Appealing to the lowest common denominator- TV "bleeping"

[CreamyGoodness]

It's time for another episode of "little crap that annoys James".

Last night I heard A&E bleep out a guy on Storage Wars (a quality program that I turn to when I am looking for fine arts and entertainment) for saying "balls to the walls".

America... we need to cut this nonsense out.

Both "balls to the walls" and "balls out" are historic railroad terms. Balls to the walls refers to pushing the accelerator all the way forward until the iron "balls" that protect the accelerator lever from snapping off touches the wall behind it.

"Balls out" refers to the speed gauge atop the locomotive spinning with the weighted "balls" having extended fully and spinning. Had the locomotive and thus the train had been traveling at a minimal speed, the gauge's "balls" would have hung down, and it is possible that some underling might have reported to the conductor that they were traveling "balls-in".

In both cases, the meaning is straight forward. I am going full speed. I am going balls to the walls. I am going balls-out.

Neither of these terms are vulgar, and neither should be bleeped.

So yeah, America, stop with your testicular fascination. It is dumb.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

If my 3 year old son caught wind of this he'd have a new found facination with the term. As it is, it's difficult enough to keep him "balls-in" of another vernacular.

 

[BrewKnurd]

It's time for another episode of "little crap that annoys James".

Last night I heard A&E bleep out a guy on Storage Wars (a quality program that I turn to when I am looking for fine arts and entertainment) for saying "balls to the walls".

America... we need to cut this nonsense out.

Both "balls to the walls" and "balls out" are historic railroad terms. Balls to the walls refers to pushing the accelerator all the way forward until the iron "balls" that protect the accelerator lever from snapping off touches the wall behind it.

"Balls out" refers to the speed gauge atop the locomotive spinning with the weighted "balls" having extended fully and spinning. Had the locomotive and thus the train had been traveling at a minimal speed, the gauge's "balls" would have hung down, and it is possible that some underling might have reported to the conductor that they were traveling "balls-in".

In both cases, the meaning is straight forward. I am going full speed. I am going balls to the walls. I am going balls-out.

Neither of these terms are vulgar, and neither should be bleeped.

So yeah, America, stop with your testicular fascination. It is dumb.

Not to mention, I'm not sure how you go anywhere fast with your nuts plastered to a wall.

 

[Homercidal]

You're pretty cocksure, aren't you!

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Not to mention, I'm not sure how you go anywhere fast with your nuts plastered to a wall.

Precisely. Now if the term "balls to the walls" was something a cop said before checking you for weapons or drugs, I would say that it should be bleeped on basic cable.

Otherwise we need to go the whole way. The New York Knicks are a basket *bleep* team. Wrigley Field is a *bleep* park.

Arg... its too stupid to believe.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

You're pretty cocksure, aren't you!

And to think Laura on Little House on the Prairie thought nothing of going to the edge of the water and picking some pretty *bleep*willows.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Otherwise we need to go the *bleep* way.

Careful there, creamy. You can't go talking about holes that way.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Ah geez... I just snorted.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Ah geez... I just *bleep*.

That's clearly a drug reference. Cut it out.

 

[Proboscidea]

Meaning vs. the way it sounds.

In the same category is "niggardly," coming to English from Germanic/Old Norse roots. Has no relation to the racial slur. Still, it's wise to refrain from using it, probably ever, because it sounds like the other thing. I mean, you CAN use it, but that just makes you an a**hole. Thanks, racists, for ruining a perfectly good word.


EDIT: Ha ha, I had to go back and censor myself (a**hole) in a thread about dirty words. Also, realize the irony of using a word, which makes someone an a**hole, in a post about how the word makes you an a**hole. Circle of life! Always.

 

[McGarnigle]

The word "clusterf***" has a similar issue. It used to mean, literally, a bunch of people in a cluster f***ing one another. Now it's used to mean anything going seriously wrong and is perceived as being dirty. So they won't even use it on TV.

 

[m_c_zero]

I always had heard that "balls to the wall" was a term that came about in war-time. When someone would throw a grenade into a room full of people, everyone put their balls to the wall and took the grenade in the backside to avoid loosing their boys.

 

[Homercidal]

I always had heard that "balls to the wall" was a term that came about in war-time. When someone would throw a grenade into a room full of people, everyone put their balls to the wall and took the grenade in the backside to avoid loosing their boys.

As a young person I heard the Accept song, "Balls to the Wall" and I assumed it meant something dirty, but I never knew exactly what. I always wondered how someone could literally have their balls on a wall.

Nowadays you got people taking a Wahl to their balls. Manscaping.

 

[bob1852]

 

[dkwolf]

And from the late, great, George Carlin...

When it comes to changing the language, I think they make some good points. Because we do think in language. And so the quality of our thoughts and ideas can only be as good as the quality of our language. So maybe some of this patriarchal **** ought to go away. I think "spokesman" ought to be "spokesperson." I think "chairman" ought to be "chairperson." I think "mankind" ought to be "humankind." But they take it too far, they take themselves too seriously, they exaggerate. They want me to call that thing in the street a "personhole cover." I think that's taking it a little bit too far! What would you call a ladies' man, a "person's person"? That would make a he-man an "it-person." Little kids would be afraid of the "boogie-person." They'd look up in the sky and see the "person in the moon." Guys would say "come back here and fight like a person," and we'd all sing "For It's a Jolly Good Person," that's the kind of thing you would hear on "Late Night with David Letterperson"! You know what I mean?

 

[Airplanedoc]

True Story During the Olympics, I was surfing the net while SWMBO watched gymnastics. I kept trying to figure out what the commentator said that was being censoring out. Then I broke down and watched and finally realized it was a tone to tell the gymnast that they had a certain time left.

 

[Homercidal]

It's like the C word. I just saw a thread closed for it and quite frankly I simply cannot see how that particular word has so much hate against it. It's no worse than many other derogatory terms which mean the exact same thing. No worse in comparison to other words with different, yet equally obscene, meanings. Yet it seems to be the one word that many many people get all upset about.

Even my wife and her friends take offense with that one word while they happily throw other strong words around like seals in a killer whale convention!

I don't get it. It's just a word. It's like the N word, but taboo for everyone.

For kicks, next time you hear a beep on TV substitute the bleeped word with the C word. Then you know you can pretty much be guaranteed to have heard the worst thing imaginable.

 

[the_bird]

True Story During the Olympics, I was surfing the net while SWMBO watched gymnastics. I kept trying to figure out what the commentator said that was being censoring out. Then I broke down and watched and finally realized it was a tone to tell the gymnast that they had a certain time left.

Happened to me, too.

I love these old Jimmy Kimmel bits, too.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Head down south. I was immediately introduced to southern culture when I pulled into a Wendy's late night and a 4x4 off roader, flying the confederate flag pulled up next to me. I'm like "this is no place for a yankee." I then look over to it's trailer hitch and there's cast iron testicles hanging from the hitch. Now that's a statement. Under HBT guidelines I'm not posting a pic but google truck testicles.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

...google truck testicles.

Welcome to the year 2000.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

That's about right And they're still around.