Things you often Wonder

[mjmooney]

I told you I don`t want to remember who he is/was.

Actually, I have`nt a clue who he was .

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English performer and impresario. He was manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls. As a solo artist, McLaren had an innovative career that helped introduce hip hop to the United Kingdom.

Buffalo Gals is a hip-hop single released by Malcolm McLaren & the World's Famous Supreme Team as a single in 1982 and on their 1983 album Duck Rock. The song is composed of extensive scratching with calls from square dancing. The music video prominently features the Rock Steady Crew.

McLaren got the idea for the song while in New York City looking for a support act for Bow Wow Wow when he went to an outdoor concert (known as a "Block Party") by Afrika Bambaataa and Universal Zulu Nation. This is where he was exposed to Hip-Hop for the first time and discovered the scratching technique he would use on this song. Most of the scratching and the beat of the song was composed by Trevor Horn.

In the liner notes for Duck Rock, McLaren wrote that this track was "recorded with the World's Famous Supreme Team and Zulu singers backing them up with the words "she's looking like a hobo." The performance by the Supreme Team may require some explaining but suffice to say they are DJs from New York City who have developed a technique using record players like instruments, replacing the power chord of the guitar by the needle of a gramophone, moving it manually backwards and forwards across the surface of a record. We call it scratching."

Charisma Records were not initially keen on releasing the song, but relented after a strongly positive response to the first broadcast of the track by Capital Radio DJ Kid Jensen.

Wiki

I was wrong about the skipping rhyme, it was indeed a square dance tune.

The skipping thing he did was "Double Dutch".

[PussEKatt]

They got a strong positive response by Capital Radio ?

[maqroll]

How does Christian Haydenson have an acting career?

[mjmooney]

We refer to the painters as "Van Gogh", "Van Dyke" and "Van Eyck", the film director as "Van Sant", the actors as "Van Cleef" and "Van Damme", and so on.

So why do we never refer to the composer as "Van Beethoven"?

[bickster]

We refer to the painters as "Van Gogh", "Van Dyke" and "Van Eyck", the film director as "Van Sant", the actors as "Van Cleef" and "Van Damme", and so on.

So why do we never refer to the composer as "Van Beethoven"?

Isn't it because he was German and the rest are Belgian or Dutch? And the van in Beethoven's name isn't capitalised and the others are, which leads me to think that the Dutch / Belgian Van's are part of the Surname and the German Beethoven van isn't part of his surname.

It's not something I've ever thought about or researched before your post so I could be entirely wrong

[CI]

If Germany had won the world war, what would life be like today?

Would we all be driving brilliant cars and living in Hoff houses ?

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Where does the term "honkie" come from and is it derogatory or playful (or both).

Never really figured it out.

[Stevo985]

As in the word black people use for a white person?

I think it's origin is something to do with prostitution (honking horns, but don't know how that's connected to being white),

But it is derogatory. It's the equivalent to the N Bomb

[dont_do_it_doug.]

As in the word black people use for a white person?

I think it's origin is something to do with prostitution (honking horns, but don't know how that's connected to being white),

But it is derogatory. It's the equivalent to the N Bomb

Is it though? Because maybe it's my imagination but I seem to hear it all the time. Often in a "jokey" manner. Even in "entertainment" media? Maybe I'm wrong.

[bickster]

As in the word black people use for a white person?

I think it's origin is something to do with prostitution (honking horns, but don't know how that's connected to being white),

But it is derogatory. It's the equivalent to the N Bomb

Is it though? Because maybe it's my imagination but I seem to hear it all the time. Often in a "jokey" manner. Even in "entertainment" media? Maybe I'm wrong.

IIRC it originated in America as a derogatory term used by black workers to describe Hungarian (& other Eastern European possibly) immigrant workers. Which I think came from Hunky > Hungarian.

[coda]

We refer to the painters as "Van Gogh", "Van Dyke" and "Van Eyck", the film director as "Van Sant", the actors as "Van Cleef" and "Van Damme", and so on.

So why do we never refer to the composer as "Van Beethoven"?

Isn't it because he was German and the rest are Belgian or Dutch? And the van in Beethoven's name isn't capitalised and the others are, which leads me to think that the Dutch / Belgian Van's are part of the Surname and the German Beethoven van isn't part of his surname.

It's not something I've ever thought about or researched before your post so I could be entirely wrong

Because he was deaf people called him whatever they liked.

[leviramsey]

We refer to the painters as "Van Gogh", "Van Dyke" and "Van Eyck", the film director as "Van Sant", the actors as "Van Cleef" and "Van Damme", and so on.

So why do we never refer to the composer as "Van Beethoven"?

Isn't it because he was German and the rest are Belgian or Dutch? And the van in Beethoven's name isn't capitalised and the others are, which leads me to think that the Dutch / Belgian Van's are part of the Surname and the German Beethoven van isn't part of his surname.

It's not something I've ever thought about or researched before your post so I could be entirely wrong

wiki"]

In the Netherlands, and Suriname, names starting with "van" are filed under the initial letter of the following name proper, so van der Waals is filed under "W", as: Waals, van der, Johannes or Waals, Johannes van der. The "v" is written in lower case, except when the surname is used as standalone (when the first name or initials are omitted), in which case it is capitalised, as in "de schilder Van Gogh" ("the painter Van Gogh"). The same filing usage applies for Afrikaans (in South Africa). Derivative terms like van der Waals radius (Dutch: vanderwaalsstraal) the "v" is not capitalised, unless it is the first word of the sentence.

