'Faux-cul' point

February 1, 2015 11:10 am, FM said:

I knew that “faux-cul” literally means “false ass”, but why is it an insult? Apparently this phrase was used in French for what in English was called a bustle, a “framework used to expand the fullness or support the drapery of the back of a woman’s dress”. The French phrase then apparently picked up the extended meaning of “hypocrite” — unless this was an independent development?

Even while knowing the bustle meaning of faux-cul, I’d always assumed its use as an insult was derived from faux-jeton, with cul substituted for jeton for expressive purposes, as very often happens with all manner of swearwords.

In private, sure, but we haven’t gotten to the point where even retired politicians talk this way in television interviews.

This kind of language is certainly not usual in television interviews in France either, but Jean-Marie Le Pen has always been known for his use of strong language and provocative discourse, sometimes resulting in legal action against him.

P.S. The term trombinoscope, dated 1873 by Le Petit Robert is rather frequent in companies, schools and other institutions which keep a photo directory of their members. Its improbable etymology derives from trombine, a colloquial word for English face (somewhat equivalent to mug).

Mark Liberman: So trombinoscope basically means “facebook”!

Flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smartalecness

Robert Wright, The Secret of Jeremy Lin’s Success?, The Atlantic 2/14/2012:

One of the most intriguing cultural contrasts between eastern and western ways of viewing the world was documented in experiments by the psychologist Richard Nisbett, some of them in collaboration with Takahiko Masuda. The upshot was that East Asians tend to view scenes more holistically than westerners.

Robert Wright’s account of Jeremy Lin’s success is not only horseshit as sports commentary, it’s horseshit as social psychology. I say this in the friendliest way possible, of course.

James Fallows has added a note about what Beijing pickup basketball is like (How Would Jeremy Lin Fare in a Pickup Game in Beijing, 2/16/2012); and another with some lovely quotations about a different era’s stereotypes about basketball (Update on Lin, ‘Jewish Dominance’ of Hoops, and Ethnic Traits in Athletics and Life, 2/16/2012), e.g. this (from here):

New York Daily News sports editor Paul Gallico wrote in the mid 1930s that basketball “appeals to the Hebrew with his Oriental background [because] the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smartalecness.” We see how qualities such as cunning and wiliness were posited as the keys to Jewish basketball success and how these kinds of statements were indicative of early 20th century America.