work in there a Monty P. skit … left ear from the earring wearer or left ear from the thug facing the earring wearer …
or get really creative along the “vessel with the pestel” line …
In 1984, when I was in college, all of us guys were well aware of that “code.” My roommate got an ear piercing, in his left (“straight”) earlobe – and, yeah, it was a stud, with a little emerald set in it.
It wasn’t very long thereafter that he came out to us as being gay, but that’s another story.
I’m reminded about an incident at work decades ago. Apparently, there was some sort of phony patriotic thing somebody was trying to start up, the idea being wearing red white and blue. I hadn’t heard about it, and when Larry the floorlicker accosted me about it I really wasn’t in the mood. I said, “I’ve got red and blue veins on my pecker!” He left me alone after that.
This is a new phrase to me.
To quote me: We had a bowling team from work. Guy named Duck was standing eating a cheeseburger down by the scoring table when a glob of ketchup and mustard fell to the floor. Larry, a kind of fit, clean cut guy, bends over, wipes the glob off the floor, straightens up, and licks it off his finger. When I WTF!ed to it, he merely said, “Duck’s my buddy”.
I’m hoping the more I spread this story the more its impact will diminish.
Interesting. I’d never heard of that before, but it sounds akin to the Appalachian practice of “planting by the signs” - a folkway that taught farmers to plant crops when the moon was waxing, as they would grow strong as the moon did. Root crops like potatoes and carrots were to be planted in the dark of the moon, as they grew in darkness underground. Conversely, you did things like distilling whiskey and cutting firewood as the moon was waning, so those things would shrink down and dry up, for firewood, or concentrate, for moonshine.
Time: 1960. Place: Central High School in South Bend, Indiana. I was changing my clothes in the locker room after gym class one day when I overheard a classmate make this general statement to those present at the time: “You know that only queers wear green on Thursdays.” I thought to myself, ‘Oh, do they now?’ I was 13. From that day to the present–it’s been 65 years!–not caring what anybody thinks about it, I have made the conscious decision to wear green every Thursday. That’s about 780 Thursdays. It’s sort of a subtle, personal identity statement. That is the only day if the week when I will wear green. Over the years, I even have been teased by friends who know about my quirky fashion habit. “Cliff, well, look at you! It must be Thursday.” In photos of myself, if I am wearing green in the picture, I know that it was taken on a Thursday. I have often wondered about the guy I first heard it from, where did he hear it from, and why did he feel it was necessary to share this bit of lore with the rest of us? I never asked him. So, yes, there is at least one of us who still takes it seriously.
Hi cliff welcome to the straight dope.
That’s a cool story but isn’t it more like ~3000 Thursdays?
You know, I thought that number seemed a little low. I miscalculated. I did it again and this time I got 3,380. That sounds more like it, doesn’t it? Thanks for citing my error.
I was around, living in New York, during the Hanky Code thing. Different colored hankies were supposed to signify what sexual scenes you preferred. I won’t give you the whole rundown of which color stood for what, but generally, the left pocket was for “top” (or active acts), whereas the right pocket signified “bottom” (or passive, submissive). But some confusion arose when I eventually was made aware that the west coast was the exact opposite of the east coast. So, unless you knew where the guy was actually from, New York or San Francisco, we couldn’t be sure what anybody’s true preferences were. That is probably why the whole hanky thing eventually died out. It all became inconclusive, pointless and stupid.
Only things I ever heard about wearing green was that you’re supposed to do it on St Patrick’s Day, and that you should never be seen wearing both green and blue..
And you never wore orange on St Patrick’s Day. At least at the Catholic schools I went to.
Unless you’re a Seahawks employee or fan.
But probably not even then. ,)
My wife and her family are all ELCA Lutherans. but none are particularly devout about it, and none of them have any Irish ancestry or background.
A few years ago, we went over to my sister-in-law’s house for dinner; it just so happened that it was St. Patrick’s Day. My wife and I were wearing green, and when we walked in the door, my sister-in-law said – in all seriousness – “You aren’t supposed to wear green! You’re supposed to wear orange! We’re Protestants!”
To which I replied, “I grew up Catholic, I’m mostly Irish, and why do you care? It’s not like you’re Ulster Irish.”
(My sister-in-law is an opinionated idiot.)
Did you also share the sentence in parentheses with your sister-in-law, or was that your inside voice ? 
Football, right?
Inside voice, alas. Thankfully, my lovely bride does share my opinion of her sister.
Yes.
Don’t tell anyone who goes to Notre Dame, where their teams are called the Fighting Irish, and where they regularly mix those colors in their various fan gear items.
What’s the rationale for that, other than being kind of an ugly combination?
I don’t know, but it’s an old saying: “Blue and green / Should never be seen.”