Comments on: Palin ‘Machatenes’ Arrested on Drug Charges

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:27:40 +0000

Hannah’s comment reminds me of a well-known “Dear Abby” joke:

Someone writing in: I’d like to research my family history, but I can’t afford it.
Abby: Run for public office.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:18:53 +0000

@hannah: Thanks again for the correction. But it would be great if you would explain precisely what machatonim means. I always thought it was the "in-laws" and that "machateniste" would be "mother in law." If that's not the case & shvigger is mother in law, then what exactly is machateniste & machatonim?

By: hannah

hannah — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:12:56 +0000

“that’s the machatenes (mother-in-law)!”
why you getting such a kick about a would-have-been potential vice president’s mother-in-law?
Aren’t liberals supposed to be non judgmental? Especially, when it’s a mother-in-law, not even the person in the spotlight?
Interesting to me that that is what you call entertaining.
And, btw, “machatenes” is not the correct word. The word is “machateniste” and it doesn’t mean mother-in-law.
“Shvigger” is mother-in-law.
Did you take a look at Obama’s shvigger? Or how about his Bubbe?

By: Zhu Bajie

Zhu Bajie — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:39:41 +0000

“spokesperson”

Chinese language does not have grammatical gender or gender pronouns. Yet somehow men and women manage to have the same conflicts as anywhere else.

Zhu Bajie

By: Zhu Bajie

Zhu Bajie — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:35:29 +0000

“Yes, it’s always a sad day for satire when folks like Palin, Dan Quayle, Helmut Kohl, or Boris Yeltsin disappear from the spotlight.”

Someone always takes their place.

Zhu Bajie

By: Heller

Heller — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:13:43 +0000

My grandparents spoke Yiddish (on my father’s side) but they were extremely conservative. How times have changed!

By: fiddler

fiddler — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:57:27 +0000

Yes, it’s always a sad day for satire when folks like Palin, Dan Quayle, Helmut Kohl, or Boris Yeltsin disappear from the spotlight.

The minor quibble I have is with “spokesperson”. He’s identified in the article as male, so why can’t he be a “spokesman”? More commonly though I see the opposite – men referred to as “spokesmen”, “chairmen” and so on, while women in such positions are reduced to “persons”, trying to be so PC as to defeat the purpose.