How *nice* for Ask MetaFilter!

September 27, 2010 4:03 PM

Well, bless our snark-filled, sugar-coated hearts: Your answers to my question, "'Bless your heart' and other backhanded phrases?," make it to public radio's "A Way With Words."

Host Martha Barnette, who grew up in the South, resonates with the many wonderful, pithy, apt and funny ways MeFites offered of expressing a dissenting opinion in a socially acceptable way. Audio is :17- 2:25 or so. (Yes, I know this aired last October, I'm just a bit late to finding it.)

Thank you to all who participated in the conversation. I laugh every time I read it and chuckle inwardly every time I use one of your lines. Cheers!

posted by MonkeyToes to MetaFilter-Related at 4:03 PM (63 comments total)

(Mods, if this is inappropriate, feel free to delete. It tickled me to hear Ask Metafilter singled out for praise on a public radio show.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:11 PM on September 27, 2010

I'm so proud of you all.

(I'm doing it wrong, aren't I?)
posted by felix betachat at 4:12 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

How fascinating for you.
posted by longsleeves at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well I suppose that's something.
posted by The Whelk at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, isn't that special?
posted by crunchland at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2010

It tickled me to hear Ask Metafilter singled out for praise on a public radio show.

It's cute that you think that.
posted by dersins at 4:15 PM on September 27, 2010

Oh, never change.
posted by The Whelk at 4:15 PM on September 27, 2010

[clapping my hands, very slowly, five times]
posted by not_on_display at 4:15 PM on September 27, 2010 [5 favorites]

Well, thanks for the update.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 4:19 PM on September 27, 2010

Well, if it makes you happy...
posted by katillathehun at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
posted by Jofus at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2010

We were going to double meta bingo, and now this.
posted by boo_radley at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2010

AskMe sponsors an NPR show, right?

Product placement!
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2010

Thank you for pointing that out.
posted by Gator at 4:33 PM on September 27, 2010

verrrryyyy interesting...
posted by patheral at 4:35 PM on September 27, 2010

Talkings words to be the!
posted by shakespeherian at 4:35 PM on September 27, 2010

I never could have guessed that when I clicked on this, the thread would contain backhanded phrases. My stars. You're all so clever and not one bit predictable and I like that.
posted by iconomy at 4:36 PM on September 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

Neat!
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:42 PM on September 27, 2010

Fascinating.
posted by angrycat at 4:44 PM on September 27, 2010

That's really something! Thanks too much.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:56 PM on September 27, 2010

How nice of her to say she found the discussion at "Ask MetaFilter dot com" since I don't actually own that.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:59 PM on September 27, 2010 [17 favorites]

Reading that thread brought out all sorts of memories of my Minnesota Nice family that I was working very hard on repressing. It made me realize that growing up in New England, you miss out on a lot of passive-aggression since everyone just pretty much flat out insults you to your face.

It's very special.
posted by sonika at 5:02 PM on September 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

Glad that worked out for us.
posted by bearwife at 5:03 PM on September 27, 2010

I laugh every time I read it and chuckle inwardly every time I use one of your lines.

That... hasn't been my experience.
posted by vidur at 5:11 PM on September 27, 2010

Fuck you all.
posted by maudlin at 5:24 PM on September 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

Oh. Sorry. Wrong thread. Carry on!
posted by maudlin at 5:25 PM on September 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

(And I now subscribe to yet another podcast. Woo-hoo and thanks!)
posted by maudlin at 5:25 PM on September 27, 2010

(Mods, if this is inappropriate, feel free to delete. It tickled me to hear Ask Metafilter singled out for praise on a public radio show.)

No, no, I think it's adorable that you hurried here to share...

The funny thing about this is that it continues an odd recent trend. It's this: in pretty much every thread or link these days I'm finding something that would make a fabulous username. Today's contribution, from that AWWW link: charientism, from a Greek word that means “the expression of an unpleasant thing in an agreeable manner.” Please, somebody register this name and live up to it. I look forward to wincing and grumbling at the many future "Eponysterical"s you ought to generate.
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:32 PM on September 27, 2010

You don't say!
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:35 PM on September 27, 2010

How ... quaint.
posted by inmediasres at 5:41 PM on September 27, 2010

Now that's a thread!
posted by SLC Mom at 5:47 PM on September 27, 2010

This news is really breathtaking.
posted by rhizome at 5:52 PM on September 27, 2010

well, you can't tell which way the train's been from looking at the tracks
posted by pyramid termite at 5:59 PM on September 27, 2010

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
posted by box at 6:02 PM on September 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well I never, isn't that just wonderful.
posted by unliteral at 6:15 PM on September 27, 2010

All right you nice bastards, I'll come out and say it: we almost made two whole days without a MeTa. TWO DAYS! That's unheard of.

