Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, June 2. 2010

Leisure and Fantasy

How do Americans spend their leisure time? Paul Bloom begins:



The answer might surprise you. The most common voluntary activity is not eating, drinking alcohol, or taking drugs. It is not socializing with friends, participating in sports, or relaxing with the family. While people sometimes describe sex as their most pleasurable act, time-management studies find that the average American adult devotes just four minutes per day to sex.


Our main leisure activity is, by a long shot, participating in experiences that we know are not real.



Fascinating article. However, that 4 mins per day seems dubious on many counts.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 16:43 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Four minutes? Wow- how do you make it last so long?
#1 Mystery Meat on 2010-06-02 19:08 (Reply)
Average is meaningless, unless yall are psychologist, sociologist, psychiatrist, lawyer or other kind social parasite.

However, not being privy to those madnesses me couldn't say what average means to such.

Certainly, local yank commies could but more likely, won't share.

Do yall pronounce yankee, hyankee?
#2 Leag on 2010-06-02 19:22 (Reply)
With all due respect, Leag, you've got to lay off the blunts!
#2.1 Anton on 2010-06-02 20:16 (Reply)
"Do yall pronounce yankee, hyankee?"

First off, it's "y'all", with an apostrophe, short for "you all", although I'd note that it doesn't actually stand for "you all". It can also be used in the singular. A number of times I've been sitting alone in a Southern restaurant and had the waitress walk up and ask, "How y'all doin' this mornin'?"

Let's try not to make the same mistake again, shall we?

Now, as to the pronunciation of the word "Yankee", it's actually pronounced "hankee". If you want to appear like a local when you go to New York City, go to a Yankees game and scream out "I love the Hankees! I love the Hankees!" People around you will think you're really cool.

Now, there's another way to pronounce it, but it's not very nice. You make the "Yank" part real nasally and put the word "damn" in front of it. Like so:

"Damn Yankees!"

Got it? We use it when referring to the terrible, cruel Northerners who launched the dreaded War Of Northern Aggression back in 1861 on us poor, innocent Southern states who only wanted to be left alone. You're Irish, right? Then you know how it is when some big, pushy neighboring government tries to boss you around.

Yes, you know all too well.

So it has to be said snidely and with a lot of scornful derision. Go ahead, give it a shot:

"DaMn yANKeeS"

Okay, pretty close. Put a little more hate into it. Pretend you're saying "King George".

Damn Yankees!!!

Excellent! I can see you're a fast learner. Well, practice your two new pronunciations -- and I'll see you at that Hankees game!
#2.2 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-06-02 20:28 (Reply)
T.S. Eliot (doubtless worn down by years of working in a bank) reminded us that "humankind cannot bear very much reality"
#3 retriever on 2010-06-02 19:36 (Reply)
Hmmmmm...thought provoking.
#3.1 jma on 2010-06-02 20:11 (Reply)
Tut-tut, Dr. Merc. In the South, damn is a two syllable word. So it's "dayum yankee," if you have to be rude about it.

Do you have to be rude about it? Yankees have feelings too.

Marianne
#4 Marianne Matthews on 2010-06-02 23:17 (Reply)
The four minutes might be taken to suggest that sex is an insignificant part of psychological life, in contrast to daydreaming and fantasy, but this would be a bifurcation. Sex and its derivative fantasies are a significant part of daydreaming. They are not separate things. I suppose Bloom is referring to actual sexual activity. If you average all adults of all ages, then maybe the average for sexual activity is four minutes, but I have no doubt tat sex-related thoughts are a much larger part of psychological life.

Otherwise, a very interesting article.
#5 Dr X (Link) on 2010-06-03 08:00 (Reply)

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