In Belgium, surnames beginning with Van or Van... are filed under "V" regardless of how they are written. So for example Eric Van Rompuy would be listed under the "V" section, not under the "R". The "V" is most often capitalized.

Anglicised versions of Dutch names (e.g. Dick Van Dyke, George Vancouver, Martin Van Buren), or in the case where the word is not of Dutch origin, such as the Vietnamese middle name Van (e.g. Duong Van Minh, Nguyen Van Thieu), it is always capitalised.

Ludwig van Beethoven, was of Flemish descent (his grandfather was Lodewijk van Beethoven), despite his German birth. I suspect that it's the peculiar treatment of the cognate von in German (reserved for nobility and not part of the name) which leads to him being simply known as "Beethoven" (it would be interesting to see whether this usage is more correlated with the post-1919 abolitions of the monarchies (and nobilities) of Germany and Austria... Friedrich August von Hayek became simply F.A. Hayek).

[leviramsey]

As in the word black people use for a white person?

I think it's origin is something to do with prostitution (honking horns, but don't know how that's connected to being white),

But it is derogatory. It's the equivalent to the N Bomb

Is it though? Because maybe it's my imagination but I seem to hear it all the time. Often in a "jokey" manner. Even in "entertainment" media? Maybe I'm wrong.

IIRC it originated in America as a derogatory term used by black workers to describe Hungarian (& other Eastern European possibly) immigrant workers. Which I think came from Hunky > Hungarian.

OED cites that... I'm dubious, though. The alternative theory of Wolof origin (along with yam and hepcat) makes more sense to me. The other etymology I've heard, referring to white johns in early 20th century ghettoes, seems to me to be more retrspective than anything else.

[Stevo985]

As in the word black people use for a white person?

I think it's origin is something to do with prostitution (honking horns, but don't know how that's connected to being white),

But it is derogatory. It's the equivalent to the N Bomb

Is it though? Because maybe it's my imagination but I seem to hear it all the time. Often in a "jokey" manner. Even in "entertainment" media? Maybe I'm wrong.

Well I don't think it's as taboo as "nigger". I don't think it needs to be censored or anything.

But it's an insult. It IS derogatory. If someone called me a honky then they'd be insulting me.

[mjmooney]

We refer to the painters as "Van Gogh", "Van Dyke" and "Van Eyck", the film director as "Van Sant", the actors as "Van Cleef" and "Van Damme", and so on.

So why do we never refer to the composer as "Van Beethoven"?

Isn't it because he was German and the rest are Belgian or Dutch? And the van in Beethoven's name isn't capitalised and the others are, which leads me to think that the Dutch / Belgian Van's are part of the Surname and the German Beethoven van isn't part of his surname.

It's not something I've ever thought about or researched before your post so I could be entirely wrong

wiki"]

In the Netherlands, and Suriname, names starting with "van" are filed under the initial letter of the following name proper, so van der Waals is filed under "W", as: Waals, van der, Johannes or Waals, Johannes van der. The "v" is written in lower case, except when the surname is used as standalone (when the first name or initials are omitted), in which case it is capitalised, as in "de schilder Van Gogh" ("the painter Van Gogh"). The same filing usage applies for Afrikaans (in South Africa). Derivative terms like van der Waals radius (Dutch: vanderwaalsstraal) the "v" is not capitalised, unless it is the first word of the sentence.

In Belgium, surnames beginning with Van or Van... are filed under "V" regardless of how they are written. So for example Eric Van Rompuy would be listed under the "V" section, not under the "R". The "V" is most often capitalized.

Anglicised versions of Dutch names (e.g. Dick Van Dyke, George Vancouver, Martin Van Buren), or in the case where the word is not of Dutch origin, such as the Vietnamese middle name Van (e.g. Duong Van Minh, Nguyen Van Thieu), it is always capitalised.

Ludwig van Beethoven, was of Flemish descent (his grandfather was Lodewijk van Beethoven), despite his German birth. I suspect that it's the peculiar treatment of the cognate von in German (reserved for nobility and not part of the name) which leads to him being simply known as "Beethoven" (it would be interesting to see whether this usage is more correlated with the post-1919 abolitions of the monarchies (and nobilities) of Germany and Austria... Friedrich August von Hayek became simply F.A. Hayek).

Yep, I know all that. But given the habitual English usage of that type of name (we tend to say "Von Richthofen", etc.), I'm still surprised that we don't talk about "Van Beethoven's 5th Symphony" and so on.

[choffer]

How is it that in ten years, a footballer wearing black boots has gone from being the norm to looking out of place?

[Jimzk5]

How is it that in ten years, a footballer wearing black boots has gone from being the norm to looking out of place?

It's the same in Sunday league too

[Voinjama]

i have always wondered if anyone i know has hiv, but is secretly keeping it quiet from me. Because it is not always obvious to tell..

[snowychap]

But it's an insult. It IS derogatory. If someone called me a honky then they'd be insulting me.

p.s. Just seen that your post was from July!

Edited December 7, 2012 by snowychap

[tonyh29]

i have always wondered if anyone i know has hiv, but is secretly keeping it quiet from me. Because it is not always obvious to tell..

I have quite a few friends that are gay , I think based on how long I've known them that they would say if they had HIV , even if they wouldn't broadcast it on Facebook etc .... I believe the medication nowadays is quite good all most to the point that you can have HIV and go on for donkeys years

Saying that , They have all lost quite a few friends to AIDS though so I don't know if they are just lucky , not as promiscuous as others or just careful ...