Trash Talkin'

"Trash Talking" is a form of unfounded bravado including, but not limited to, personal insults, name-calling and verbal abuse originally used in competitive situations, usually sports challenges.  Its roots are said to go back to Muhammad Ali,  the heavy weight boxing champ, who began to use disparaging and taunting remarks in hyping his boxing matches and calling out his opponents.  I suspect its roots go even father back to what was once referred to as "doing the dozens".


"The Dozens" began as an oral insult competition in the African-American tradition.  Two individuals, usually male, will spar in a fast and furious give and take of creative and often perceptive, insults that show off mental agility, creativity and wit.  It usually ends when one finally just "gives up", but infrequently can lead to physical confrontation if the insults "go to far"...and that perception is in the minds of the participants and on-lookers.


As a child attending elementary school in the Bed-Sty section of Brooklyn, I learned about "doin' the dozens" up close and personal.  I often admired the quick witted comebacks of several of my classmates, and learned a whole new language that has afforded me the ability to keep up with the best of them in this particular vocal give and take. But "Trash Talking" is something I find annoying, to say the least.






Snow drift on deck

This inclement weather consisting of lots of snow and ice coating many outside surfaces has made me a virtual prisoner in my own home.  Okay, I did actually take a walk this afternoon to the local post office, and I did work yesterday in Brooklyn, but on the whole, I have basically hunkered down in my condo.  I have a very interesting snow drift on my roof deck making it impossible for me to go       

out onto it at this point. Actually, since it is in the teens and twenties today, I am just as happy not to go out there and am content to look at the snow sitting in the warm space inside.  So I am spending time knitting, making soup, checking my email and Facebook accounts and shamelessly watching HGTV's "Flea Market Flip", a reality show with Lara Spencer hosting.

Flea Market Flip

"Flip" is an interesting show.  Teams of two scour a flea market searching for items to transform into "treasures" others will want to buy at a later sale site.  They are given three assignments and $500.  On one show they had to find an object with "good bones" to rejuvenate, find another to make into some sort of lighting thingy, and the final one had to be an industrial object or objects made into a "chic" accessory.  They are then assisted by a team of craftsmen who help them transform said objects into saleable items at another sale venue...the team that makes the most money takes home another $5,000.

An interesting show, but for one thing I found annoying.  The teams are "encouraged" to "trash talk" about each other and how they are "the best" at what they do.  The constant baiting and biting at each other is disconcerting.  These two pairs of folks really don't know each other and their debasing comments reveal some uncomfortable truths about surface observations people make about each other. Male contestants feel free to make absolutely sexist and inappropriate comments about female contestants including remarks about their looks and how they hammer or wield other tools "like a girl".  I thought those kinds of remarks were socially verboten in this era.


Other contestants made comments about the fashion tastes of the other team, or their choice of colors and design decisions. One team, who spent most of the on air time saying how wonderful they were and how they were "winners", was visibly stunned to find out that they, indeed, were decidedly on the losing end of this game  big time...they took in about $50 profit, and the other team raked in over $400 .


But the worst place to observe "trash talk" has got to be the internet in general, and Facebook in particular.

The recent snow storms in New York have brought out the worst in many New Yorkers who are busy "trash talking" the Mayor, the School's Chancellor, the Sanitation Department, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Department of Transportation (they run the ferries) and any other person or agency that they feel has personally slighted them.  Everyone seems to have an opinion, and feels they have the absolute right to blast whomever they want to blame, and there is no room for polite disagreement. Most people are reacting, or more accurately, over reacting to the decisions made by those elected officials who were elected to make those decisions.  If I had a dollar for every rant that I saw which included the words:"...I didn't vote for him", I'd be on my way to Hawaii.  Well, someone did vote for him; he got elected to make the decisions. 

One of my favorite rants was reported in our local newspaper.  The Chancellor did not close the schools, but added that parents would use their discretion  when making the decision for their children.  A woman kept her children home because she felt it was too dangerous for them to go to school. She ranted on and on about safety and how the Mayor didn't care about her kids.  She then bundled them up and took them to a local golf course which is located next to one of the most dangerous roads on Staten Island so they could go sledding. Hum...Sledding or school??? What lesson did these children learn?

Can we all please stop the ranting??? Can we try to understand that sometimes we are not correct and our opinions are just that , ours, and not necessarily how things will work out.