Thanks Sarge...

“nogranola - In the exchange between you and me, who was the ass hole? You, who first called me an ass hole, or me, who returned the unprovoked outburst by simply drawing attention to the fact that you just attacked me unprovoked?

Now, multiply that times 100.

That is what happens here on TT, and THAT is why I put that phrase up when it happens.”

“Sorry Sarge, numbers never lie.

FYI: I'm neither a Libberal nor a Conservative. I prefer a more rational and realistic line of thought than either of these schools allows.”

“Sarge, the world is only out to get you because you are so antagonistic. Perhaps you need to be a little bit less self-righteous and more self-aware?”

“Numbers never lie?

Ok, Bush is #1.

Now that we agree on that one thing, let's focus on your hateful accusation again, which was unprovoked, by the way.

The fact is that YOU were an ass hole to me, not the opposite. Look at Carlette's post. Same thing. And so on. And so on.

I point it out with my little tag line.

THAT is truth. The truth is that people on here are victims of group think.”

“I agree with Sarge!

I agree with Sarge!!

Call the papers! Alert the media!

I agree with Sarge!

YES!!! Bush is the #1 reason this country is going to sh_t!!!!!!”

“Sorry Tree. I said "Bush is #1", not "Bush is the #1".

Maybe next time.”

“Not sure what this has to do with Bush?

I was talking about you. If you're in the midst of every argument, then I can only conclude that you are are the problem. See de-Nile . . .”

“Hey Tree, remember that time, yesterday I think it was, when your wife did the same thing. Started a thread and was mean and hateful toward me and then called me names even though I did nothing to her?

Remember that?

That was cool.

Still waiting for that apology ...”

“Ok, #1 can only mean a puddle of piss then. We on the same page here?”

“nogranola - Let me get this right. You are in this argument, and started the namecalling between you can me, but it's not your fault because I'm in other arguments. Is that right?”

“There once was a tree with a beard
It certainly looked kinda weird
As I pissed on the tree
It's eyes looked at me
And I became mighty a'feared”

“I was just making an observation, calling a spade a spade as it were. Sometimes the truth hurts. See de-Nile.”

“Then have the balls to call this spade a spade.

You are blaming me for an argument which you started. A hateful one at that.”

“I'm kinda thinking that Sarge (salute font) has pissed just about everyone on this message board off at one point or another.
And therefore, Sarge (salute font), any poor treatment you recieve from other TTers makes us all feel better.
Now, lets just sit back and watch Bush's lies, twisted truths, and ingnorance of facts come back to haunt not only him now, but all of America for years to come.”

“Man, I missed a sale at the shop.”

“I wouldn't call anyone a spade.”

“That said I think I just learned something about sarge.”

“So you admit goat, that this is about my support of Bush.

Interesting confession.”

“I didn't say anything hateful. I made a statement of fact. See de-Nile.”

“Oh man...”

“Here's all you need to know pitts:

Click the magic button and see red.”

“From this I can infer that either Sarge is always right or he is an a$$hole. Since I know that NO ONE is always right. I can only draw one conclusion. Sorry Sarge, you're an a$$hole. - nogranola

I didn't say anything hateful. - nogranola

Yeah, ... see "de nile" yourself.”

“nogranola just called sarge a "spade" (an offensive slang term disparaging a Black person) and then said, "I didn't say anything hateful." That's an "Oh man..." moment in my book.”

“See? There's another . Like zits after eating a chocolate bar.”

“I once met a goat at a fair
He looked like a freak with no hair
He had to go, as
He was part of the show
And the people would pay to just stare”

“That was a statement of fact, Sarge. There was no hatred in me when I wrote that.”

“de nile”

“pitts--I assume you're using the sarcasm font?”

“oh, Damn, I thought you were going to give me that Libbie Label.

I didn't admit anything.
It isn't about your support of anything. It is about that fact that you tend to label just about anyone for posting anything that you don't agree with. You proved that you are a big Bush fan long ago. Soak in the failure, Sarge! (salute font)”

“I never knew "Spade" was an offensive disparaging remark. I thought for sure that in nogranola's context it was simply seeing/naming something for what it is.”

“MarkO - first place
Geo - second place
Nigal - third place

Take a bow boys!”

“Really? I always thought people were talking about cards when they talk about calling a spade a spade.”

““MarkO - first place
Geo - second place
Nigal - third place

Take a bow boys!”

And go hike :)”

“Thank you Creek Dancer!!

Sass, maybe there aren't any black folks out your way.”

“Calling a spade a spade has to do with not calling a spade a shovel. Not cards, not race, not a cheap detective novel. It's an old saying.”

“I'm with you Sass. I've never know the phrase to be used offensively. Maybe things have changed.”

“A "spade" also refers to a shovel. I don't think the expression is saying that you can spot a shovel when you see one. Anyone can look it up. I am just saying that it can be a very offensive term and I don't use it or that expression period. I know, people will say I am being PC but there a lot of other racial slurs I don't use either.”

“Well, I guess you learn something new all the time around here. I didn't mean anything by it.”

“Good idea Geo.

Maybe the unprovoked hateful speak against Sarge will finally stop.”

“It's a popular expression:

http://www.quotationspage.com/search.php3?Search=A+spade+&startsearch=Search&Author=&C=mgm&C=motivate&C=classic&C=coles&C=poorc&C=lindsly”

“Come on Sarge, "hateful"???

Shake it off, man!”

“LOL Sarge, You own these guys, as ol' Nigal would say.”

“Talk about learn something new every day!

Although the English language, and particularly American English, contains many examples of the influence of racism on popular speech, in this particular case there is ample evidence to prove the defendant phrase not guilty. "To call a spade a spade" not only predates slavery in North America by quite a bit but harks all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, occurring in the work of, among others, the playwright Aristophanes, and is still commonly heard in modern Greek. The original phrase seems to have been "to call a fig a fig; to call a kneading trough a kneading trough," applied to someone who spoke exceedingly frankly. Evidently, when the phrase was first translated from Greek in the Renaissance, the Greek word for "trough" was confused with the Greek for "spade," and thus the modern version was born. The "spade" referred to in the phrase, incidentally, was the digging implement, and not the black character on playing cards that underlies the racial epithet.
last edited: 11/03/05 2:50:00 PM”

“I'll have some of whatever StoveStomper is smoking.”

“Don't Bogart that thang, Geo!!”

“Oooh, this has degenerated into another Bush-lovers vs. Bush-haters thread. Yeah folks, because this board really needs more of that...”

“It's a love-in, Phantom Soul!!!”

“I love spaghetti”

“Well I guess the village idiot has gotten some stick through history.”