry way. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/12 "2000-11-14T14:06:39Z")
I was a little bit put off by it, only because of a) the insinuation that somebody might be **forced** to do those evil, nasty gay things, surely a fate worse than death, and b) the underlying implication that it would be nice to go back to the days when it **was** illegal. But hey, it’s _his_ sig. If he wants to own the ideas implied in it, that just says more about him. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/13 "2000-11-14T14:57:01Z")
All it sounds like to me is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the bizarre and fucked-up Clinton policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military. It seems to me to be poking at the absurdity of it, and I don’t get anything offensive from the .sig. In fact, my first reaction was to smile at it’s absurdity. But then, maybe it’s because of my dark humor that irritates so many people, or maybe it’s because I’m not trying to find homophobia in every post, joke, reference, side note, or .sig either. ---
**Author:** ![Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/779978/32.png) [@Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zumba_The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/14 "2000-11-14T15:24:10Z")
I don’t think that SouthernStyle needs to defend his sig. I thought the same thing that Anthracite did when I read the sig. It is a funny joke about the stupidness of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In any case he doesn’t owe anyone an explanation. And I think that taking it to the pit was a bit premature. If you were just curious about the meaning it should have been posted somewhere else. By posting it in the pit you are inviting people to attack SouthernStyle who has done nothing to deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/15 "2000-11-14T15:36:01Z")
Then again, **SouthernStyle** isn’t exactly known around here for his liberal point of view, which might color the way people read it. I hadn’t noticed his .sig before. Does it offend me? No. But I’m not exactly laughing out loud at it, either - it reads to me as a dig against gays in the military. So, no, not offended, but the fact that it’s his .sig doesn’t surprise me, either. YMMV, as always. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/16 "2000-11-14T15:36:33Z")
I once attended a seminar given by a _black_ woman (don’t judge yet; read on). She was discussing the history of policy and mentioned that a specific piece of legislation was passed, in her words, “back when I was Black. No wait, it was before that; it was when I was a Negro. Before that I was Colored. Now, I’m African American. Funny, I don’t feel any different.” As funny as this was, what was funnier (more interesting) was watching the audience to see how people reacted in terms of laughing/ not laughing, feigning shock. She was obviously making a point as to how races (and hers in particular) have been pigeon-holed to follow societal issues. I find the .sig in question to be, as stated above, more of a jab at society and policy more than the actual subject. There’s a guy in my office who keeps referring to “my people” [his quote] as Caucasian American. I keep telling him that none of “my people” were from anywhere near that mountain range. I sort of imagine this quote being attributable to someone like Kurt Vonnegut. Next time I see him (OK, if I ever meet him) I’ll suggest that he write a book wherein people randomly change races. I think he’d have fun with that. Have I digressed enough? gaily, Spritle ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/17 "2000-11-14T20:00:30Z")
I thought it was a joke. Nothing more, nothing less. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/18 "2000-11-14T20:27:23Z")
I think it’s sort of funny, and a dig at the military, not at gays. Does it help people to know that, as of now, at least, the sig actually ends with this :eek: smilie? ---
**Author:** ![Kvallulf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kvallulf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kvallulf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/19 "2000-11-14T20:45:34Z")
## quote: When I was in the service it was illegal to be homosexual. Then it became optional. I’m certainly glad I left before it became mandatory! * * * Now, this is probably not a true Pit thread, as it’s pretty mild. However, I was wondering if this was meant as an attack at homosexuals. There are many gay and bi people on this board who are wonderful, thoughtful intelligent posters, and I don’t think your sig is exactly very respectful of them. If I am wrong, please, let me know. * * * “If you are, then, a narcoleptic, alcoholic seven-year-old, I can heartily recommmend the Batman series entire!!” -Michael J. Nelson As a Narcoleptic, alcoholic seven year old, I am offended by your quote! ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091/20 "2000-11-14T21:32:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kvallulf \* > As a Narcoleptic, alcoholic seven year old, I am offended by your quote! As a nihilist, I am offended by your non-quote. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-style-could-you-please-explain-your-sig/41091.md?page=2)