And you ruined it for a feel sort of good but also bad when you think about it thread.
posted by graventy at 6:20 PM on September 27, 2010

oh look, a pheasant
posted by clavdivs at 6:24 PM on September 27, 2010

Huh. Ain't that something. Well I never.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:48 PM on September 27, 2010

How did my girlfriend's parents get a hold of so many of your accounts?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 6:50 PM on September 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well, that's nice...for you.
posted by 1000monkeys at 6:53 PM on September 27, 2010

The posts in this thread are so good at what they do.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 7:11 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, they just haven't had the advantages we've had.
posted by Allee Katze at 7:21 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

graventy writes "All right you nice bastards, I'll come out and say it: we almost made two whole days without a MeTa. TWO DAYS! That's unheard of. "

And it would have been the third day in four; been a while since that happened.
posted by Mitheral at 7:26 PM on September 27, 2010

You're all so modest; with so much to be modest about.
posted by scruss at 7:37 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh. How interesting.
posted by deborah at 7:45 PM on September 27, 2010

There you go!
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:11 PM on September 27, 2010

Can someone point me to a similar thread where someone said saying something like "He's a little sweet" meant that the person they were talking about was mentally challenged. I've been trying to find that for ages to settle an ongoing debate.
posted by anniecat at 8:56 PM on September 27, 2010

This just reminded me of my absolute most hated of all the comments teachers could leave on my report cards in middle school. There were several options and the teachers would bubble in the ones that applied to the student. Things like "Student is a pleasure to have in class" or "Student is a total jerkface." (I made that one up.)

The lance to my seventh-grade heart was (inevitably in math):

"Student works well within own capabilities."

: (


I seriously would've preferred "Student appears a bit dim but golly, she busts a sweat. Bless her heart."
posted by Neofelis at 10:05 PM on September 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

Ach, never saw that thread and thought of a good one: in the UK, people sometimes say 'I'm not being funny but...' before saying something hugely offensive/insulting.

Didn't we all do well?
posted by mippy at 1:51 AM on September 28, 2010

Today's contribution, from that AWWW link: charientism, from a Greek word that means “the expression of an unpleasant thing in an agreeable manner.”

I saw that too and will now be on the lookout for an opportunity to casually drop it into a conversation as soon as possible:

Mrs. TedW (on trying a new meal that didn't turn out exactly as hoped): "This is, um, interesting."

Me: "Oh come on, you're just being a charientist."
posted by TedW at 5:12 AM on September 28, 2010

Yup. That's going to be my sockpuppet: Please Don't Squeeze the Charientist.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:34 AM on September 28, 2010

That really is a good thread. Everyone is so articulate.
posted by slogger at 7:38 AM on September 28, 2010

Yes, it's been quite the read. Thanks for giving me something to do with my morning. MetaFilter wouldn't be the same without y'all.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:44 AM on September 28, 2010

My, what a unique contribution.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:22 AM on September 28, 2010

I don't disagree with that sentiment.
posted by Mister_A at 9:25 AM on September 28, 2010

That's great for people who like that kind of thing.
posted by matildaben at 10:38 AM on September 28, 2010

Well that's...different.
posted by Ouisch at 12:12 PM on September 28, 2010

That's great for people who like that kind of thing.

Well, it's good enough for who it's for.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:25 PM on September 28, 2010

Oh yeah - there was this little crafts shop in a small town near mine where I think you could go throw pottery or do woodwork or whatever, but it seems to have died of apathy. The name of the shop?

"Sump'm to Do"
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:52 PM on September 28, 2010

How about that!


Isn't that something?
posted by Wild_Eep at 4:03 PM on September 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

You deserve a gold star.
posted by freshwater at 8:19 PM on September 28, 2010

OK
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:48 PM on September 29, 2010

lolwut
posted by not_on_display at 4:28 PM on September 29, 2010