Things I Hate, Part MMMCCLVI
By Mitch Berg
The phrase “[something someone said that the speaker doesn’t like] speaks volumes…”.
Indeed – but probably less about the subject than about the speaker. It’s become the new “at this point in time”, something people toss in when they don’t or can’t spend the intellectual effort to come up with a serious response.
One acquaintance of mine once sniffed “the fact that you support Ann Coulter speaks volumes.” Perhaps. Volume I: the speaker was too lazy to say exactly what that meant. Volume II: the speaker ignored the context of the “support” (Coulter was in an argument with someone who, unlike her, is always crazy, and not just for Coulter’s theatrical effect). Volume III: You speak in code words, like “Coulter” and “Wingnut”, among those for whom those code words have meaning and outside of which do not. Volume IV: If challenged (and I did challenge) the speaker could not tell me which “volumes” were being “spoken”.
Someone using the phrase “speaks volumes” indeed, itself, speaks…ill.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:19 am
I agree. Coulter’s batsh*t crazy and wouldn’t have an audience if she didn’t have really pretty hair. The fact that you support her speaks a sentence: You’re a right-wing horndog nutjob.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:01 am
FUN WITH EDITING: ‘CLOWN EDITION:
“I agree. Coulter’s…pretty[.] [S]upport her[.]
January 10th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Mitch – if someone said to you, “My idol is Cindy Sheehan” and meant it – wouldn’t you make a decision about that person? You might not use the phrase “speaks volumes” but I HIGHLY doubt that you would not have an OPINION about a person who would say such a thing. Someone who says, “God, I love Rachel Corrie and I think she’s a true hero …” To borrow a hated phrase: it speaks VOLUMES about who that person is, what they believe, how they vote, their quality of character … It just does.
I’m not saying I would say “Oh, you’re an evil person” … but if someone told me they supported someone I felt was utterly abhorrent, then damn straight I would have an opinion about that person. Which is just another way of saying “speaks volumes”.
My two cents.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Nonesense, AC…it pains me to say it, but Ann Coulter’s hair is a disaster. One of my fantasies is that I become friends with her (I’m unreasonably certain we’d get along like a house on fire) and one day, while we’re out shoe shopping after getting smashed on Chardonnay, she allows me to talk her into a more flattering cut/color. That’s what girlfriends are for.
That said, Haw, Mitch, too true! I now can’t wait for someone to say that to me so I can steal your line.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Red,
I agree 100%. Well, 98%; one does draw conclusions about people by the intellectual company they keep. Although in the particular instance I cited, there was the whole “don’t try to paint me into your corner” thing, too; I don’t care a lot for Ann Coulter, but because I didn’t join the speaker in demonizing everything about her being, and agree with some of the same things she agrees with (we’re both conservatives, it’s inevitable), it “spoke volumes” about me – to this person. If someone were to say “There are things I respect about Cindy Sheehan” or “there are areas where Rachel Corrie gets a bum rap”, for example, I’d give ’em some slack.
Katie,
Actually, that is one of my fantasies, too; the two of you working on each others’ hair. Not sure where it came from, but there you go.
Steal away!
January 10th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Doh – forgot this bit…
Sheila, my beef isn’t necessarily with the phrase itself, but rather that it’s becoming a bit of a cliche, delivered without a lot of thought, by a lot of the madding pundit horde.
“Oh, that speaks volumes” is the new “tut tut”.
Or so it seems to me…
January 10th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Mitch said,
“it’s becoming a bit of a cliche”
You mean like the phrase moonbat?
January 10th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Yep. Just like that.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I think the fact that Mitch has MMMCCLVI or more things to hate speaks volumes…
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
BTW, the new ad sounds good, Mitch. Congrats. I don’t doubt the revenue is welcome. We both know how much kids cost.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Mitch – ha, yes – it certainly is an annoying cliche.
And all of that “you’re either 100% with me or 100% against – and if you’re not then it ‘speaks volumes’ ” … bah – that’s just totalitarian thinking, it really is.
As I’m sure you can imagine, I get it from both sides of the political fence, so i certainly know what you’re talking about on that score!
And yes, can we please retire moonbat?? 🙂
January 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I don’t know, I kinda like “moonbat” ….it always makes me think of my aunt Gladys – a woman who was comfortable flying with seriously damaged pitch and yaw controls
January 11th, 2007 at 6:40 am
And yes, can we please retire moonbat??
Only if “wingnut” is also retired.
Of course, that would take away Angryclown’s favorite group insult characterization. The fact he likes to use it so much speakes volumes…
Hee-hee-hee.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Oops, tht should be “speaks.”
January 11th, 2007 at 6:42 am
Alright…now I’ve misspelled “that.”
January 11th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Sheila, I suspect you’re the kind of friend who would tell Ann Coulter to die her hair red and get a perm, then gossip about it behind her back. Leave Ann’s hair alone. It’s the her only good feature.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Um, Clown, that was actually Katie with the hair bit.
Good thing you’re not in a field where you have to get names and facts straight or anything.
Ann Coulter as a redhead…hmmmmm…
January 11th, 2007 at 6:59 am
angryclown – what? You got the wrong commenter. I said nothing about Ann Coulter or her hair.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Sorry, Sheila, I meant katiemc. I assume you agree with me that Ann Coulter’s hair is very pretty.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Tut tut, clown, I’ve done some things I’m not proud of, but I would never, ever recommend a perm. Why, on top of color it would create a perfect storm of overprocessing, and then it’s a slippery slope into split ends; you do the math. Not on my watch, fella! The fact that you’d draw such a snap conclusion about me speaks volumes. Don’t go there.
bud-ump-ump.
over ‘n out