Digitus Impudicus

Flipping the bird at all things legal

Friday, October 31, 2003

Uh...

A Krispy Kreme spokeswoman had the gall to tell the Times (here) that "Doughnuts 'are a normal part of a healthy, balanced diet.'"

And 25 year olds deserve $145,000 a year at NYC law firms.

This must be part of their litigating strategy for the class action lawsuits trundling their way.

The human power to rationalize is astounding.

Its about time.

Martha Stewart was a scapegoat. Now they're onto something.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Oh grow up, grown ups.

The New York Times ponders whether 20-something workers are "ambitious and eager to learn" on the one hand, or "self-absorbed and presumptuous" on the other. The Washington Post ponders whether 20-something voters, which it describes as "the disaffected young citizens of America," "will set aside their sense of abandonment and apathy and [I kid you not] flash-mob the polls."

Glad to see that two of the best newspapers in the country have put aside boring, insubstantial stereotypes about Gen X and Y in favor of insightful analysis.

For the record, this recent law grad is ambitious, eager to learn, self-absorbed, presumptuous, disaffected, abandoned but not apathetic. And I think this characterizes most folks in our generation. If the Dems would learn to pay attention to the first 6 adjectives, and not use the 7th as a cop-out for not expanding their voting base, this party might get somewhere.

Friday, October 10, 2003

Up yours, evil empire!

When the Yankees go up against the Sox, even the toddlers get impudent.

Unfortunately, the ubiquitously emailed picture of the day has no net location.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

Our reason for being.

"The 'bird' is 'an obscene gesture of contempt made by pointing the middle finger upward while keeping the other fingers down.' Merriam-Webster OnLine, at http://www.m-w.com. This gesture is of ancient origin:

"[T]he middle-finger jerk was so popular among the Romans that they even gave a special name to the middle digit, calling it the impudent finger: digitus impudicus. It was also known as the obscene finger, or the infamous finger, and there are a number of references to its use in the writings of classical authors. . . . The middle-finger jerk has survived for over 2,000 years and is still current in many parts of the world, especially the United States." Desmond Morris et al., Gestures 81-82 (1979).

This symbolic gesture has come to mean many things to many people in many contexts, including "displeasure" and "mild annoyance." See Martha Irvine, Is the Middle Finger Losing Its Badness?, AP Online, Feb. 23, 2003, available at 2003 WL 13367718 (reprinted in several newspapers). See also the cover of the September 20, 2003 issue of The Economist magazine [sic], depicting a cactus in a desert panorama giving the gesture because of displeasure with the outcome of the Cancun trade talks." Coggin v Texas (Tex App 3d 2003).