Lord Helmet

The "Grand Old Party" conjures up images of old, rich, white guys slapping each other on the back and smoking fat cigars, exactly the imagery that hurts them the most. And the fact that everyone's expected to call them that. You even hear liberals, who surely don't think of Republicans as grand, refer to the party as the GOP. And the "Old" part makes them sound out of touch with today's realities.

Dividing our population into two feuding tribes has done nothing but turn us against each other, and draw our government to a deadlock on almost every issue. I'd love to hear a well-reasoned, rational explanation as to why we should continue to use the antiquated Republican/Democrat dichotomy, rather than free up our leaders to think for themselves.

It's counterintuitive. And it makes no sense, as you're not printing anything. It's like hiding one of the fonts in the track changes menu.

Someone earlier had an interesting question about negative messages from children's fairy tales. It was clear that the asker already knew the answer he/she wanted to hear (gender stereotypes, sexism, damsel in distress, etc). I had a nice meaty reply prepared, but then the question disappeared.

Anyway, here's my answer:

It sounds like you already have your "correct" answer in mind, so here are a few more inaccurate stereotypes found in fairy tales:

- Bears are capable of constructing houses and furniture, and cooking porridge

- Witches cook and eat children. This is patently false. Everyone knows they eat Hot Pockets.

- Giants live in castles at the top of beanstalks. In fact, that's only the wealthy ones. There are also poor giants who have to live in little giant shantytowns much further from the top of the beanstalks.

- They all live happily ever after. Since when? In reality, the princess usually ends up sleeping with the riding instructor, and it turns out the prince has had a thing with the fairy godmother since before she even knew the princess.

The Exxon at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway in Georgetown is ridiculously overpriced, usually a dollar/gallon more than any other station in the city. Why do they charge so much, and would anyone in their right mind pay that much, when it's a dollar less across the street?

Especially in the singles and dating section. There are so many people posting questions, each one is only on the front page for about a minute.

Don't these people also go to work the rest of the week?

I know people have been telling others to wait for things as long as we've had language, but I'm referring to the specific, suspense-building usage heard so often in media and popular culture nowadays - right before an amazing play on Sportscenter highlights, before a big reveal at the end of someone's anecdote, etc.

I notice it always seems to be lovesick teenagers. Why don't they just wait and see what people say?