Posted on September 6, 2012 by Tony Russo
While some might say I can be a perfect ass, it is not a title I take lightly. I know they’re trying to be encouraging but, to truly be perfect one has to go beyond practice and reach the point where practice doesn’t make sense anymore, where the notion of “improvement” suggests a certain wall between the adherent and the goal. Point is: it was during this Todcast I discovered and came to believe there was no spoon. I am not saying I reached perfection as a jerk. I am not a total jerk yet, but I caught a glimpse of the path and it was glorious.
For years I have hated the term Tourons. Not because I treasure tourists in any special way, but rather because it is an inelegant insult. Originally from the Jersey Shore (don’t bother, the jokes are tired), where there is an elegant name for tourists, I always felt it was important to come up with a phrase that was seemingly innocuous but conveyed disdain quietly.
For those who don’t know, we called tourists Bennys based on where they were either from or likely to be from (Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Newark and N.Y.) . ”Benny” is not an obvious insult but it gets the job done. It is all connotation and no denotation.
In this week’s Todcast, we discovered the perfect word. Many who listen to it may have a quibble about how accurately it describes our summer visitors but remember my point: elegance and innocuity are the keys to a good insult. We give words meaning by context and practice.